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Great news for fans of Facebook Groups! Facebook has made searching for Groups even easier so you can find ones that are the best fit for you.
Now when you search for Groups, Facebook will suggest ones your friends have joined. You will see which of your Facebook friends are in a Group to help you decide on which ones to join. You can also see Groups that are recommended based on your location so you can find ones that are nearby you.
For example, if you wanted to find a Facebook Group to follow along with the new Survivor Cagayan debuting this evening, you could search for “Survivor Brains Beauty Brawn” to find fellow fans.
Open vs. Closed vs. Secret Facebook Groups
Facebook Groups come in three flavors: Open, Closed and Secret. When you search for a Group, you’ll see results for Open and Closed Groups, but not Secret Groups, unless you’re already a member of the Secret Group.
Anyone can join Open Groups, just click “Join”. If you want to join a Closed Group, you can request to be added by clicking the Join button.
[note] Also see, How to Leave a Facebook Group just in case you join a Facebook Group you don’t like. [/note]
Refining Your Search
Facebook lets you filter your search results for Groups. You can search for Groups with specific friends, categories of friends, or none of your friends:
You can search via privacy setting: Open, Closed or Secret. Again, note that Secret Groups don’t show up in search results, unless you’re already a member of the Secret Group.
Facebook Group Tips
Facebook has suggested that Group administrators add tags to their Groups to help people discover them using the enhanced search.
Facebook also has provided the following tips to help you use Facebook:
Invest your time: Investing time and attention to the Group in the first week helps build a strong foundation. Visit the Group regularly and often to create content, engage with members, and provide a model of behavior for others to emulate.
Personalize your Group: Help your Group stand out and attract the right members by adding in logos, cover photos and descriptions that appeal to potential members.
Spread the love: Appoint multiple administrators to help recruit new members and make connections outside of your circle.
Customize Your Groups Privacy Setting: You can select one of three privacy options for each group you create: Open, Closed or Private. By selecting Closed or Private, you’re more likely to attract active and interested users.
Facebook Groups Poll
According to Mark Zuckerberg, over 500 million people use Facebook Groups. Are you one of them? Vote in our poll and let us know whether you use Facebook Groups:
Your Thoughts
Will you be using Facebook’s enhanced search features to find new Facebook Groups? Do you use Facebook Groups actively? Do you look for Facebook Groups your friends have joined? Let us know in the Comments section below!
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Good-Bye to Facebook eMail Addresses
Facebook will be ending its facebook.com email addresses soon. If you never used your facebook.com email address and its existence only caused confusion in your life, this will be good news for you. If you used your facebook.com email address as your primary email address, well it’s time for a change.
According to a Facebook spokesperson:
“Over the next few weeks we’re notifying people who use their @facebook.com email that the feature is changing. When someone sends you an email to your @facebook.com address, it will no longer go to your Messages on Facebook. Instead, the email will be forwarded to the primary email address on your account. (People will have the option to turn forwarding off.)
We’re making this change because most people haven’t been using their Facebook email address, and we can focus on improving our mobile messaging experience for everyone.” — Inside Facebook
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Kindle Fire X-Ray Stats before the Academy Awards
Just in time for the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday, Amazon has shared statistics about the information searched for most on Kindle Fire X-Ray.
[note] See, Kindle X-Ray – Quench Your Thirst for Knowledge for more information on Kindle X-Ray.[/note]
Top Ten Most X-Rayed Oscar Nominated Titles:
1. Despicable Me 2
2. The Croods
3. Gravity
4. Iron Man 3 (plus bonus features)
5. Jackass Presents: Bad Grandpa
6. Captain Phillips
7. Dallas Buyers Club
8. Prisoners
8. Iron Man 3
9. The Lone Ranger (2013)
Top Ten Most X-Rayed Actors in Oscar Nominated Titles:
1. Pierre Coffin – Despicable Me 2
2. Steve Carell – Despicable Me 2
3. Elsie Fisher – Despicable Me 2
4. Kristen Schaal – Despicable Me 2
5. Kristen Wiig – Despicable Me 2
6. Sandra Bullock – Gravity
7. Dana Gaier – Despicable Me 2
8. Miranda Cosgrove – Despicable Me 2
8. Benjamin Bratt – Despicable Me 2
8. Moises Arias – Despicable Me 2
Most X-Rayed Movies Ever:
1. Spy Kids 3: Game Over
2. The Hunger Games
3. Sid the Science Kid
Most X-Rayed TV Shows Ever:
1. iCarly
2. Dora the Explorer
3. Victorious
Hi Carolyn,
You’ve put together an excellent article with a lot of details about Facebook groups and also about other updates which are very relevant to us, the Facebook users.
