What you need to know
- Facebook groups can now designate Group Experts.
- Group Experts are people particularly knowledgeable about a particular group topic.
Facebook is adding a new feature to Facebook Groups called Group Experts. The move will allow group admins to designate people who are particularly knowledgeable about the group's subject matter to be parked as experts for all to see.
According to a report by The Verge, Group Experts will receive a badge next to their name so people in a group will always know that they're the person to listen to when discussing a particular topic. Admins will be the only ones capable of bestowing Expert status upon someone and they can also revoke it when needed, too.
How will admins know who to give the new title to? The Verge says there are new tools coming to help make that easier.
Facebook is testing ways to make it easier for admins to find these experts, by prompting specific users, currently in the gaming and fitness spaces, to add which games or activities they're knowledgeable about. Group admins can search these topics to find their new Group Experts. This tactic works as a growth driver for groups as well, since the new experts will be able to invite followers who have recently interacted with their main page to join the group too.
It's worth remembering at this point that someone having the Group Expert tag doesn't necessarily mean that they really are an expert in anything — it just means the group's admins believe they are. If those group admins aren't to be trusted either, the whole thing can go awry. Facebook says its existing fact-checking protocols should deal with that, however.
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