Digital Networking has recently become a world-wide phenomenon. Facebook is one of the most used social network with more than 500 million active users. It provides them several ways to share information. Apart from creating a personal profile, users may join common Groups and become fan of Pages related to their interests. But, what are Facebook Groups and Pages? According to Howard Greenstain these two concepts may turn out to be confusing. In order to clarify their meaning and function, I am going to give the definitions of some useful concepts.
- Network: it is a social structure made up of individuals or organizations called “nodes,” which are tied by one or more specific types of interdependency, such as friendship, kinship, common interest, believes, financial exchange etcetera.
- Group: it serve as a tool for building awareness around various ideas. The members of a group are able to share and even collaborate on a given topic or idea.
- Page: it is a public profile that enables you to share your business and products with, in this case, Facebook users. It allows entities such as public figures and organizations to broadcast information to their fans.
According to the before mentioned social media expert, Howard Greenstein, there are a number of factors to take into account when choosing a a Group or a Page for our projects. One of the most significant differentiator is the ability for Pages to include applications. As for Nick O’Neill, those applications enable Facebook Page administrators to extensively customize their Pages. On the other hand, as a result of their security features and size limitations, Facebook Groups are set up for more personal interaction. Group administrators are closer to users and may provide them a personalized service. Indeed, Facebook considers Groups to be an extension of our personal actions.
References:
- “Social network” (2010, September 26). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved: 08:20, 29th September 2010, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Social_network&oldid=387203667
- Greenstain, Howard. (2010, May 27) “Facebook Pages vs Facebook Groups: What’s the difference?” . Retrieved September 29, 2010, from http://mashable.com/author/howard-greenstein/
- O’Neill, Nick. (2010, July 6) “Facebook Page or Group: Which should you use?”. Retrieved September 29, 2010, from http://www.allfacebook.com/facebook-page-or-group-2010-07
Filed under: Social networks 