Thank you for sharing this. Well, I don’t use Facebook email address and so, one less hassle for me to worry about 🙂
Speaking of Facebook groups, this is an awesome feature and I can’t wait to check out some of the groups my friends are using and probably join them there. I am excited about this feature.
Have a wonderful week ahead!
Regards,
Kumar
Hi Kumar, Yes, finding Facebook groups is much easier now. I like how we can search based upon whether our friends are in a group, or not. I can see how some people who didn’t use Facebook Groups before may start to use them now.
Thank you for your kind words and for your wonderful comment, Kumar!
Hi Carolyn,
I love Facebook Groups – especially the Secret ones where you can share stuff you really don’t want the whole world to see, as in family groups. I have 50 cousins who started a group to stay connected between summer visits and as those visits become more rare. What a great way to do this!
Lori
Hi Lori, Yes, being a member of a Secret Facebook Group can be a lot of fun. People can share more freely knowing that the Group is private. But as with all sharing, people can’t be 100% sure that what they share in Secret Facebook Groups will stay private.
That’s a great example of how to use a Secret Facebook Group. You can organize family events and share family photos using the Group. You might even be able to have more family visits as they are easier to organize using your Group.
Hi Carolyn,
This is really a whole tutorial on Facebook groups. I like the fact that they have three categories, open, closed and secret, so you can pick what’s best for you depending what you want to do. Something I need to look for is a group of travel blogs to get more traffic to my own travel blog.
Maybe I haven’t done it right, but I’ve never found one yet 🙂
Thanks for this valuable info.
Hi Sylviane, You’re absolutely right, this new search feature can help you find Travel Blog Facebook Groups to join. While you can’t see the Secret ones, you may be able to find an Open or Closed one that is a good fit for you. You can join several then quit if you don’t like them.
Sylviane,
There’s a closed Facebook group called Travel Bloggers. I just added you. It’s pending but I’m sure the managers will accept you.
Thanks so much for helping Sylviane, Sherryl!
You can’t possibly expect people to feed it everything. And even if they do, my likes change over time and I don’t want to commit myself to managing my likes on a regular basis or being stuck with what I liked.
I might go to a restaurant one day, love it and like. Then, the management changes, I go again, hate it, and don’t bother to unlike it. Facebook will still tell everyone I like it, and people might blame me on a bad experience because of it.
Or you might get pumped to see “The Dark Knight Rises”, like it, figure out the villain is actually the Pringles guy on steroids, and forget to unlike it. You’ll still be the Bane guy to Facebook.
The idea is great, and the potential is amazing. But using likes as one of its main resources is a flawed concept, unless they make it easier and simpler to do so. As Facebook get bigger and more bloated, they might not be the ones to convince everyone to do so.
Hi Ciara, Welcome to The Wonder of Tech! You don’t sound as if you’re a fan of Facebook so you’re probably not a fan of Facebook Groups. You’re right, with Facebook Graph Search now people can search for restaurants you Like, but there is no date on when you liked a restaurant. If it has changed since you Liked it, then your endorsement isn’t accurate.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us here, Ciara.
Great tips, I’ve found facebook groups become increasingly important in my marketing plans and also as a tool for personal information. Thanks
Hello James, Yes, Facebook can be an effective marketing tool, though they seem to be focusing more on paid ads and give less traffic to Facebook pages now unless they pay to advertise.
