Saturday, October 9, 2010

Facebook: "New" Groups vs. "Old" Groups, etc

Facebook Groups and Facebook Pages:

 

Facebook has rolled out a new Groups design. “Bookmen DC” is currently an "old" group on Facebook. Right now "old" groups can't be converted into a "new" group. More info is available at the link  http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=1193  .  The new groups feature seems to be tailored to those people with hundreds of facebook friends, who want more control over their interaction with sub-groups of their friends (e.g., “real” friends and family members).  I think Facebook is trying to become the new Google.  Facebook seems to be in constant flux with regard to features and functionality, so I suspect that they will be adjusting the groups features as they get feedback about the feature of “new groups”.  I have already submitted a few suggestions.  Over the past few months, the privacy settings for Facebook have become more robust and easier to use.

 

I have created a test “new group” (“BookmenDC” [no space between “Bookmen” and “DC”]) and have been tinkering with the features of the new Facebook Groups:

 

·         New groups only allows invites to people who have been “friended”.  Old groups allows invites to all other facebook members using email accounts.

·         New groups does not allow more than one “admin” per group.

·         New groups allows documents posting and sharing using a shared notepad.

·         New groups does not have discussion topics boards.

·         New groups allows online group chats with other group members.

·         New groups allows a group email address (BookmenDC@groups.facebook.com for my test group)

 

 

Facebook Pages is only an option for more formal organizations than ours  http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=904 .

 

Bookmen DC Events on Facebook:

 

We have been experimenting with Facebook as an online venue for Bookmen DC.  I have posted our group’s upcoming meetings as “public” events.  This will allow non-group members to see the details of the meetings on Facebook and perhaps attract some new members to our meetings.

 

 

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