[Lifestyle] Facebook is desperate to lure Gen Z — here’s how they’re doing it: ‘Not your mom’s Facebook’

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Welcome to the new internet, Facebook.

Meta has revealed a plan for the social media platform, which turned 20 this year, to win over Gen Z and increase engagement from the younger generation.

Facebook execs presented their strategy for the “next 20 years” of Facebook at an event in New York City on May 31, focusing on Gen Z and artificial intelligence.

 

 

The company handed out pamphlets to those who attended the event that read, “We are not your mom’s Facebook,” but rather, “a hub for all things culturally happening in the platform’s underground,” Axios reported.

“We’re still for everyone, but we also recognize that in order to stay relevant, we have to build for… Gen Z,” President Tom Alison said at the event, according to Mashable.

According to a 2023 Pew Research survey, only 33% of U.S. teens ages 13 to 17 ever use Facebook, while just 3% use it almost constantly.

 

Through research, “we noticed… this is the time in [Gen Z’s] life when they start making a lot of huge transitions: moving, going to college, getting their first job, getting their first apartment, finding a romantic partner,” Alison shared.

“They want a way to explore their new interests and they want to find real people and real experts who share them. And that’s where we think Facebook comes in.”

Facebook is focusing on three major features to get Gen Z on the platform: the feed, reels and creators.

The company hopes that shifting the content of the user’s feed will attract younger audiences, shining a light on content relevant to them such as Facebook Marketplace, Facebook Dating, groups and events.

According to employees, Facebook Marketplace is visited daily by more than 10 million of the platform’s 40 million daily active users in the U.S. and Canada between the ages of 18 and 29.

 

Facebook has phased out certain features that weren’t central to a social feed, such as audio and news products.

Similar to Instagram, Facebook will be putting an emphasis on Reels and short-form video, as well as making it easier for users to privately message these videos to friends and family.

Meta has also developed a professional mode on Facebook in an attempt to make the medium more creator-friendly.

There will be features for creators to monetize their posts and utilize AI tools to do a range of things from transforming photo backgrounds to crafting a post.

 

 

Facebook has also updated the ranking technology with Reels and Feed to deliver more effective and accurate recommendations, according to the company’s blog post.

With many of these changes seeming extremely similar to Instagram, it appears that there could be an identity crisis between the two Meta products.

But Alison clarified that Facebook will focus more on connecting Gen Z to experiences while Instagram will continue to focus on content discovery and creator connection.

 

https://nypost.com/2024/06/05/lifestyle/facebook-is-desperate-to-lure-gen-z-heres-how-theyre-doing-it-not-your-moms-facebook/