Now that the new facebook groups have been out for a bit, I wanted to post my "take" on them so far.
The new facebook groups are still 'too new to tell' in many respects, but they certainly have the potential to change the way that we use facebook quite a bit. The question is, whether it will.
As facebook staffers admit, the mass majority of people will continue to use facebook as they always have. They aren't 'creators' of anything. Just like "in real life", there are those who are entrepreneurial, and those who aren't. (That's not a bad thing!)
Advantages to the new groups include:
- All posts have the ability to be seen by members (under the default settings that is. Users can change their own settings.)
- Ability to group chat. This is a fantastic feature, but also a curse to some (which is why facebook recently added the ability for users to disable it:)
- Ability to create a place for like-minded, or like-interested people to connect differently. This is a new and improved way for people to connect around similar interests, in a more relevant environment, and a more interactive way.
- Like a Yahoo group - in facebook. In some respects this is like a yahoo group, only it's more "personal". Personal in the sense that it 'feels that way' (primarily due to the user photos in my opinion)
- Better than email lists. In many ways this is better than an email list for many (although for certain groups of people, email lists are ideal). For those of us who spend a lot of time in facebook, this is a good thing. It is also good because we feel more connected to the people there (see photo comment above). For those with Gynormous lists, this isn't the alternative, but if you are focused on being relevant to very specific people, or those with specific interests, it may be a good thing to do in addition to those lists.
- Ability to participate without having to go to facebook. For me this isn't an advantage, since I am usually in facebook. However, this is appealing to many. People can read and respond to posts in the group directly through email without having to go to facebook. This could be an advantage if you are using your cell phone, or if you work for one of those dinosaur companies that doesn't allow you to use facebook at work (*eyes roll:)
- Privacy, but with notifications. To me this is one of the biggest advantages to the new groups. I have had groups in the past with my coaching groups. They wanted the upmost assurance of privacy so that they could post freely, so the groups were set to 'private'. The trouble was, they had to GO THERE every day to see new posts as they did not receive any notifications of new updates. This was a big pain, and dramatically reduced the value of it. Now they can receive notifications and updates via facebook and/or email (and they can choose the settings).
Whether this will 'change everything' remains to be seen. People don't typically embrace new things fully, and this may be no different. Time will tell. I do believe that it does have the potential to change the way that many people use facebook. I can see people spending more time in groups than 'in the feed" (I already am anyway:), and I can see people using groups for communications in ways that they couldn't before, and so on.
Time will tell, I suppose!
What are your thoughts?
Feel free to add your own thoughts regarding the advantages, or any pitfalls that you see or anticipate with these new groups.
If you didn't read my first post on the new facebook groups, feel free to start there! (Click here)