Facebook enhances ‘local’ features in effort to reconnect with young adults

Meta is on a mission to reclaim the attention of young adults by revamping its platform and emphasizing local content and events. Recognizing that this demographic is vital to the platform’s future, the company has announced several updates to its 20-year-old social network. The changes are designed to enhance user engagement among younger users, encouraging them to spend more time on the app.

At the forefront of these updates is a new “local” section within the Facebook app. This feature aims to provide users with information pertinent to their local communities, including Marketplace listings, Reels, posts from Facebook groups, and upcoming events. The focus on local content represents a shift in strategy for Meta, which had previously launched and subsequently discontinued a standalone events app. The company believes that by surfacing local information, it can help young adults explore their interests and connect with their communities in a more meaningful way.

Additionally, Facebook is intensifying its emphasis on events, a strategy it has tried before. Users will now receive personalized event recommendations through weekly and weekend digests delivered via in-app notifications. The process for sending invitations to events has also been revamped, allowing users to invite connections through Instagram, SMS, and email, making event planning more accessible.

Meta is also enhancing the group experience, which it considers one of the most popular features among young adults. The company is experimenting with a customizable “Group AI” that enables group admins to create a bot capable of chatting with members and answering questions based on shared posts.

On Messenger, a new “Communities” feature is being introduced, similar to a concept previously rolled out on WhatsApp. This allows small to medium-sized groups to organize conversations in a manner akin to Facebook groups, complete with topic-based chats and moderation tools.

Overall, these updates are part of Meta’s broader initiative to attract younger users back to Facebook by introducing features that align with their social media habits. Tom Alison, who leads the Facebook app, highlighted the company’s dedication to catering to the next generation of social media users. While the company reports that there are over 40 million young adults on Facebook in the US and Canada—the highest figure in more than three years—the challenge remains in converting this number into a larger percentage of the overall user base.

As Meta continues to push ‘local’ content and events, only time will tell if these efforts will succeed in winning back the young adult demographic.