SAN FRANCISCO | At Facebook, mere sharing is getting old. Finding deeper meaning in online communities is the next big thing.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg is no longer satisfied with just connecting the world so that people can pass around baby pictures and live video or fake news and hate symbols. So the Facebook founder wants to bring more meaning to its nearly 2 billion users by shepherding them into online groups that bring together people with common passions, problems and ambitions.

Much like the creation of Facebook itself arguably the largest social-engineering project in history that shift could have broad and unanticipated consequences. Facebook will apply the same powerful computer algorithms that make its service so compelling to the task of boosting membership in meaningful groups to more than a billion people within five years.

If successful, that would also encourage people to spend more time on Facebook, which could boost the companys profits. While Facebook doesnt currently place ads in its groups, it said it cant speak to future plans. Advertising is virtually Facebooks only source of revenue ; it brought in almost $27 billion in 2016, 57 percent more than the previous year.

THE SEARCH FOR MEANING

The shift comes as Facebook continues to grapple with the darker side of connecting the world, from terrorist recruitment to videos of murder and suicides, to propaganda intended to disrupt elections around the world. For Zuckerberg, using his social network to build community and bring the world closer together two phrases from Facebooks newly updated mission statement is a big part of the answer.

When you think of the social structure of the world, we are probably one of the larger institutions that can help empower people to build communities, Zuckerberg said in a recent interview at the companys offices in Menlo Park, Calif. There, I think we have a real opportunity to help make a difference.

Zuckerberg outlined his latest vision at a communities summit held Thursday in Chicago. Its the companys first gathering for the people who run millions of groups on Facebook, a feature the company rolled out years ago to little fanfare. Facebook is also rolling out new administrative tools intended to simplify the task of screening members and managing communities in hopes that will encourage people to create and cultivate more groups.

COME TOGETHER

Facebook groups are ad hoc collections of people united by a single interest; they offer ways to chat and organize events. Originally conceived as a way for friends and family to communicate privately, groups have evolved to encompass hobbies, medical conditions, military service, pets, parenthood and just about anything else you could think of.

To Zuckerberg, now 33, the effort to foster meaningful communities reflects his recent interest in ways Facebook can make the world a less divisive place, one that emerged following the fractious 2016 presidential election.

He has previously talked about the need to bring people together in both a lengthy manifesto published earlier this year and during his commencement address at Harvard University last month.

MEANING, FACEBOOK STYLE

Data-driven to its core, Facebook has quantified meaning so it can be sure people are getting more of it. And what Facebook aims to maximize is the time people spend in its online groups. Whenever someone spends at least 30 minutes a week in a group, Facebook classifies it as meaningful. The company estimates 130 million of its users are in such groups; it aims to boost that to over a billion by 2022.

Facebook has already been tweaking its algorithms to recommend more groups to users. Those changes have increased the number of people in meaningful groups by 50 percent over the past six months, Zuckerberg said a testament to the power of algorithms on human behavior.

Of course, anything that keeps people coming back to Facebook also gives it more opportunities to learn about their interests and other personal details that help it sell advertising, according to analysts.

Its really simple economics: If users are spending time on Facebook, theyre seeing more ads, said eMarketer analyst Debra Williamson. Increasing user engagement is a necessity for Facebook.

COMMUNITY COLLAGE

Virtual communities can fill a fundamental need we have for a sense of belonging, much like eating or sleeping, said Anita Blanchard, a psychologist at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte who has studied them for 20 years. Facebooks plan to connect people with like-minded fellows sounds like a fine idea, she said.

Blanchards research has also shown online communities can make people less intolerant of opposing viewpoints. They get you out of your own clothes and make connections across the U.S., making you realize you can get along with people with different beliefs, she said.

For Sarah Giberman, an artist and parent who lives in Arlington, Texas, a meaningful group is one that serves a need in your life, that fills some space that would otherwise feel vacant.

I spend a lot more time on Facebook because of the groups than I would otherwise, she said. Especially with the current sociopolitical climate, Im not comfortable being very open in my regular newsfeed.

