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Facebook: Group vs. Fan page


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#1 Jurence

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Posted 22 February 2010 - 06:01 PM


What is a fan page?

Facebook Pages can be thought of in much the same way as normal profiles on the site – brand or celebrity Pages have the ability to have friends, they can add pictures, and they have walls that fans can post on. Pages communicate by “updates” which show on the update tab or a person’s wall if they’re a fan and have allowed the page to show updates. Pages can have applications as well.


What is a group?

Groups are a bit different than Pages. I administer an alumni group on Facebook. To create a group you go to facebook.com/groups/create.php and then fill in information about the type of group, and decide if it is open to a particular network (such as a University network) or all of Facebook. You can set join permissions on groups so that they are either open to anyone, closed (where users must get administrator approval to join) or secret (invite only). Groups have administrators that manage the group, approve applicants or invite others to join. Administrators can also appoint “officers” who are nominally in charge – however, being an officer doesn’t mean the person has the ability to administer the group.

Because of these privacy settings, Facebook’s groups are analogous to clubs in the offline world. Administrators can invite members to join via Facebook mail and email, and public groups can be found via Facebook search.


Advantages of Group:
-Can send Email blasts (so long as usercount <5000)
-Far more complex hierarchal control

Disadvantages of Group:
-There are NO updates to your "status feed"

People familiar with Facebook recognize the value of status feed updates. They are the sole reason for fanpages. Groups are for closer knit individuals who are working together to schedule meetings, share ideas via email, etc. Having a facebook group may be viable for increasing productivity within the leadership of imminst, however it will cause a divide between those of us on the forums and those of us primarily on facebook. Imminst members looking to be productive will naturally go toward either the forums or the Facebook. We want to stay together and keep everyone in one place. Moving everyone to Facebook is NOT the right thing to do for a multitudue of reasons (Facebook blocked at work/school, time to get everyone over there, waste of time etc).

It is very important for everyone to recognize that the purpose of Facebook is primarily to raise awareness and increasing our following. This is going to be achieved through viral marketing (more on that later).

To do this we HAVE to have a fan page. We need to have a fanpage up and going in the next 2 weeks with stable admins who will be updating is continuously.(QUICK). I know that as of right now we have a Facebook fan page, however the administrators are nowhere to be found.

I'm going to wait 1 week- If we haven't contacted the original imminst fan page administrators, we are going to have to create a new one and begin promotions of that new fan page instead.

#2 brokenportal

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Posted 22 February 2010 - 07:38 PM

Some of us like the cause page, some of us like the group page, some of us like the fan page.

It looks like your right though, that fan page is best. We already have internal fundraisers that the cause would provide. We already have forum space that the group would provide. The main reason to go to facebook is to spread the word, (I think, right?) and the fan page sounds like it would fit that description the best.

#3 Jurence

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Posted 22 February 2010 - 07:48 PM

Exactly. Fundraising shouldn't be done through Facebook anyway when it is just as easy to donate through the imminst site. Facebook fan pages are for raising awareness. Facebook group pages are for organizing events, duties etc. which we already have going on here with the forums.

#4 brokenportal

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Posted 22 February 2010 - 08:11 PM

I like the idea of making is simpler, and just keeping the fundraisers in one spot, and just using facebook to spread the word.

However upon thinking about it more here, are we sure that the facebook widgets wouldnt add an extra, fun, interesting, useful, eye catching way to raise funds? Their widgets show how much each person donates over time. This encourages healthy competition. "Ooh, Ide like to be in that $100 plus club." and once you get there, "Ooh, that $1,000 plus club is right around the corner, I think Ill try to get to that." And the widgets show how many people have donated. It makes shows right there with that crowd picture. I think that by going through guidestar it might also eliminate transaction fees. In other words, its imminst fundraisers on steroids.

As imminst fundraisers continue to develop, they are eventually going to start executing promotions of the fundraisers. The more attractive, easy, and fun to use the better. Wont we then be looking for promotional systems and outreach exactly like the facebook cause widgets? and or, do you know how to/ think we would be better off trying to build our own such widget? One other question about that, do cause pages have the same promotional/wall update type tools as fan pages?

#5 Mind

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Posted 22 February 2010 - 09:03 PM

Whatever is the most useful for raising awareness, then we should stick with that and put our energy into it. If the fan page is the best place for updates then we stick with that and get rid of the group page or just have it remain as a signpost in the groups section of facebook. I would like to hear other opinions on this.

#6 Cyberbrain

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Posted 22 February 2010 - 09:14 PM

I see no harm in maintaining all three (cause, fan page, and group). If anything, having multiple accounts could help us reach more people. Especially when people search us.

#7 brokenportal

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Posted 22 February 2010 - 10:23 PM

I see that GuideStar, that the imminst cause page goes through, does charge a 4.75% transaction fee. Our current fundraiser system charges about the same though.

I was just thinking, we could link the General fundraiser at http://imminst.org/fundraisers - to that facebook cause widget, or we could potentially embed the widget there, so they became integrated rather than be two different places where we fundraise.

#8 Jurence

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Posted 23 February 2010 - 12:20 AM

I was just thinking, we could link the General fundraiser at http://imminst.org/fundraisers - to that facebook cause widget, or we could potentially embed the widget there, so they became integrated rather than be two different places where we fundraise.


That is your best option to keep things simple.

We don't have to delete the group, however maintaining it will be extra frivolous effort.

Keep Facebook for constant updates on inner workings, event promotions, current news in field and promotions- any interaction with between members should primarily continue to be done on the main site (Not to say that facebook users shouldn't comment/interact on the Facebook site).

#9 rwac

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Posted 02 March 2010 - 01:57 AM

To do this we HAVE to have a fan page. We need to have a fanpage up and going in the next 2 weeks with stable admins who will be updating is continuously.(QUICK). I know that as of right now we have a Facebook fan page, however the administrators are nowhere to be found.


Do you have a link to this fan page ?

#10 thughes

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Posted 02 March 2010 - 03:19 AM

To do this we HAVE to have a fan page. We need to have a fanpage up and going in the next 2 weeks with stable admins who will be updating is continuously.(QUICK). I know that as of right now we have a Facebook fan page, however the administrators are nowhere to be found.


Do you have a link to this fan page ?


Seems to be this:

http://www.facebook....6639048?ref=sgm


No updates since 2008 that I see.

- Tracy

Edited by thughes, 02 March 2010 - 03:20 AM.


#11 David Solus

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Posted 20 October 2011 - 07:46 PM

Hello and especially a hello to Mr. Shulke.. On the topic on groups and social networking...I've been running a discussions group on facebook. Many viable and interconnected beliefs and views. How would I combine or be able to show appropriately (and where) this groups page, to the immortality institute forums and/ or page? I believe there can be a great symbiotic relationship with the group I'm an activist in and this organization. the link to the page/ group is http://www.facebook....19474414785186/. For more political or world-wide events relating to government, world-activities, and politics...http://www.facebook....68648616518874/. Though, that's just a secondary. I'm primarily focused on the first group and its integration...if willing?




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