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Social networks have long been viral phenomena on the Internet.
Humorous phrases, images and videos reflect everyday situations and are particularly popular with young people who use platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat to share them.
Now, Facebook wants to use them to win back teenagers, who are abandoning the social network at a dramatic pace.
Mark Zuckerberg and his team are developing a new platform, called Facebook LOL, which would essentially be a source of memes, videos, and GIFs, according to TechCruch, a technology website. The information was later confirmed by Facebook.
LOL is an acronym for "Laughing out loud", something that sounds like "dying of laughter" in Portuguese. And that's what it's all about: an entertainment platform with which young people can have fun.
The idea is that it be organized into categories such as "animals", "jokes", "celebrities" and "games" and that users can evaluate the content by saying how c & # 39; Is fun. They will also be able to share memes and create their own memos, and receive recommendations via the algorithm.
The new platform is not yet available. It would be tested with a group of one hundred American high school students who signed confidentiality agreements with parental consent to participate in focus groups and individual tests under the supervision of the social network team.
For the moment, it is not possible to know if the platform would be launched as a new social network function or as a separate application.
"We are doing a little experiment and the concept is still in its infancy," a company spokesman told TechCrunch.
The problem of Facebook with teenagers
Although Facebook continues to grow in recent years (since 2014, according to the company), more and more young people are migrating to alternative services, which creates obstacles for the term social network.
Although one of the most popular options that they use is Instagram, which is also Facebook, the social network does not want to lose this audience.
"Facebook has a problem with teens," said Bill Fisher of eMarketer, a US market research firm.
This may be explained by the fact that people like their parents and grandparents also use the social network.
"With the presence of adults who send out friendships, the youngest ones decided to do what they always do: to turn away from the adult world," wrote L & # 39; 39 media expert Gabriela Warkentin in the text entitled "Mother, skirt of my Facebook!".
With LOL, Facebook would try to speak the language of young people and try to get it back, as it already does with Instagram Stories and with animated emojis.
The company has already tried to do the same by creating copies of Snapchat under the Poke and Slingshot apps and buying TBH ("To be honest" or "to be honest") in 2017 as an email application . Anonymous for teens – and had to close nine weeks after the acquisition despite poor results.
Are memes a more effective strategy?
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