Facebook groups can now designate Group Experts

Today, Facebook is launching a new tool called “Group Experts,” which allows administrators to indicate which members are extremely knowledgeable about the group’s topic.

Group Experts will have a badge next to their name, embossed with proof of their increased position, in addition to the bragging rights. This emblem will appear on posts, comments, and in the Q&A section of the website.

Group Administrators will choose Group Experts, and experts will only be given this unprecedented power if they accept the nomination. Admins can also revoke the expert status.

Facebook is experimenting with ways to make it simpler for administrators to identify these experts, such as prompting specific individuals, currently in the gaming and fitness industries, to add which games or activities they know about. These subjects can be searched by group admins to discover their new Group Experts. Because the new experts will be able to ask followers who have recently interacted with their main page to join the group, this technique also serves as a growth engine for groups.

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However, if a group nominates an untrustworthy expert or is knowingly disseminating false material, the moderators will have sole authority to remove them from their expert status. Anti-vax organizations, for example, are unlikely to nominate conventional doctors or public health authorities as experts. As a result, while the “expert” tag denotes the admins’ trust, it does not objectively qualify someone as a true expert.

When asked about additional moderation tools to ensure Group Experts provide accurate information, a Facebook spokesperson mentioned the company’s established methods for dealing with misinformation on the platform, such as third-party fact-checkers and limiting the distribution of content flagged as misleading. Members can always report content to group admins, they added.