Facebook offers up a new 'prayer post' feature

Facebook is reportedly expanding its "prayer post" feature, first added to the social media company's platform during the height of the coronavirus pandemic.  

The feature, utilized during an era when much of the world was confined to their homes, allows users to post or respond to prayer requests within certain Facebook groups, a company spokesperson confirmed to USA Today. 

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"Once a prayer request has been posted, group members can choose to indicate they’ve prayed, react, leave a comment, or send a private message," the Facebook spokesperson said.  

Representatives for Facebook did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment. 

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After the pandemic limited in-person gatherings, faith leaders around the world faced the unprecedented challenge of being able to stay connected with their communities, according to Facebook. To help, the company said it gathered information to help users "leverage Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp to make it easier to connect with and serve" members and followers of their faith-based community.  

Over the course of the year, Facebook saw many of those faith and spiritual communities utilize its tools to do just that. 

In Facebook's "2020 Year in Review" blog post, the company acknowledged that consumers used the platform to "to build and maintain" their faith and community "even at a distance."

For instance, during Easter and Passover in 2020, when in-person religious services were on pause, Facebook saw the highest amount of group video calls on Messenger. It was also the most popular week for Facebook Live broadcasts from spiritual pages, according to Facebook. 

Now, even as the world slowly eases back to pre-pandemic life, Facebook says it's continuing to explore "new tools to" support" these communities, the spokesperson added.