Facebook has a plan to win over Gen Z. Don’t laugh.

Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook is trying to reach the youngs.

Meta just unveiled its plan for Facebook to win over a surprising demographic: Gen Z.

I say surprising because it’s widely known that Facebook is “for old people” — many teens and young people think of it as something their mom or grandma uses. In a 2023 Pew survey on teen internet use, only about one-third of US teens ages 13 to 17 said they used Facebook. Compare that with Pew’s 2014 survey, when 71% of teens said they used Facebook.

Meta’s new plan for Facebook — and winning over younger people — revolves around two prongs:

First, more discovery in the feed. This means more recommended content like reels and other posts in the feed instead of posts from friends and family — sort of like how the Instagram feed has lately been more about the discovery of people you don’t follow. That’s a significant reversal from the 2018 change to Facebook’s news feed, prioritizing posts from your friends and family over publisher content.

Secondly, Facebook hopes to lure young adults back with offerings like Marketplace, Dating, Groups, and Events.

Note that Facebook is looking for “young adults” rather than teens — this may be partly because Meta is anxious about promoting its products too directly to teenagers when the company is facing serious scrutiny and lawsuits about its apps’ effects on teen mental health. It might not be a great look to be courting a teen audience at the moment.

However, Facebook also has more to offer “young adults” than teens. In rolling out the latest changes, Facebook gives the example of a recent college grad, maybe 22, who has just moved to a new city. They need to furnish their apartment cheaply, so they use Marketplace to get a used couch. That person might find fun things to do through Events and join local Groups. They might also use Facebook Dating. And maybe they hang out on the app and watch some entertaining reels in their feed, too. (Video accounts for about 60% of time spent on Facebook, according to Meta.)

Don’t laugh—I think this actually might work. The real secret power here is Marketplace, the swap-meet-like service that’s incredibly useful for many people. I know several people who reluctantly joined Facebook just to be able to use Marketplace. I use Marketplace all the time.

Some of Facebook’s plans sound a little overly positive. I’m sure Meta would prefer us all to think of Groups as a nice place to find tips about houseplants rather than remembering Groups like Stop the Steal. And I don’t think Facebook Dating is a huge hit. (Meta says Dating numbers are up 20% year over year but doesn’t say how many people are using it.)

And there’s another thing going for Facebook that I won’t be surprised if young adults joining for the first time are pleasantly surprised by: The site works pretty well. That sounds like a really low bar, but consider what it’s competing with Craigslist, Evite, and Reddit. Not exactly the most user-friendly sites. What a 22-year-old who finally joins Facebook might discover is something of an “everything app” (much to Elon Musk’s dismay, I’m sure).

It’s not a social network anymore; it’s a place to accomplish basic tasks and watch some videos. It might not keep you glued to the app for hours when trying to sleep like TikTok does, but growing a younger demographic by offering utility is an excellent long-term strategy.

Instagram seemed against the ropes not long ago, mired in millennial avocado-toast cringe. But it managed to get its mojo back and compete against TikTok, even with teens. Mark Zuckerberg has even managed to turn his reputation largely by wearing some new clothes. I know it seems improbable that Facebook could become cool for Gen Z, but don’t count it out — they might pull this off.