Meta Platforms Inc. (NASDAQ: META) has announced that its flagship social medial site Facebook will introduce ways users could maintain around five profiles, which is a big change from the “real name” requirement the platform has maintained since its establishment.
A new update to allow users to customize experiences
According to a statement from Meta, the product update will enable consumers to customize their experience depending on hobbies and connections, such as posting various types of content intended for family vs. friends.
Each user must continue to have only a single Facebook account, with their primary profile continuing to use their real name, according to company policy. After connecting to that account, users can view any other profiles they make.
The modification gives users official permission to partially conceal their identities on the largest social network platform in the world, keeping up with features provided by rivals like Twitter and TikTok as well as its own video and photo application, Instagram.
According to Meta’s announcement, all profiles will continue to be subject to its policies prohibiting impersonation and other forms of false identity representation. Since all the additional profiles will be in one Facebook account, Facebook says that this multiple profile feature will not change how the company reports user metrics like daily and monthly active users totals.
The multiple profiles feature in pilot in various countries
A spokesman for Meta said the business was piloting the new strategy in a few nations, but she would not say which ones.
The firm had previously prohibited regular members from having more than one Facebook account, thus, the inclusion of multiple profiles represents a shift for the social networking behemoth. Facebook is testing different strategies to increase interaction on its platform while also enticing people to post and distribute more material to others, as seen by the start of the program.
As the firm states, multiple profiles could be used to go further into issues users care about, and the test also demonstrates Facebook’s efforts to expand beyond its current role as a platform for sharing updates with family and friends.
