Back in the day, when I first joined Facebook, and started to explore its usefulness in helping to get the word out about my client’s work, I started a lot of groups. The Page function wasn’t something that we really used too much. Well, as time has gone on, Facebook has made some really fantastic upgrades to the Page function, making it the thing to have for your Business on Facebook.
Over the last little while, many, many people have abandoned their Groups for Pages. The problem is, you can’t delete a group. The only way to do it is for every single member of the group to leave, and then the administrator to leave last. Which is very complicated, and a lot of work, so there are a lot of inactive groups floating around on Facebook.
Then, Facebook created a new Group format. The goal of these groups is to unite a bunch of people around a common subject or theme, and they can be open or closed. I have one, for example, for my Book Club. The new groups interface allows functionality not previously present, like being able to group chat, post docs, and most importantly, to see notifications whenever someone posts something new in the group. One of my favorite old FB Groups feature, the ability to create an event and invite everyone in the group to the event with one click, remains.
In an effort to get businesses off of Groups and into Pages, Facebook is going to “archive” the old Groups function. Basically, what this boils down to, is your Group will still have a home on FB, but it will essentially be washed clean of members. Which is the whole point of having a group.
So. You have two choices if you have an old-school Group:
- Get a Facebook Page. If you have a business, this is the way to go.
- Upgrade your Group. If you have an old Group, you’ll see a link at the top asking you to upgrade.
If, like many of my clients, you already abandoned your group for a page some time ago, then this is probably a good thing. Less flotsam and jetsam on Facebook.