Q3: September 25, 2009: Facebook group or... - CmtyChat

FB fan pages are more interaction-oriented - Lilian Mahoukou

Facebook suggests using Pages now only. - Dave Weinberg

@dave does that suggest that group will end up going away? - Angela Lawson

Pages are dif. Since new posts and fan activity auto-posts to other ppl's feed which is different than groups and many apps, a good page can keep growing exponentially if monitored. Groups do not have this functionality PLUS cannot be creatively altered using FBML. - Dave Weinberg

I personally love Pages as there are more opportunities for the community to share and engage in the open-stream. Easy to connect with others' messages. - Sonny Gill

I agree with Sonny. We closed down our group and started a fan page - much better features/interactivity. - Michele Gartner

I've just moved a client to a Fan Page from a Group. Not enough time to really judge yet, but so far I'm pleased. - Amy Blake

@Angela Groups wont go away, they serve different purposes. Pages are for companies, orgs and individuals who want to exist as a brand. Groups are more informal and can exist unofficially around those things. - Dave Weinberg

From a member point of view, it is more fun to use pages. You really meet with other people. At the end of the day, it's more members between them. What do you think ? - Lilian Mahoukou

Then, do groups encourage some members to lurk ? - Lilian Mahoukou

@Lilian - right on. Groups to me, as a member of a few, feel like more of an information portal vs. one of engagement. - Sonny Gill

Luckily for me I have @dave on my team and he is moving our group into a Fan page. It's in design currently but I thrilled with what I have seen and am sure it will be great for our engagement and promotional needs. - Angela Lawson

@Lilliian @Sonny That may be OK if your goal is to eventually drive traffic from Facebook to your own site - Lou Ordorica

@Lilian: I'd agree that Facebook Pages tend to be more engaging than groups, but groups tend to have a more limited focus. - Bryan Person

@Lou - good point, Lou. It does all matter on what the goal is of the organization. - Sonny Gill

Definitely pages vs. groups. A group is like a closed community. Fan page is like becoming friends with the brand, and interacting like you would with a FB friend - they show up in your feed, you can write on their walls, etc. - Maria Ogneva

So it's a more natural shift from friend page to fan page - you aren't asking the fans to alter their behavior too much. If this makes sense. - Maria Ogneva

Pages, no question. Groups are only left up for people that created them a while back and haven't transfered. There is no overwhelming reason to start a new group - Scott Bishop

@Maria - you make a good point about users' behaviors on FB. You're right, they don't change as both profile and fan pages are similar in structure. - Sonny Gill

@Maria--that's how I see it too: like a friend page, but for an organization/brand/etc. - Amy Blake

However, Fan pages can pose a greater moderation challenge. You need to know going in what you feel is acceptable and when, if ever you moderate or delete. - Angela Lawson

How about the discussion forums? Do you see those working better on a group or a Page? - Bryan Person

The main advantage i see for groups is being able to send users a message that will show up in their inboxes (fb and potentially e-mail) - Arié Moyal

@Bryan - I'll be honest, I don't pay attention to discussion forums on pages as much as I would in groups. They're more prevalent in the latter. - Sonny Gill

@Angela: Moderation challenge for Pages is greater because they're more public than groups, right? - Bryan Person

@Arie you can do that in a page too. - Dave Weinberg

They other main advantage of pages is the ability to control the look and feel. - Angela Lawson

@Arie, the email option is the last benefit of a group over a page. But I feel that getting too many emails from a group begins to get annoying pretty quickly - Scott Bishop

Dave: It shows up in their Updates tab not in their inbox form what I can tell. Did I miss something? - Arié Moyal

Until recently with Fan page updates showing in your stream, it was easy to get lost in the shuffle with the Updates link instead of Inbox for messages - Joe Kikta

Scott: It's definitely a question of balance :) Too much of most things is a turn off - Arié Moyal

@Scott Agreed! The e-mail option could be used as roundups to post community activity summaries or news - Lilian Mahoukou

@Sonny: The Facebook NBA Page - http://www.facebook.com/nba - is about the only Page where I've seen high volume of content on Discussions tab - Bryan Person

@Arie updates show up in the feed, but you can private msg your fans. - Dave Weinberg

@bryan, Wall feeds will post to fan/friends profiles. More info going out in real time. - Angela Lawson

@Lilian: And what would be the equivalent of using that e-mail function with a Page? - Bryan Person

@Bryan Discussion in pages in no more public than in groups. Think of pages as groups 2.0. - Dave Weinberg

I rarely check my Updates link and I think I'm not alone in that practice - Joe Kikta

@Dave: More "public" in the sense that updates are going out to fans' activity streams. - Bryan Person

@Bryan - 1. No idea why I wasn't apart of that page being a bball lover 2 - discussions are definitely robust. Due in part of the size of their community? Passionate fans? Good thing to ask yourself as a company - do you have something that people will be passionate about? - Sonny Gill

@Joe: I *never* check my Updates link, so you've got me beat - Bryan Person

@Bryan updates to discussions dont appear in fans' streams only major updates and changes do. Such as "X became a fan" or "Watch our new video" - Dave Weinberg

I don't see where you can private message your fans directly into their inbox It goes to the updates tab doesn't it Also you can;t PM one-on-one from what I can tell Maybe Fan Pages for apps is different - Arié Moyal

I just (like a few days ago) started up a FB group for my site. I had a page but didn't really know what to do with it. Maybe I just conceptually understand groups better? After reading this, I'm going to take a closer look at what pages do and see if maybe I should just forget the group and focus on the page. - Michelle

@Bryan It could be a good idea to drive traffic to the main community - Lilian Mahoukou

@Michelle Focus on the page. - Dave Weinberg

I never check my Updates tab either - Arié Moyal

@Bryan But as pages are more interaction-oriented, I would go for engaging in conversations to learn more about my community and talk back. - Lilian Mahoukou

@Arie The link is under your page image. Click the "more button" and "send an update to your fans" appears. - Dave Weinberg

Q4 is up! - Sonny Gill

@Sonny: Thanks ... Q4 is up! - Bryan Person

@Dave: Sorry, was referring to Wall posts! - Bryan Person

Dave That's an update It doesn't go to the inbox nor do they get a notification of an update - Arié Moyal

Fact is that Social Media and Community are merging in a way that many of us "long-time" community practitioners did not see coming. You can't ignore it any longer. My best advice is either hire or connect with a social media guru. When we hired @dave it was exactly for his social media experience. And as a result my social media knowledge has improved drastically. - Angela Lawson

@Dave And as previously mentioned, ppl don't check their Updates section.... - Joe Kikta

@Arie I dont think thats true. It send you to a fb msg dialog box not an feed update. - Dave Weinberg

Dave Maybe it has changed recently but that's not my experience - Arié Moyal

@Joe agreed, neither do I. I think if that sends an update then its useless, except for that mnay ppl still receive updates via email. I know you can private msg your fans, I might just be getting the way to do it wrong. - Dave Weinberg

You can private message your fans but not as the Page, only as yourself which doesn't always make sense to people - Arié Moyal

@Arie Right, that is good if the page is a politician or the like. Unless the brand is tied to an individual this seems awkward. - Dave Weinberg

Dave: Yep it's awkward if you can;t message people as the app, which doesn't solve my problem LOL - Arié Moyal