Are you a member or administrator of an old Facebook Group? If so, you may have seen a message posted to your group page in recent weeks. And if this is news to you, most likely your group is scheduled to be archived in the next few months.
Facebook unveiled its new groups format in October of 2010. If you are an administrator of an old group, this is what you need to know:
- When your old group gets archived, it will be converted to the new groups format. Almost everything from your old group will be available in the archived group, with a few exceptions. Here’s what won’t transfer:
- Recent news
- Group officer titles
- MEMBERS of your old group. That’s right, your current members won’t transfer if your group is archived.
- If your old group has enough recent activity to make it a good candidate for a new group, you will see a message at the top of the group with the option to upgrade. Members of the group will see the option to ask the admin to upgrade. If you are an admin, click “Upgrade This Group” to upgrade to the new groups format. Note that it may take a few minutes or more before the content from your group is converted to the new format.
Okay, the two big take aways here – If your old group meets activity requirements, Facebook will upgrade your group and its members. When your group is archived, you will lose your members.
The new Facebook group format is really meant for small groups of people, like your family, for example. Learn how you can create a new Facebook page.
If your hope is to create a more public means to gather people, you need to create a Facebook fan page. Learn how you can create a Facebook fan page.
