Forum is Meta's latest app for Facebook Groups, and it resembles Reddit quite a bit.

      The newly launched standalone app, Forum, builds upon Facebook Groups and features an AI tab labeled “Ask” along with an admin assistant. This release coincides with Mark Zuckerberg's statement earlier this month, in which he mentioned discussions with Chris Cox about potentially developing 50 new apps.

      Meta introduced Forum without a launch event, a blog announcement, or significant media coverage. The app is positioned in the App Store as “a dedicated space built for deeper discussions, real answers, and communities you care about,” indicating Meta's vision of it being akin to a Reddit that requires a Facebook account.

      The initial discovery of the app was made by social media consultant Matt Navarra, with coverage by TechCrunch, along with independent verification from Engadget and MacRumors. A Meta representative informed Engadget that the product is still undergoing testing, stating, “We test lots of new products publicly to see what people find interesting and useful to their experiences across our apps.”

      Users can log in using their existing Facebook accounts, allowing them to retain their groups, profile, and activity. Posts can be made anonymously, although group admins can still view users' real identities. Content shared on Forum appears in the associated Facebook group and vice versa, making the app less of a distinct network and more like a new entry point into the existing Meta ecosystem.

      The primary distinction of Forum lies in its feed. Unlike Facebook’s main timeline that combines friends, Pages, algorithmic suggestions, and advertisements, Forum exclusively displays conversations from groups the user is part of, along with prompts to explore additional groups. It includes two AI features as well.

      The first feature, “Ask,” allows users to pose questions to the app, which provides answers gathered from discussions across groups, thereby eliminating the need to search through each group individually. The second feature is an admin assistant, aimed at aiding moderators in managing groups and handling moderation tasks. Both features are marketed as time-saving tools rather than central aspects of the product.

      This isn’t Meta’s inaugural standalone Groups app; the company released one in November 2014 but discontinued it in 2017 without providing clear reasons at the time. The resemblance to Reddit is notable, especially given the timing, as Reddit went public in March 2024 and has been licensing its data to AI companies for training purposes over the past two years, making it the closest consumer internet alternative for large-scale community discussions. A Facebook-themed rival with an AI response feature thus represents a familiar concept.

      Forum is the second new app from Meta in about a month. In late April, the company started testing Instants, a companion app for Instagram focused on disappearing photos, which draws inspiration from BeReal and Snapchat. The previous year saw the introduction of Meta Edits, a video editor reminiscent of CapCut, fitting into a similar lineage.

      This pattern is intentional. According to a report from The Wall Street Journal earlier this month, Zuckerberg mentioned in an internal Q&A that AI-driven efficiency enables Meta to create more products with smaller teams, discussing the possibility of launching 50 new apps. He later moderated his claim, stating, “Like, yeah probably. But we probably should start by doing a few before we just, like, ramp up trying to do 50 all at once.”

      Forum stands as one of the few products emerging from this initiative. Whether users will embrace a separate app for Facebook groups with an added AI feature remains uncertain, as suggested by the spokesperson's comments on testing. The historical precedent set by the 2014 Groups app provides one data point, while the outcomes for Instants, Edits, and future releases will offer further insights.