Facebook reportedly testing meme-platform called LOL to regain lost teens

Since the past year Facebook has been losing a lot of people, especially teenagers, from its platform, particularly after the numerous data breaches. In order to bring those teens back, Facebook has been building a dedicated platform for them for memes and viral content.

Facebook is trying to regain its lost followers through a new platform named LOL, designed as a ‘special feed of funny videos and GIF-like clips’ with the help of content ‘pulled from News Feed posts by top meme Pages of Facebook’, as per a report by Tech Crunch.

LOL is currently in private beta and is being tested by 100 high school students who got their parental consent to participate and signed non-disclosure agreements with Facebook. The users can reportedly choose three reactions for the memes appearing in LOL: ‘Funny’, ‘Alright’, or ‘Not Funny’.

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LOL seems to arrange content in collected labeled ‘Dailies’ with an interface resembling that of Snapchat’s Discover feature, wrote Engadget. There are further categories that sort content based on the subject matter or theme including ‘Savage’, ‘Wait for It’, ‘Pranks’, and ‘Fails’. They also include personalized recommendations under the ‘For You’ tab.

However, as per Tech Crunch, people familiar with LOL described the app as ‘cringey’, often incorporating weeks old memes and videos that have already been seen before.