Fresh from Facebook: Pages Can Now Join Groups
Facebook has rolled out a new feature where Pages can now interact in Facebook Groups. Previously, Pages were unable to join Groups–only individual accounts could participate. In turn, that prevented any Pages from interacting in these Groups.
This is an important development for local government agencies who have wanted to engage community members in influential Facebook Groups. Previously, participating in community social media sites was a gray area in regards to public agency policy. For example: could or should you encourage individual employees to participate in the Group? Now, that is a moot point since your official social media managers can use your Page to like, comment, share and more with Group members. The caveat is that only those with the role of “Admin” on your agency’s page can leverage the feature.
The ability for Pages to interact in Groups will prove particularly useful for correcting misinformation and providing guidance to inquiring residents. Cities can accomplish this by linking to a City webpage with correct and current information and/or providing City staff’s contact information for further questions. Tripepi Smith’s best practice to take heated commentary offline still applies to this new feature.
Watch a brief video demonstration (no audio) showing how to interact within a Group as a Page you manage.