Facebook recently launched a community leadership program that will award $10 million in total to more than 100 people who have successfully built groups on the social network as part of its push to create “meaningful” interactions.
The initiative, announced at a Facebook Communities Summit in London, will give five people with a track record in creating groups up to $1 million to fund a project, Facebook’s Jennifer Dulski said.
Another 100 leaders from around the world will receive up to $50,000 each, she said in an interview.
Dulski, Facebook’s head of groups and community said that;
“We are looking for communities that provide meaning to the people that are in them, we are looking for initiatives that drive positive impact, and we are looking for communities that have both online and offline components.”
Facebook’s Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said last June that the company’s new mission was “to bring the world closer together”, and he set a goal of helping one billion people join “meaningful communities” built around hobbies, neighbors, churches, pets and the like.
The focus on groups came after the social network, which has 1.4 billion daily active users, had been criticised for its role in the distribution of so-called fake news.
Facebook and other internet groups such as Google’s YouTube and Twitter have also faced pressure from the European Union and European governments to do more to stem the proliferation of extremist content on their platforms.
The company’s top European executive Nicola Mendelsohn said in December that the number of people working on safety on the platform would double to 20,000 by the end of 2018, including more engineers in London.
The contest is open to Facebook community leaders worldwide, with the winners chosen by a panel of independent experts and Facebook employees, Dulski said.
Here is the full statement from Facebook as released by Jennifer Dulski, Head of Groups and Community, and Ime Archibong, Vice President, Product Partnerships.
Today at the Facebook Communities Summit Europe, we announced the Facebook Community Leadership Program, a global initiative that invests in people building communities. Facebook will commit tens of millions of dollars to the program, including up to USD10 million in grants that will go directly to people creating and leading communities.
In addition, we introduced new tools for group admins and the expansion of our London-based engineering team that builds technology to help keep people safe on Facebook.
More than 300 community leaders from across Europe came together today in London including Blind Veterans UK, an advocacy organization that provides practical and emotional support to blind veterans and their families; Donna Mamma, a support group for mothers in France to share advice and information; Girl Skate UK, which celebrates and brings together the female skateboarding community; High Society PL, a group of sneaker enthusiasts who bond over their shared passion; and Berlin Bruisers, Germany’s first gay and inclusive rugby club.
Facebook Community Leadership Program.
Community leaders often tell us that with additional support they could have more impact. The Facebook Community Leadership Program is designed to empower leaders from around the world who are building communities through the Facebook family of apps and services. It includes:
Residency and Fellowship opportunities offer training, support and funding for community leaders from around the world.
Up to five leaders will be selected to be community leaders in residence and awarded up to USD1,000,000* each to fund their proposals.
Up to 100 leaders will be selected for our fellowship program and will receive up to USD50,000* each to be used for a specific community initiative.
Community Leadership Circles bring local community leaders together to meet up in person to connect, learn and collaborate. We piloted three circles in the US in 2017 and will be expanding globally this year.
Groups for Facebook Power Admins, which we currently run with more than 10,000 group admins in the US and UK, are expanding to more members to help them share advice with one another and connect with our team to test new features and share feedback.
Applications are now open for the residency and fellowship. To learn more and apply, visit the Facebook communities’ platform.
New Tools for Group Admins and Members.
Group admins want to keep their communities safe, organized and engaged. Today we added four new features to support them.
Admin tools: Admins can now find member requests, Group Insights and more together in one place, making it easier to manage groups and freeing up more time for admins to connect with members.
Group announcements: Group admins want to be able to more easily share updates, so we’re introducing group announcements to let admins post up to 10 announcements that appear at the top of their group.
Group rules: Keeping communities safe is important. Now admins can create a dedicated rules section to help them effectively communicate the rules of the group to their members.
Personalization: Each community has its own identity — now admins can add a personalized color that is displayed throughout their group.
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