Facebook’s teen meme project is dead before it was released

Image: Getty Images/Maskot

Facebook is still figuring out how to keep teens, who have been leaving the network in droves.

In January, Facebook was reportedly working on something named LOL, a bid to win over younger users with “a special feed of funny videos and GIF-like clips,” which sat within the main Facebook app. 

The experimentation, which was done with a small number of users, didn’t last very long: Recode reports the LOL project is dead before it even launched. 

A team of 100 people focused on building features for young people has been reorganised, and LOL has been cut, with many of those employees set to be working on its messaging app for kids under 13, Messenger Kids.

“The Youth team has restructured in order to match top business priorities, including increasing our investment in Messenger Kids,” a Facebook spokesperson told Mashable in an email statement.

As per TechCrunch, some people who had viewed LOL described it as “cringey,” in that it was an awkward attempt for the social network to be down with the kids. Some of that meme content too, was weeks old.

LOL was one of many Facebook attempts at building youth-focused features, as teens find more appeal in networks like TikTok, Snapchat, and YouTube. 

There were the numerous Snapchat clones, a TikTok ripoff, and an anonymous polling app called TBH which it bought — then shut down under a year later.

Last week, Facebook had come under criticism for paying teens $20 a month to collect their phone and internet activity for research. They really want those teens, yo.