Since inception, Facebook’s mission has been to make the world more open and connected — by onboarding them to its platform and connecting them to others. But, about a couple months ago, CEO Mark Zuckerberg penned a lengthy 6,000-word manifesto stating it was moving beyond the said mission to connect more deeply with the social fabric using the internet on the daily. He then mentioned that he aims to learn from the community and debut features to empower them to build a better platform to hold healthy discussions.
With regards to the same, the social networking platform has today taken the very first step in that direction. Facebook has revealed that it will be holding its first-ever Communities Summit later this year in Chicago. This gathering will be free for group admins, thus, providing them with a chance to connect and share their experiences in real life. It will also be a great opportunity for Zuckerberg to gain knowledge about the communities on his ~2 billion-user-strong platform, making it easier for them to design tools to empower those leading others in such groups.
At the time, Zuckerberg has mentioned in his manifesto the importance of groups on Facebook:
Online communities are a bright spot, and we can strengthen existing physical communities by helping people come together online as well as offline. In the same way connecting with friends online strengthens real relationships, developing this infrastructure will strengthen these communities, as well as enable completely new ones to form.
This gathering will entirely be focused on Facebook groups or community members, who’re out there building a community around them to help those in need. This event will be dedicated to you, the group admins, who’re supporting the social platform to further its mission of creating a social infrastructure on the web. Facebook is now planning to empower them with necessary tools to eliminate even a little speck of hate, abuse, and terrorism by encouraging healthy interest-based discussions.
As for what to expect from the Communities Summit, the official event website describes it as under:
You’ll hear from Facebook executives about new products we’re building to help admins grow and manage their groups. You’ll have an opportunity to participate in workshops and give the Facebook team real-time feedback on what will make groups better for you. And you’ll get to meet other admins from across the country who are building remarkable communities through groups.
The two-day Facebook Communities Summit is being held from June 22-23 in Chicago. The application process is currently open but it would be advised to hurry up as there are only a limited number of spots — for a limited time as well. This event is limited to only one application per group, who can nominate up to three admins, to represent the community he/she is part of. The application process is limited to U.S citizens, though the communities can surely be international.
There are currently no concrete details about the venue, as well as the guarantee for selection but Facebook will dispense more info on the event in the coming days. Since the social media giant is looking for a diverse gathering, some groups may even be invited by the company itself. Others will timely be notified about their participation, where Facebook will take care of your lodging and food during the event.
This gathering is meaningful because Zuckerberg aims to be open to diverse outlooks rather than a closed and specific group on the social network. The safety and well-being of users is the center of his attention, thus he’s looking to bring them together to build an even supportive community around them. Coupled with Facebook’s tools and AI-powered solutions, the group admins will soon be able to better help and support each other more intuitively.
