Facebook to ramp up 'Groups' feature, focus on online communities

With the aim to put online communities at the centre of Facebook, the social networking giant is testing the expansion of its Groups feature.

The social media giant is testing a Groups section in its smartphone app that will see it appear alongside the main notifications, friends requests and news feed areas which has appeared in recent days for some users, Telegraph.co.uk reported on Monday.

The Groups feature which is usually hidden in the app's settings will be brought to the forefront with this move to enable the Facebook experience to centre around online communities.

"This is a test to help people more easily navigate Facebook and find what is interesting to them," a Facebook spokesman was quoted as saying.

The new Groups section prominently features a "Discover" page for finding new communities.

It shows groups arranged by categories such as "Funny", "Food" and "Sport", as well as groups that friends have joined and those from a local area.

Facebook started a limited test of Discover last year but has been expanding it to more users recently.

The section also features a third page for creating your own group, as well as a special search bar for finding them.

According to reports, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg sees groups -- private or public communities of users centered around a certain topic -- as central to the next chapter of the company's growth to make Facebook a destination for meaningful online connections.