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Facebook wants to nudge you into 'meaningful' online groups - Online Athens

President Donald Trump, center, speaks as first lady Melania Trump and Vice President Mike Pence listen at the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday, June 22, 2017. Alex Brandon/AP hide caption

President Donald Trump, center, speaks as first lady Melania Trump and Vice President Mike Pence listen at the Congressional Picnic on the South Lawn of the White House on Thursday, June 22, 2017.

Moments into his highly anticipated on-camera briefing Wednesday the first after a seven-day absence Trump press secretary Sean Spicer was asked about the persistent rumor that he will soon transition into a new role within the White House communications team one that removes him from the spotlight and into a less visible position.

He opted for an indirect response to a very direct question: "I'm still here."

But, he added, "It's no secret we've had a couple of vacancies including our communications director who's been gone for a while. We've been seeking input from individuals as far as ideas that they have. We've been meeting with potential people that may be of service to this administration."

To say that the Trump administration has "a couple of vacancies" is an understatement. Although that may technically be true for the beleaguered, combative and sometimes flummoxed communications team, a slew of leadership positions across an array of departments remain unfilled five months into Donald Trump's presidency. To put it in perspective, using data culled by the Center for Presidential Transition and reported by the Washington Post, by this point in his first term, President Obama had confirmed 151 top political appointees, whereas Trump only has 43 in place.

It is not that the White House is not trying to fill the posts. Or that these are not lucrative positions. In fact, the role of press secretary has opened the door to top-dollar broadcasting deals for many of Spicer's predecessors. Ari Fleischer, who served under President George W. Bush, and Jay Carney, who served under President Obama, both ended up at CNN. Robert Gibbs, another Obama alum, joined NBC News and MSNBC as a contributor, while Dana Perino, who was on President George W. Bush's staff, left the White House for Fox News where she remains as the co-host of The Five.

But amid the investigations, low approval numbers, and notoriously capricious nature of the president it's been challenging for the White House to lure takers.

So perhaps it is time for the Trump administration which has promised to run the government more like a business to remove the political from "political appointees" and ask, "How does an organization entice top-tier talent when it is embroiled in chaos?"

In other words, WWHRD: What would human resources do?

It turns out hiring and recruiting experts have a lot to say on the subject, including Peter Cappelli, a professor of management at the Wharton Business School where Trump took a handful of undergraduate classes and director of the Center for Human Resources.

What Trump or his advocates should be doing, according to Cappelli, is appeal to a perspective employee's sense of patriotic duty and self-interest.

Here is his pitch: "You're serving your country. The job won't last that long. Administrations don't go on forever, but afterwards, you will be more valuable."

At the end of the day, he added, that is the kind of offer employers, regardless of industry, should make whenever they're courting an in-demand candidate.

Ultimately, Cappelli argued, "it's a pretty good bet for somebody to take over an organization that everybody knows is in big trouble and that expectations are really low."

It would help for interested yet tentative applicants to think of the troubled company as a "sinking ship."

"If you get on board it and it sinks, nobody blames you," he laughed. "If it's sinking and something nice happens and it turns around you get all the credit!"

But he cautioned that there is such a thing as a company that is too far gone. Remember Enron? If somehow a jobless executive had been bamboozled into taking a job at the energy giant when it was already mired in lawsuits and fraud charges, there would be no way to recover professionally.

He called walking into that situation "a losing proposition." One in which it is "more likely you're going to be tarred by the brush."

Cappelli suggested the most well-suited type for a job at an organization in crisis and under a boss who is unfazed by completely reversing course on any given endeavor, is someone with a military background. "People who are used to accepting direction and executing orders for the good of the greater mission," he said. And perhaps, most importantly, "they're used to falling on their swords for superiors."

But Rom Brafman, co-author of the best-selling book, Sway: The Irresistible Pull of Irrational Behavior, disagrees with that analysis and believes the opposite is true.

The candidate most likely to thrive under these circumstances, Brafman contended, is one who is flexible and creative because they can more easily adapt to unforeseen changes. For someone like this, he continued, chaos is a terrific trigger for innovation.

"Chaotic systems have gotten a very bad rap," he said.

A mercurial boss could be a great thing, he advised. "If somebody's telling you that one day something is good and one day something is bad, that creates the opportunity to go with either direction."

