How Facebook groups bring people closer together – neo-Nazis included

Mark Zuckerberg's new mission is to 'bring the world closer together'. But Facebook groups can unite extremists as easily as they serve hobbyists

Ricky Caya was looking for something. A 43-year-old postal service worker and father of two in Quebec, he felt unsettled and unconnected. "The great social movements of the 1960s, the American civil rights movement, flower power, the big trade union movements - people today don't have that," he said.

So when a Facebook post crossed his news feed promoting a new organization that "sought to bring together good people without a voice to finally allow them to have strength in numbers", Caya requested membership to the group and quickly became an active participant and leader.