As you probably know if you’ve been reading this blog for some time, Facebook pages have been a late addition to the feature list of the social networking website.
Last November, Facebook pages were launched as a way to provide businesses, brands, organizations and higher ed institutions with a way to set their own profile on the network.
On Facebook, profiles have always been reserved to individuals. Some institutions learned it the hard way by having their institutional profiles taken down. Before Facebook Pages were launched, groups were the way to go for colleges and universities willing to engage their students in this space.
That’s why today your institution might have an official group on Facebook as well as a page.
Well, the good news is that you don’t have to live with this split situation any longer and you can have your group members automatically become fans of your Facebook page.
I tested the process with the Higher Ed Experts group and page, and it was really a breeze (Facebook does the work for you). The transfer was completed in about 8 hours.
Here’s what you need to do:
- You need to prove that your group and your page have the same creator/admin. Basically, Facebook will only perform the transfer if you can show that the group and the page are legit and related as explained in Facebook FAQ’s about Pages:
If you have a group that fits into one of the categories offered for Pages and you are the official representative of that artist, business, or brand, we can help you convert your group into a Page. Please fill out your request here by providing us with the URL to your current group and the URL to the Page you have created that you would like your group members and group content transferred to.
- Submit a request via this online form. Select “Pages” in the “Issue” pull-down menu on this form and include in your request the web addresses of the group and the page.
- You will receive an automated email reply acknowledging your request
- Facebook support team will then notify you by email when the process is completed
I’ve also noticed a few important things to take into consideration:
- Facebook group members (at least in my test with HEE group/page) are not removed from your group, but also become “fans” of your page - without knowing it, so you will have to notify them yourself
- While you can remove a Facebook member from your group, you can’t do the same with a Fan. So, if you want to have a tight control over the “membership” of your presence on Facebook. It might actually make more sense to stick with your group.
- In my test, the wall posts I made as the group creator/admin were transferred as well to the wall of my Page, but my icon and name were switched to the icon and name of the Page.
Anybody went through this process? Please share your experience with the rest of us by posting a comment.
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To the Facebook user, joining a Group may be different in many respects from becoming a Fan of an organization. For this reason Group admins should at the very least notify Group members that a switch to Page status is in the works, so they can leave the Group beforehand if they prefer not to become “fans.” Members may then feel like the Group’s admin has their interests in mind and is communicative.
Most Group members might not care about the difference between Groups and Pages, but it just seems ill-advised (to me) to make the switch without alerting the Group members (and maybe giving the reason for the change).
As Karine stated, you can’t remove a fan; however, you can block them.
From Facebook: “At this time, there is no way to remove or ban a user from being a fan of your Page. However, if a fan is abusive, you can block them from posting content on your Page. To do so, please click on the “Block” link found underneath the posted content. Additionally, you can report the user or the user’s postings on your Page to us by using the appropriate report links. We will review the reported material and remove anything that violates our Terms of Use. If warranted, we will either warn or disable the user.”
Thanks for adding the info, Todd.
Andy, what is the difference for the end user when the group was set up by the organization to promote itself, its events, etc? Why would it be so ill-advised to perform the switch without alerting before (instead of after) the group members? Can you be a bit more specific? I’m really interesting in your opinion on this.
You can actually opt-out very easily from the Page, so the option can be given once the transfer is done.