Meta's testing a new way to reward the most helpful people in Facebook groups. On 29 September the company announced that a new "top community voices" role is starting to test in Facebook groups worldwide, and in Forum, its separate app for Facebook Groups. The role comes with a badge and a few perks, and it replaces Facebook's older contributor badges and group expert role.

Meta also added new features to Forum's AI search tool, called Ask, and started testing topic labels on posts. Forum itself is only available in the US for now, but the new role is part of a global test on Facebook.

What Meta's Forum app is

Forum is Meta's standalone app for people who spend a lot of time in Facebook groups. In its announcement, the company calls it "a purpose-built app we're exploring for the people who want to go deeper on Facebook Groups."

Photo: LPS.1 / Wikimedia Commons (CC0)

It syncs with the groups you've already joined on Facebook and pulls them into one place, so you can see what's new and jump into conversations. You sign in with your Facebook account. Meta says it started testing Forum in May, and you can download it in the US on iOS and Android.

Andrew Hutchinson at Social Media Today describes the app as Meta's push to make groups more about questions and answers, "along the lines of Quora and Reddit."

How the top community voices role works

The big change is the new role. Meta says people earn it "through contributions that genuinely help a community, such as answering questions, sharing firsthand experiences, offering practical tips and recommendations, and starting conversations that bring people together."

Anyone who gets it receives a new badge. Meta says the perks include "posts that publish faster," and it notes that every post is still subject to its Community Standards.

Group admins can give the role straight to members they think deserve it. Meta will also nominate members to help admins spot top voices. Members are told when they get the role, and Meta says they can take themselves out of it at any time.

It replaces two older systems. Facebook groups used to have contributor badges and a separate group expert role. Meta says the new role "reflects the quality of a member's contributions and the value they bring to their community," which suggests it's meant to reward being helpful, not just being busy.

The test is running in two places. Meta says the role is "starting to test on Forum in the US and on Facebook globally." So if you run or belong to a Facebook group in Australia, you might start seeing it, even though you can't download Forum here.

Ask gets two new tricks, and posts get labels

Ask is Forum's AI search feature. Meta says it uses AI to pull up existing posts and comments from groups, "so you can easily get answers grounded in real experience." It draws on groups you're already in and on public groups you haven't joined, and you can jump from an answer straight into the group discussion.

Meta's now testing two additions. The first helps you compare options. Meta's examples are picking a running shoe, choosing a gift or working out what to read next. Ask gathers recommendations from group conversations to help you weigh them up. Social Media Today says this shows related answers from different groups, so people can pick the best one.

The second is about picking up where you left off. Meta says the Ask home page now suggests new questions based on your recent searches.

The third test is a new way to browse. Meta says some Forum users may start seeing topic labels on posts, with examples like Solo Travel or Korean Food. Tap a label and you'll find more conversations on the same topic.

The Verge's Jay Peters noted the change on 29 September, writing that the labels "will help you find more conversations about that topic."

Browsing by interest, instead of by which groups you've joined, is a shift for Facebook groups. Until now, most group conversations were tucked away inside each group, and finding them meant knowing which group to look in. Topic labels and Ask both steer people towards public groups they haven't joined yet, and Meta frames that as a way to discover new communities.

Meta also says it'll share more in the coming weeks about the tools it's building for group admins.

Why Meta is investing in groups and answers

Meta pitches Forum as a way to find firsthand advice from real people, and Ask is built around that idea. Meta says it doesn't write its own answer from scratch. It highlights what people in groups have already posted, with a link back into the discussion.

Hutchinson, at Social Media Today, thinks there's another motive, and this part is his opinion, not Meta's. He argues that "the primary goal for Meta seems to be driving more direct questions and answers, which the company can then use to power its artificial intelligence responses." He points out that Reddit's become a valuable source for AI chatbots because it offers structured answers to real questions. Meta hasn't said anything like that about Forum.

For group members, the upside of the new role is easier to see. People who regularly answer questions and share what they know will get visible credit for it. And admins get a simpler way to recognise them than the old mix of badges.

What to watch

These are tests, so the details could change before anything rolls out widely. Meta hasn't said when Forum might launch outside the US, and we couldn't find any announcement of an Australian release.

If you're a group admin, keep an eye on your admin tools for the new role and any nominations Meta sends you. If you're a member and you'd rather not wear a badge, Meta says you can take yourself out of the role whenever you like.

Meta signed off its announcement with a short line: "We're excited to hear more from the community as we continue to build Forum, and we'll share more updates soon."