Facebook is exploring a new feature that will enable users to create and manage multiple profiles from a single account, in an attempt to increase user growth.
Its spokesperson, Leonard Lam, stated that the feature is intended to help users “tailor their experience based on interests and relationships”.
Facebook essentially bars users from creating more than one account but this feature will let them create a maximum of five profiles under their main account.
This will allow the creation of curated profiles (with respective feeds) particular to engagements with close friends, family, and co-workers, or for specific interests such as gaming or traveling.
The new feature will let users make profiles with different names, albeit subject to Facebook’s rules and policies that forbid misrepresentation, and impersonation of public figures, Lam explained. The main profile will also have to conform to the terms for using the actual name of the user. Moreover, certain Facebook features like Facebook Dating and creating a page will only be available on the main profiles.
Lam warned that violation of Facebook’s community guidelines via any of the profiles will lead to disciplinary action against the entire account.
“Anyone who uses Facebook must continue to follow our rules,” he remarked.
Lam also mentioned that Facebook’s parent company, Meta, is testing the new feature in a few countries but did not reveal when or where the feature will be released.
The test accompanies Meta’s decelerated profit growth and fierce competition from rivals like TikTok, following sluggish quarterly user growth in February, which had flustered its investors.