If you’ve started a Facebook Group for your business, you may have already noticed the new redesign. Facebook has officially upgraded the Facebook Groups and they now look nearly identical to the Facebook Pages.  However, there are still some functional differences … at least there are as of TODAY (who knows what tomorrow brings):

Existing Differences between Groups and Pages

1. Groups offer privacy controls such as ‘closed’, ‘open’ and ’secret’. Closed groups are based on limited membership. Secret groups offer membership limits as well, and they don’t appear in the search listings or on the members public profile pages (it’s like a clubhouse). Of course, open groups are public and anyone can join. Pages can only be restricted by age and/or location.
2. You will only notice group updates in your news feed when your friends posts them (as opposed to group members that are not on your friends list).
3. Group administrators can send messages to the group members Inboxes. Page administrators can also send messages to “fans”, but they appear in the “updates” section with the Farmville, Mafia Wars and Quiz invites.
4. Pages can be enhanced with applications such as Simply RSS, Slideshare, Flickr etc.
5. As a group administrator when you post a message to the group, your FB photo will appear. As a page administrator, when you post a message to your page, the photo used on your page profile will appear (most likely your logo).

Should you use Groups or Pages?

Good question. The short answer is ‘it depends’ on your goals & target audience.

Groups are great for membership-based organizations. They offer membership restrictions and discussion boards that allow member conversations. Now that group messages are integrated into the Facebook News Feed, groups are less of a ‘black hole’ and offer the same level of interaction as pages.

Pages are great for broadcasting messages pertaining to your business to the “masses” (which would include your members, clients and well as “fans” of your organization or cause). Also, pages are great for branding & marketing your business to potential customers & members.

Kishau’s Crystal Ball

I predict that, at some point, Facebook Groups will morph into ‘Private’ Pages or Facebook Pages with enhanced membership management features. The security features of groups are still relevant to many businesses and member organizations. If pages are “tweaked” for enhanced membership management (members vs. fans), this would allow administrators to target their messages (to ‘members only’ vs. ‘fans’ vs. ‘everyone’).

What are your thoughts?

One Response to “Introducing Facebook Group Pages”

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