Facebook Groups: Product Ideas That Foster Supportive, Less Hostile Communities

You are a product manager at Meta working on Facebook Groups. What would you build to spread positivity in groups? Define what positivity means here, choose who you are building for, identify what holds it back today, propose and prioritize solutions, and explain how you would measure success. ```hint Positivity has two sides Fewer hostile interactions and more supportive ones are different goals with different users and features. Decide which you are pursuing, or how you balance them, before listing ideas. ``` ### Clarifying Questions - Does "positivity" mean reducing hostility and conflict, increasing supportive and helpful interactions, or both? - Should we focus on a particular kind of group, such as large public interest groups, private support groups, local community groups or buy-and-sell groups? - Should the solution serve group admins and moderators, ordinary members, or both? - Is the goal mainly member wellbeing, or also engagement and retention in Groups? ### What a Strong Answer Covers - A working definition of positivity in a group that can be measured, not just a slogan. - A segmentation of groups and users (admins, active contributors, quiet members, newcomers) with a reasoned choice of focus. - Pain points for that segment, and solutions that both reduce hostile behavior and reward helpful behavior. - Prioritization by impact and effort, leading to a clear first version. - Metrics with guardrails, and risks such as over-moderation, forced cheerfulness, bias in automated detection and suppression of legitimate disagreement. ### Follow-up Questions - A prompt that asks people to reconsider hostile comments cuts reported comments but also cuts total comments. How do you judge whether it worked? - How would your approach differ for a private group where members share illness or grief versus a large public group debating local politics? - Some admins want hostility filtered aggressively, while others say heated debate is the point of their group. How do you design for both?