He said the benefits of unstructured systems are two-fold: unlike a structured organization, one that is in turmoil is more tolerant of deviations from the norm and, even in cases where they may not be officially condoned, a motivated worker-bee can typically go unnoticed and on task while the rest of the hive buzzes around trying to save their own jobs.

So, why then, aren't more start-up types clamoring to work for the new administration? Brafman's answer is what behavioral economists call it loss aversion. It is the idea that "losses generally have a much larger psychological impact than gains of the same size."

His example involves finding a hundred dollar bill. That would bring most anyone a certain degree of joy, but psychologists have found that losing the same amount of money is two and half times more upsetting.

That, he explained, is what is preventing talented and potentially interested applicants from throwing their hat in the Trump White House's ring. They are more fearful of being tainted by the administration's reputation or the possibility of failure than the unknown possibilities of success.

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What Would Human Resources Do?: Some Advice For Trump As He Recruits And Staffs Up - NPR

Cutline :Stock photo

That happy medium.

You know, that nebulous line between hunger and gluttony, exercise and self-punishment, having one drink and having one too many.

For some, it can feel like navigating a narrow channel.

But by finding the happy medium, or a route of moderation, one can avoid many of life's potential problems, from extra pounds to alcohol abuse.

"For a human being to be healthy, you eat right, exercise, socialize," says Dr. Sharon Braun of the Community Counseling Center. "You improve your mind."

Stock photo

The problem, surprising even to Braun, who helps individuals navigate life for a living, is how few follow a healthy path.

She cited a report published in U.S. News and World Report where just 2.7 percent Americans were graded as having healthy lifestyle habits from data on more than 4,700 people. The study assessed the four general principles of healthy living -- a good diet, moderate exercise, not smoking and keeping body fat under control.

The study, typical of standard lifestyle advice given by doctors, did not even address areas of behavior where moderation, if not exercised, can lead to problems on countless fronts.

"If you asked 10 individuals, you would probably get 10 different answers," Braun says about common areas where people have trouble exercising moderate behavior. "Some of which include gambling, shopping, eating, video games, exercise, perfection, drinking, drugs, hoarding, violence, sexual obsession, smoking, tattooing and so on. Some of these behaviors are addictions and some are compulsions."

She says the difference between excessive behavior and compulsive behavior lies in choice and control.

While both are problematic, Braun views moderate behavior as the opposite of excessive behavior.

Moderate behavior, she says, can be achieved through "experiential learning," and identifying behaviors that affect an individual positively or negatively. While trial and error is involved, she says "mindfulness" also plays into recognizing whether behavior is a good fit or not -- whether it's beneficial or detrimental.

That mindfulness helps individuals determine their limits and choose not to go beyond, which she defines as "moderate behavior."

That self-awareness can help in identifying situations, knowing personal tendencies and developing strategies to moderate behavior.

When mindful, there can be simple, practical approaches to moderation.

For example, in the pursuit of healthier eating, Charlotte Cervantes, an instructor of dietetics at Southeast Missouri State University, recommends being mindful of portion sizes.

"One of the biggest things that we will say to people who are wanting to lose weight or moderate their intake is pay attention to the plate you're eating off or the bowling you're eating off, because if they're enormous, then you're going to fill them up," Cervantes says.

She says using a smaller plate, and filling it, looks more visually appealing and satisfying than the same portion on a smaller plate.

She recommends questioning the size of the cup used when using higher-calorie drinks like milk. Mindfulness also comes into play when sitting down with a box of healthy food, only to consume multiple servings that pile up calories.

Braun says knowing oneself allows choices to be made, rather than imposing self-discipline.

For Cervantes, it's healthy choices.

"In terms of restaurant food, I think a good thing to do is usually if you get a plate, just immediately pack up half of it to go," Cervantes says. "Restaurant portion sizes are so big and you're probably only hungry for half of it, but you'll kind of stuff yourself to capacity because it's there. I'd say put half of it in a to-go box, and if you're really hungry at the end of that meal, then kind of get into it. If not, then you have a meal for tomorrow."

Applied to the rest of life one will find, like leftovers, moderation serves well for the future.

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Moderating diet and behavior can lead to a healthy, well-balanced life - Southeast Missourian