Mashable - The Social Media Guide - Latest Comments in Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Jack Yan — Sat, 12 Dec 2009 21:42:22 -0000

I realize there are other differences, Jim, having read your post before I commented. My point was that to most users, those differences won’t be particularly meaningful.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Chris Marentis — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:22:03 -0000

Key here is how to use Facebook Pages and Groups for marketing purposes. Groups are a great way to become a de facto leader in your niche if you can get a following. Pages are the social media equivalent of broadcasting. Both are great marketing tools for different reason. What do others think is the most effective?

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

grantkikkert — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:45:34 -0000

Jim... I feel your pain. My band is named "Nuts In A Blender" and we were restricted from creating a page because of our name. Simply ridiculous.

My dissatisfaction with groups is that #1- I can't anomynously post to our Facebook Group wall as an admin... instead It comes up as my personal Facebook account posting to the wall. #2- I find that new wall posts (like pics or video) don't show up in news feeds. Pretty lame... sorta defeats the whole purpose of having a centralized group to communicating with. Instead I must now spam (send message) group members with updates. That's the last thing I want to do.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

footballworldcuptickets — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 04:01:14 -0000

Your blog post is too nice of football. If you want good entertainment and want to get enjoyment of live matches of pool then get Arsenal Tickets in online market for more enjoyment of holidays.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Jim Kerry Helmer — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 00:52:09 -0000

Yo let's see how smart facebook is?????? Let's see if they can post a calendar of events to facebook groups. show me the royalties!!!! Just do it!!!!k

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

David Breshears — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 21:57:22 -0000

It's like putting lipstick on a pig. Groups are a disaster, but they're not beyond repair. I just finished a blog entry about this, and would be very grateful for any comments http://tinyurl.com/yzw2tkz

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

David Breshears — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 13:06:22 -0000

That's unfortunate. There should be an opt-in feature that allows users to receive updates from any contributor to a group page.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

David Breshears — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 12:52:03 -0000

From a social architecture perspective, they should perform very different functions (and according to Facebook's explanation of the difference between the two, they theoretically do). A group is a gathering place based on shared affinities, the content of which is generated by its members, and the shared interests are generally broader than a single brand, celebrity, band, etc. Interactions on group pages may be one-to-one, but they may also be one-to-many and many-to-many via discussions and other applications. Pages, on the other hand, are gathering places based on a shared affinity with a particular brand, celebrity, band, etc., the content of which is primarily generated by that entity's representative(s) (and, to a lesser extent, by the wall postings and contributions of fans), and the primary interaction, as you noted, is one-to-many (although, once again, one-to-one and many-to-many interactions are also supported). If Facebook really wants to make groups useful, they'll figure out a way to link pages to groups. For example, a group for soccer fans should also link to pages for Arsenal fans, Adidas fans, and a page for my son's YMCA team.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Peter — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 09:38:28 -0000

Alright, the new groups system is truly a mess.

First off, can anyone please confirm that the admin option "Non-admins can write on the wall" does not work. I tried to turn of so that members cannot post and it did not work.

Facebook just keeps making it worse and worse. They even bloody removed the auto link on the information tab. LOL.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Sarah Booker Lewis — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 09:25:35 -0000

I admin a number of groups on Facebook and dislike the changes.
One of the groups is the largest vegetarian group on Facebook, with many members complaining they can't see discussions properly the way they used to, and dislike not having the news at the top of the page.
It seems to be change for the sake of it.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Name — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 17:47:13 -0000

Group descriptions seem to be having some issues. Spacing has been disabled so if edited everything will clump into one massive paragraph. Hoping this is fixed soon.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Jessica Bowen — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 10:39:46 -0000

i what to go on face book

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Jim Reid — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:04:00 -0000

It looks like Facebook used a different solution; they added an Information box on the Wall page to go with the Info tab.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

sms scrape — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 03:28:21 -0000

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Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

www.facebook4ever.blogspot.com — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:54:10 -0000

Soulja Boy - WoW - That's a lot of hits.
www.facebook4ever.blogspot.com

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Jim Reid — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:43:05 -0000

This is a HUGE improvement to Groups. Previously, because Group interactions never appeared in members' News Feeds, activity in most groups was pretty low. Now I can see them becoming a viable tool in Facebook. However, there a couple of features I hope they implement. First, they should add the option of choosing the tab users land on when accessing a Group. This would allow admins to see the Info tab first if they use it to post Group news. Second, I hope they add the ability to add a Group to a custom friend list. I have a default custom friend list as my default News Feed and I would like to add a couple of my Groups to it. The good news is that both of these features are available for Pages, so hopefully it won't be hard for them to add them to Groups.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Jim Reid — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:38:03 -0000

Hopefully Facebook will add the option to select the initial tab displayed to users of a Group the same way they do with Pages. This would allow you to have people land on the Info tab first.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Jim Reid — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:27:21 -0000

There are other differences between Pages and Groups besides the Wall and New Feeds. See my post above for a few of them.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Jim Reid — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:24:30 -0000

Because, as the Facebook blog post mentions, they are designed for different purposes. Look at my post above for a few of the features that set them apart from one another.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Jim Reid — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:07:18 -0000

I disagree. Too many people join groups on Facebook to simply show support for a cause or affiliation with a group without actually using the Group features.. Facebook want to show the primary focus of Groups is for interaction between members. Making the Group Wall more prominent, adding commenting and likes, and having it supply data to members' News Feeds pushes people to interact with the Group more.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Greentea — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 21:01:50 -0000

Discussion board in Facebook group will become useless as people don't bother to click the "Discussion" tab. I hate the new layout!

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Jack Yan — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:30:06 -0000

It makes even less sense to separate fan pages and groups now. While Facebook has given that explanation, considering group messages (with the caveat you make in the post) and fan messages now both appear on members’ feeds, the distinction is irrelevant. Put simply, messages sent by fans to the fan page should behave in the same way as group messages.

Interestingly, this is one of the few surprise Facebook changes that (a) I like and (b) work.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Jim Reid — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:26:21 -0000

There are other differences between Groups and Pages. For example, the Photos application works differently for each. The Photo app on Pages allows admins and fans to post photos into the Page's photo albums. The Photo app in Groups allows members to post to a group photo album directly, too. But it also lets you link in photos from your own albums to the group. This way, you don't have two copies of the photos, each with separate tags and comments. Another difference is that an admin posting to a Page has the post show as "from" the Page itself, whereas admin posts to a group still show up from the admin himself. Lastly, Facebook restricts Page creation more than Group creation. Our intramural kickball team is name "Ballz Deep." I could create a Group but not a Page for the team due to Facebook's restrictions on Page names.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

Jim Reid — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:18:11 -0000

The announcement from Facebook mentioned that your posts in a Group's Wall will only go into the New Feed for people that are also your friends on Facebook. I think this applies to both group members and admins.

Re: Facebook Groups Finally Getting a Makeover

George Kao — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 12:31:22 -0000

What will NOT appear in News Feeds with the new Groups redesign:
News Discussion posts and comments within discussion threads

What WILL appear:
* The wall postings (to groups) of your friends who also happen to be in the same Group
* New links, photos, videos, or wall postings posted to the Group by the Group Admin

Can someone confirm if these are true?