Facebook Group Communities

[Geoffrey]

I'm curious to see what people here think of Facebook groups as a way to run a community/discussion board. I'm a part of a few (on various topics; theme parks, running, college, etc.) and I am constantly reminded of forums by some of the similarities.

It's much more linear and not threaded (which takes getting used to in the switch over) but it's interesting how Groups have emerged as this new forum-esque model of online communities. You can, though, pin a post with all the "information"/rules for the group, link to other posts in the group, etc. You don't have to friend anyone to join, so your private FB info is (mostly) kept private. And of course, the groups now can have admin/mod users so you've got people clamoring for staff roles just like on good ol' forums... lol. You've even got your trolls and trouble makers, whose behavior is very reminiscent of some infamous forum users.

So with all that said, has anyone else experience Facebook Groups? Thoughts on their functionality/usage? Like I said, I'm curious to see what people here think.

 

[Page]

I never got into it since they somewhat taken over forums

 

[Jason76]

Posts on Facebook pages and groups only reach around 1 to 3 percent without payment.

 

[ForumsGroup]

I use to mess around with Facebook pages. Never really got into the whole creating groups, managing them. I do, however, use Discord as a way to build my communities. Lots of people use Discord now too, so if you can get them in your server on Discord, it could help get them to your community.

I guess its really all about learning the platform and new strategies to drive that traffic towards your community. Discord in a way can take away from the forum, however it has also contributed to building it up. So I think if they work, they can be a good thing towards communities.

 

[Geoffrey]

Posts on Facebook pages and groups only reach around 1 to 3 percent without payment.

Not really talking about advertising/reach. That's certainly true with pages; group are different. You don't see their posts unless you're a member (or you search for them and the group is not private/closed).

 

[Ha Nguyen]

Facebook Groups simple for connection and marketing if u have own products

 

[Corzhens]

The way I see it, Facebook is trying to compete with forums. I am also a member of some Facebook groups and Facebook pages as well that are clones of forums. But I am more comfortable with forums because the control is in the admin. What's worrisome in Facebook groups is that it can be reported and later suspended by Facebook. With a forum, that couldn't happen.

 

[Shannon Apple]

We actually have a Facebook group as well as the forum, but ultimately, our members prefer the forum. When our old site was going down the drain due to AWFUL new owners, (I've told that story) we used the FB group to post while the site was down, which was regularly. It was definately not a replacement for a forum. People were anxious for us to create a new home for them.

If you have a forum and try to switch to a Facebook group, I doubt your members will like it much.

 

[Deathstarr]

the bad thing is Facebook has community standards, guns are included in that too.