Hi Carolyn
I must admit I am not much of a Facebook Fan and the groups I have joined have been pretty spammy. But each social media platform seems to have it’s own form of this, and if you spend the time to find the right place for you, then it pays off. This search might indeed help.
Facebook emails, I was just wondering the other day if anyone ever used them. Internal messages within facebook sure, but emails? never saw one!
thanks for the updates
ashley
Hi Ashley, The key is to find a Facebook Group that’s a good fit for you. I’ve joined some that are fantastic but they are certainly rarer than the ones I’ve joined that have become dormant. You can always leave a group very easily. See, How to Leave a Facebook Group
Yes, I certainly never gave out my Facebook email to anyone. I haven’t heard of anyone who will miss it, but it’s good to know that it’s going away.
Hey Carolyn,
I haven’t actively gone searching for Facebook groups in awhile but I like that they’ve honed into now being able to find maybe what our friends might be a part of.
I’ve cut way back on the ones I’m with because I find so many of them are pretty spammy or over time become inactive. I think if you can find a few that are really good and server your purpose then that’s a lot better than a ton of them.
Thank you for sharing this Carolyn and as always, great stuff.
By the way, I won’t miss their emails. Never once used it! 😉
~Adrienne
Hi Adrienne, Yes, Facebook Groups can be spammy which is one reason why these new Search capabilities will be helpful. If you find a Group where many of your friends have joined, then you’re less likely to find spam there (unless, of course, you have spammy friends, which I know you don’t Adrienne!).
Hi Carolyn,
This is a nice write-up on Facebook groups. I run one small secret group and I’m active in a couple of other groups but I honestly had to cut down on my participation in most of them because they can become very time consuming.
Having said that, I also have joined a couple of niche groups that I check into every once in a while in hopes that I will start blogs in those niches some day.
As always, thanks for starting a discussion.
Hi Sherryl, Great idea to check out Facebook Groups to find active areas of interest. You can see which issues are hot topics of discussion and learn about questions people have. That sounds like fertile ground for inspiration for bloggers!
You’re right, exceptionally active Facebook Groups can take up a lot of time but slow ones can quickly turn dormant. It can be challenging to find an interesting group that has an activity level that’s a good fit for you. This new search feature may be able to help you do that more easily.
Thanks for adding to the conversation here, Sherryl!
Hi Carolyn,
Ya know, I’m in so many FaceBook groups that I had to drop out of a bunch of them. I’m still in way too many. I guess with all the classes I’m taking and mentoring programs I’m in, it adds up. I like them, am learning a lot and connecting with some great people. On the down sled, it takes up a lot of my time. 🙂 I didn’t know about them getting rid of the email address, it’s a good thing I don’t use it. Have a great day, Lisa
Hi Lisa, Yes, if you’re in a lot of Facebook Groups, it’s hard to stay active in all of them. You have to weigh the value that each Group brings you versus the time required to keep up with it!
Hi Carolyn,
I love Facebook Groups! I in quite a few of them. Two are bloggers groups that don’t drop and run. They are wonderful groups whereby we all syndicate one another.
I am also in a private group where members share wellness issues. I love that one because it keeps me on my toes when it comes to making a commitment of eating well, exercising, etc.
My “secret” group is awesome. It is a place where we get together and go over to G+ hangouts. A meeting ground of sorts.
I do Admin a group for a friend of mine, but it is so large and people drop and run. I feel like a policewoman there lol. But he needed help with it and I volunteered. Trying to get that large group back under control. There are only a few people there that will play by the rules. The rest I do have to step up and give warnings to, then delete them.
Al in all, I find belonging to groups very beneficial to my business.
-Donna
Hi Carolyn, I’m in a couple of Facebook groups but I have to be careful not to get into too many as I’m in some on Google+ too and never have the time to visit them all. I do have a few I do visit every few days though. They are great for making more connections and getting to know other bloggers. Thanks for showing us how to search for them. I’ve never done that before, just been invited and joined a few that way.
I’m not sure the secret ones are that “Secret” I always keep in mind anything online could be hacked and shared with the world at anytime 🙂