Meta Introduces ‘Forum,’ a New Community Discussion App Inspired by Reddit

Meta has quietly launched a new standalone app called Forum, a platform designed to bring deeper conversations and community-focused discussions to Facebook Groups. The company describes Forum as a dedicated space for meaningful discussions, useful answers, and engagement with communities users care about, giving it a feel similar to Reddit.

Social media consultant Matt Navarra first spotted the app. After signing in with a Facebook account, users can access their existing groups, profile information, and activity. The Forum also allows users to create posts using nicknames, similar to features already available in Facebook Groups.

Meta says Forum is focused on conversations rather than trending content, helping users keep up with ongoing discussions inside their communities and easily return to topics they have been following. Content shared through the Forum will continue to appear within Facebook Groups, meaning the new app complements rather than replaces the existing experience.

One of Forum's main features is an AI-powered "Ask" tab that lets users submit questions and receive answers generated from discussions across multiple groups. The app also includes an AI assistant for administrators, designed to help manage communities and moderate content more efficiently.

This is not Meta's first attempt at a groups-focused app. The company launched a standalone Facebook Groups app in 2014 but discontinued it in 2017.

Forum is the second new app Meta has introduced in recent weeks. Last month, the company launched Instants, an app that allows users to share disappearing photos with Instagram friends. Both releases are part of a broader effort by Meta to expand its portfolio of standalone applications.

According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, CEO Mark Zuckerberg told employees that AI-powered development tools could enable the company to build significantly more apps than in the past. He reportedly discussed the possibility of creating dozens of new applications, while acknowledging that Meta would likely start with fewer before scaling up.

Although Meta is accelerating app development, some of its newer products have drawn comparisons to existing services. Instants shares similarities with BeReal and Snapchat, while Meta Edits has often been compared to ByteDance's CapCut.

With Forum, Meta is once again betting that community-driven conversations deserve a dedicated app experience, while expanding its efforts to launch new AI-powered social products.