So Facebook announced today that its Groups pages will look more like Fan Pages... meaning you'll be seeing Group updates on your News Feed. It's a slow roll out, with only a few members seeing the changes today.
So what's the difference now between a Group and a Fan Page? Not much.
Here's how Facebook differentiates it:
Keep in mind that while Groups and Pages now look the same, they still serve different purposes. Groups are for fostering member-to-member collaboration, while Pages remain the best way to broadcast messages to your fans if you are a business, organization, public figure or other entity.
Niala and I have been discouraging people from starting Groups, because it ends up being something that most people join and then forget about -- although these changes mean Groups will probably be more active. But the bottom line is, if you're all about broadcasting messages, then you're still better off with a Fan Page.
If you created both a Group and a Fan Page that serves the same purpose, it's probably best to delete the one that doesn't best fit your purpose, so newcomers won't be confused by which to join since they'll look similar.
YES MAKE GROUPS -- or make group mailing lists, it's only proper netiquette! You could end up losing friends with people deleting you without an email otherwise.
Posted by: THE PHOENIX | October 21, 2009 at 04:17 PM
How the hell is a fan page better for broadcasting messages? Groups allow to send a mass message out to all it's members IN THEIR INBOX... it would take ou forever to message 5,000 people indidvidlualy... I dont know why fan pages dont let you dont but it sucks...
Posted by: lance | November 28, 2009 at 12:46 AM
I just tried to create a fan page for my business and sent the invite to all my friends only 13 joined because I had to phone them up and explain how to follow the link, it did not come up in their facebook notifications it just to their emails and they could not follow the link. And apparently there's no way to delete a fan page so now it's floating in cyber space... From what i'm reading here a group will be able to have status updates just like the fan pages?
Posted by: Margo | November 18, 2010 at 08:35 AM
I don't think I'd enjoy being flooded with group messages, but then again, some people may like this, and may even call it convenient.
Posted by: Regan Marye | May 04, 2011 at 07:22 AM