Today we unveiled exciting new developments for the future of Facebook and Messenger at our Facebook IRL event in Austin.

We’re adding features that help young adults – and all Facebook users explore their interests and connect with the world beyond their close friends. Whatever you like, there are people on Facebook who can help you find and do more of it. We want to make it easy for you to discover the content and people that matter to you, because this type of social discovery is exactly what Facebook is designed for.

With Messenger, we’ve made it easier for you to privately connect with the people in your life, whether it’s sharing a Reel you saw on Facebook, messaging Marketplace sellers, responding to the Story that your friend has shared, or to interact in one of the many other ways Messenger offers every day. Messenger continues to lead the industry in value and expression. Each month, more Americans report using Messenger for personal communication than any other mobile messaging app. We take this responsibility seriously and add features that encourage fun and meaningful conversations while ensuring communications on Messenger are private, secure, reliable and expressive.

We’re excited to share all the work we’ve done to improve your Facebook and Messenger experiences.

Find out what’s on site

We know people use Facebook to connect with their local communities, so we’re investing in ways to make this even easier. We’re testing an experience that brings together the best local content from across Facebook – from places like Marketplace, Groups, and Events – into a single tab called Local. Whether it’s things to do nearby, local groups offering free stuff, or recommendations for neighborhood hotspots, you’ll find it all in the new Local tab. Local is currently testing in Austin, New York City, Los Angeles, Washington DC, Chicago, Charlotte, Dallas, Houston, San Francisco and Phoenix.

We’re also launching a Weekly and Weekend Events Watch, a compilation of upcoming event recommendations in your area based on your interests, delivered via a notification on Facebook each week.

And we’ve added a new, swipeable section in the feed that shows the best content on Facebook. So let’s say you’re moving to a new neighborhood. In this new section we can highlight local events, interesting groups, people, businesses and things for sale – to help you connect with more people and discover information to help you take the next step with your new to make community.

Discover and take the next step

In addition to a Local tab to connect you with your local community, we’re also testing an Explore tab where you can find a variety of content tailored to your interests. Explore is designed to show you content that not only entertains, but also helps you dive deeper into your interests, get inspired by real people and communities of experts, and take the next step. It’s personalized to each person’s interests and we use a variety of signals to power our algorithm so your content reflects the things you like. Whether you’re looking for time management hacks, tips for a first trip abroad, DIY tricks for repurposing furniture, or running groups for marathon training, you’ll find even more of what you’re looking for in the Explore tab.

A single seamless video tab

We want to make it easier for people to find Reels and other videos they love on Facebook. That’s why we’re rolling out an updated full-screen video tab in the coming weeks, giving Reels a more prominent home on Facebook.

This gives you a full-screen video player that allows you to seamlessly watch the best short-form, long-form and live videos in a single experience, powered by our turbo-charged recommendation technology.

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Young adults on Facebook spend nearly 60% of their time on the app watching videos, and more than half of young adults watch Reels every day – so we want to make sure we’re creating a video experience that helps them gain valuable tips Recommendations, advice and more.

SMS, email and Instagram invitations for events

We recently introduced a new feature that allows you to invite your Instagram followers to events you create on Facebook. You can also send text and email invitations to guests, so anyone can see and register for an event, regardless of whether they’re on Facebook or not.

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Find the group and information you are looking for

Nearly 1.8 billion people use Facebook Groups every month, turning to them when they want to learn something new or get great advice. There are currently 25 million monthly active public groups and counting.

We’ve started testing customizable group AI to help group members find answers to questions, especially questions that have been asked previously. If a group admin decides to enable this feature, members will be able to open a chat with the group’s AI, which can answer questions and create links to relevant group posts. This test has just been introduced in the US and Canada to a small number of groups.

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Matchmaker for Facebook Dating

Facebook Dating uses your Facebook network and interests to help you make romantic connections based on your preferences. Facebook Dating conversations are increasing 24% year over year among young adults in the US and Canada. Today we’re launching Matchmaker, a new feature on Facebook Dating that lets you invite friends to search for potential matches on your behalf. Matchmaker allows you to recruit your friends to make dating easier and more fun.

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AI upgrades to answer your questions

We also integrate Meta AI to increase creativity and help you share more content with your friends, family, and people who share your interests. For example, we recently launched Imagine Yourself, which you can now access in your feed and stories composers, as well as on your profile page. And earlier this year, we launched AI comment summaries from public groups, pages, and creators to make it easier for you to stay informed about conversations.

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Notes, updates and reminders in Messenger

Earlier this year, we introduced Notes in Messenger, a quick way for you and your friends to share how you’re feeling or what you’re up to. We’re excited to announce that we’re adding new features like music and mentions to help you express yourself and spark conversations, and we’re starting to test this note format on Facebook too.

We’re also starting to introduce Memories, an easy way to relive and share moments you’ve previously shared on Messenger. Memories in Messenger bring back previous photos from your chats to view and share with your community.

Create communities on Messenger

Today we’re also announcing Messenger Communities, a new way for small and medium-sized communities to connect over shared interests. You can create multiple topic-based chats to organize and facilitate different conversations within a larger Messenger community, and simple, integrated tools make it easy to manage and moderate your community – without the need to create a Facebook group. It’s easy to grow your community by inviting your Facebook friends or using your community’s shareable QR code.

Since we started testing Messenger Communities, we’ve seen college students use them to make new contacts and share information on important community topics, such as: B. recruiting student clubs, campus events and class schedules.

We are increasing our support for creatives

In addition to these new features, earlier this week we announced a new monetization program that will give creators more ways to make money from more content formats. We also plan to test expanding monetization options to Stories in the coming months.

We’re always looking for new ways to bring you closer to the people and things you care about through Facebook, and we hope these new features help you build stronger connections with your communities.