Meta’s Forum App Adds Top Voice Role and AI Ask for Facebook Groups

Meta is testing Forum, a standalone Facebook Groups app, with a new top community voice role and AI-powered Ask. Admins and creators get new discovery and recognition tools.

What happened

On September 29, 2026, Meta introduced new features for Forum, a purpose-built app for people who want to go deeper on Facebook Groups. The app is synced with existing groups on Facebook, bringing them together in one place so members can see what is new and join conversations. Meta started testing Forum in May, and the app is available to download in the US on iOS and Android with a Facebook account login.

The update includes a new role to recognize top community voices. It replaces previous contributor badges and group expert role, and reflects the quality of a member's contributions and the value they bring to a community. The role provides a new badge and benefits such as posts that publish faster, while remaining subject to Community Standards. Testing for the role starts on Forum in the US and on Facebook globally.

Forum also features Ask, which uses AI to highlight existing group posts and comments, showing conversations from groups already joined and public groups not yet joined, and lets users jump into a group discussion. Meta said it is testing two new ways Ask can help people find what others are saying; one is a new interest exploration feature with topic labels on posts, such as Solo Travel or Korean Food.

Key facts

• Forum is available to download in the US on iOS and Android; users log in with a Facebook account to find groups and discover new ones.
• Meta started testing Forum in May and announced the new features on September 29, 2026.
• A new top community voice role replaces previous contributor badges and group expert role; it includes a new badge and posts that publish faster, subject to Community Standards.
• The role is earned through answering questions, sharing firsthand experiences, offering practical tips and recommendations, and starting conversations; admins can grant it directly and Meta will nominate members.
• Ask uses AI to highlight existing group posts and comments, including public groups a user has not joined, and Forum is testing topic labels like Solo Travel or Korean Food.

Our analysis

Forum signals that Meta wants group activity to live outside the main Facebook feed, with a dedicated surface that reduces competing content and keeps community conversations more visible. For admins and social teams, a standalone app likely means members who choose to download it are already motivated to engage, which can raise the quality of interactions even if the total audience is smaller at first.

The shift from contributor badges and group expert role to a single top community voice role matters because it consolidates recognition around contribution quality. Admins can grant the role directly, while Meta also nominates members, which suggests a hybrid moderation model: operators keep control, but Meta provides platform assistance to surface active voices they might miss. Faster post publishing attached to the role may also encourage trusted members to answer questions and share firsthand experiences more often.

Ask and topic labels point to discovery as a growth lever. Ask surfaces conversations from public groups a user has not joined, which could expose public Facebook groups to new audiences without paid distribution. Topic labels on posts like Solo Travel or Korean Food suggest an interest graph rather than just a social graph; for operators, this may shift organic reach toward clear topic structure and well-labeled content.

What it means for operators

• Audit existing contributor badges and group expert designations now. Because the new top community voice role replaces them, prepare a transition plan and identify members whose contribution history matches the new criteria: answering questions, sharing firsthand experiences, offering practical tips and recommendations, or starting conversations.
• Encourage the behaviors the new role rewards. Publicly ask members to answer questions, share direct experiences, and start discussions, since these actions are the basis for earning the role and its faster publishing benefit.
• Optimize public group content for Ask and topic labels. Since Ask surfaces public groups a member has not joined and Forum is testing topic labels like Solo Travel or Korean Food, use descriptive post titles and consistent topic language to appear in relevant interest-based discovery.
• Test the Forum experience with US-based members first. The app is available in the US on iOS and Android, so run a small pilot group of US admins and active members to observe how the dedicated app changes posting frequency, moderation, and member recognition before broader rollout.