Facebook Is Making Groups Way More Useful

Most of the Groups that I belong to on Facebook are ones that I joined in college (Class of '13 Senior Week!) or shortly thereafter (New '13 Grads In The City!). Beyond that, I've paid little attention to the groups that exist on the site. But Facebook may turn me and others into Groupies with a new feature it's launching in beta. A Facebook spokesperson told Refinery29 that it is piloting a new dedicated section within Groups in the Facebook app; there, you can browse public and closed Facebook Groups by category, friend Groups, and local Groups. Those who have been randomly selected for the pilot will see a new "Discover" tab when they navigate to the Groups section of their Facebook mobile app. Within this tab, they'll see more than 25 popular categories of Groups, such as food, buy and sell, networking, animals and pets, travel, and more. There will also be suggested friends Groups and local Groups based on the city listed on your profile. According to Facebook, more than one billion people use Groups every month, and behind Newsfeed, it's the biggest part of the social network. Those stats make sense: You might only "friend" your actual friends, but Groups present the option of finding new friends who share similar interests, networking with others in your area, or getting (and giving) support. Facebook shared the news about the pilot program today at the Mom 2.0 conference — since so many moms use the social network as their virtual village. Facebook hasn't announced when the pilot will be extended to everyone within the U.S. But when it does, you can expect an even easier way to connect with those around you and find fun events happening in your city.