What is the difference between networks, groups and pages on Facebook?
The following lines will try to explain the main differences between Facebook networks, groups and pages according to Facebook Help Centre and The Facebook Blog, specifically a blog published by Nick Pineda.
Networks are a tool Facebook offers to connect people who live, work and go to school together. There are three types of networks: for work, college or high school. As it is explained in Facebook Help Centre, users with networks will be able to browse profiles within their networks, whereas if you sign up for Facebook without a network you will only be able to see the profiles of confirmed friends. Being affiliated with a network also allows you to see groups and events that are specific to your network.
On the other hand, Nick Pineda, in the Facebook blog provides the distinction between groups and pages. He states that Groups are the place for small group communication and for people to share their common interests and express their opinion. They are meant to foster group discussion around a particular topic area and also to post photos and share related content. Meanwhile, Pages, as he says, are designed to be the official profiles for entities, such as celebrities, brands or businesses to create an authentic and public presence on Facebook. He insists on the importance that only the official representatives of a public figure, business or organization should create a Facebook Page. However, this can not be constantly verified and we can find a wide variety of pages, most of them no related to the purposes they were created to.
Another difference he points out is that Facebook Pages are visible to everyone on the internet by default: every person on Facebook, can connect with these Pages by becoming a fan and then receive their updates in their News Feed and interact with them, while when Groups are created is possible to decide whether to make it publicly available for anyone to join, require administrator approval for members to join or keep it private and by invitation only.
References:
What does it mean to be a user without a network? (2010).Facebook Help Centre. Retrieved November, 2010 from: http://www.facebook.com/help/?page=799
Nick Pineda. Facebook tips:what’s the difference between a Facebook Page and a Group? (2010, February 24th).Retrieved October, 2010 from: http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=324706977130
Filed under: Social networks, Web Communication Tagged: Facebook 
