Facebook is rolling out a new feature to let subject matter experts stand out in groups run by millions of admins and moderators around the world. The social media giant on Tuesday announced a new way to spotlight subject matter experts in Facebook groups. The group admins will be able to recognise knowledgeable members in their group by designating them as “group experts.”
“Admins now have the ability to select specific members in their communities who stand out, empowering them to play a more meaningful role,” Facebook executive Maria Smith wrote in a blog post.
“[A]dmins can collaborate with group experts to host Q&As, share perspectives on a topic and respond to questions,” she added.
The group admins can invite any member to take the expert badge but the member will have the option to accept or reject the expert invitation. In case they accept the role, the group experts will receive a badge next to their names in the group, making it “easier for group members to spot informative posts and comments from designated experts.”
Facebook has not specified whether there will be any kind of vetting process for appointing experts, indicating that any member of the group can be appointed as a subject matter expert. The new ‘expert’ feature without vetting process has raised concern about possible misuse by groups to further spread misinformation. However, a Facebook spokesperson has said that function was a “limited test” available to select groups initially, BBC reported.
Smith said that Facebook is starting the test by giving some people in fitness and gaming the option to identify specific topics they’re knowledgeable about. Facebook group admins can then search for those specific topics, say yoga, and discover relevant people who are not yet members and invite them to join as group experts.
“To make it easier for experts to engage with their followers, we’re introducing automatic invites, which allows them to invite their recently engaged Page followers to join groups they’ve created,” wrote Smith, VP of Communities for Facebook App.
