You might see an influx of notifications about Facebook groups

A new article on Social Media Today reports that Facebook is kicking off a new push on groups, including a new, dedicated notifications space for groups in the sidebar of the app, and more options for smaller discussions within group spaces.



To begin, Facebook is testing a new sidebar sorting option for groups, which will be accessible by swiping right from your main News Feed.

The new listing will display all of the groups that you're a part of, which will be displayed in order based on the latest activity.

The new sidebar display will also include options for group engagement, such as the ability to pin your favorite groups, discover new groups, and create your own from the prompts. There will also be links to events, shops, and other resources, making it easier to participate in each group's component.

That could make it much easier to stay on top of the latest group chats, which could be a great way for Facebook to boost user engagement, and get more users sharing more often in the app.

Which has become a problem of late. Reports have suggested that Facebook engagement has dropped significantly, particularly among younger audiences, as TikTok interaction has continued to rise, with internal data from Meta showing that usage among users aged 18-24 has basically flatlined completely in the app.

Groups, however, remains a key engagement surface, and if Facebook can find new ways to showcase groups, and prompt more users to engage with those discussions, that could be another way to maximize in-app activity, even if they don't feel compelled to respond to what they see in their main feed.

In addition to this, Facebook's also adding some new, smaller sub-group engagement options, with Community Chat Channels, audio rooms and topic feeds within group.

Community Chat Channels will enable group members to chat in real-time across both Facebook Groups and Messenger.



So it's messaging groups for Group members, adding another way to spark different types of engagement with the Groups setting.

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