Facebook is reportedly working on a new standalone app that will let users share certain pieces of content with different groups of users.
The social network has tried and failed to increase user engagement by letting them select who sees their posts by using friend lists, which appears when users click on a small, almost unnoticeable icon at the bottom of their status box. Now, with the rumored new app Facebook is working on, the social network aims to create an easier, simpler way for users to share only the sides of them they want to show certain users.
Existence of the app, called Moments, was first reported by TechCrunch, which was approached by "multiple sources," including a Facebook employee who said he saw a live version of the app being demoed. The sources said Moments is currently being tested by Facebook employees and, if Facebook approves launching off the app, will allow users to choose who to post their status to by simply tapping on one of several squares in the app's grid-like interface.
One of the sources likened Moments to the app Cluster, which lets users create their own safe spaces where they can share specific content with specific groups of people, such as their family, college buddies or co-workers. It also works a bit like Circles on Google+, where users can assign their friends to certain circles and can choose which circles they share their posts with.
In 2010, Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg said Friend Lists did not catch on as well as he would have liked, with only 5 percent of all users filtering who sees their posts. A year after that, Facebook took Friend Lists and gave it a makeover by automatically creating these lists for users and allowing users to create a list for distant acquaintances if they want to. Although more users noticed the Friend Lists feature, it still does not provide the simple privacy features Facebook users are looking for.
With Moments, however, Facebook could be hoping that having an entire app for the single experience of choosing which friends see users' posts will ease concerns about user privacy. The app could prove to be extremely useful for people who didn't know they shared to the public a status they did not want a certain person to see or those who are using private messaging but prefer the tidier look of the comments section. Self-censoring users and users who don't want embarrassing comments from family infiltrating their club-hopping photos from last night could also find much use in Moments.
Speaking to TechCrunch, which reached out to Facebook for a comment, a spokesperson said: "We do not comment on on rumors or speculation."
