Friday, March 6, 2015

Class 4 Assignment 6a: Facebook Groups & Pages

Class 4 Assignment 6a: Facebook Groups & Pages
Facebook offers a tremendous amount of functionality.  Different facets of this functionality have different purposes and target different audience.  This summary describes the difference between a Facebook page and a group.  What they are, their purpose, and how they are typically used. 

A Facebook page is typically owned or associated with an entity; something or someone that operates in the public and wants to provide information to the public with no restriction.  A Facebook account owner only has to become a “fan” of a particular page to gain access.  Unlike a Facebook personal account where information can me be limited to permitted individuals and content integrity is depended upon the account owner, information on Facebook pages is accessible by anyone and is monitored by Facebook for its authenticity. 

Facebook group functionality allows specific individuals, who are interested in the content and discussion associated with the content of the group to participate in the group activity.  It limits the scope of the participation as this functionality allows the creator of the group to determine the permissions of this group; is it public; private – by invitation only.  This allows groups to participate in discussions and activities with Facebook as the venue for discussion and content.

Both Facebook Groups and Pages have incredible capabilities to “mass market” and target focused audiences.  Facebook has also built in search capabilities to these functions, more so, on the Facebook pages than groups, but it is there none the less.  These Facebook capabilities have appealed to most organizations and people that want to reach a very large and targeted group of followers.  
Interest in the material that is being shared is a given as the audience has self-selected for both.

This is a screenshot of the groups at Boston College.





This is a screenshot of the MSPCA-Angell Facebook Page



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