How to delete a Facebook group

Want to delete a Facebook group that you created but can’t work out how? Here’s what you need to do – it’s straightforward once you know.

1. Go to the page of the group that you administrate.
2. Click ‘Edit members’ in the left-hand menu.
3. Delete all members until it’s just yourself left in the group.
4. Return to the main group page and choose ‘Leave group’. A window will appear advising that you’re the last member and that if you leave, it will be deleted. Confirm!

I think it’s time for Facebook to add a ‘Close group’ option for group administrators – it would be much more user friendly…

What makes a successful Facebook group?

When I logged onto Facebook this morning, I spotted that two of my friends had joined a new group. The group name caught my attention: ‘Stop the usage of dogs as live bait for sharks!’. Curious (and slightly sceptical), I took a look.

Creating a sense of credibility

The group has a well-written description:

Innocent dogs are being dragged behind boats and used as LIVE bait for sharks!! Defend the rights of animals! We are asking that the French Government ensure that this never happens again. [...] INVITE ALL YOUR FRIENDS. EVERYONE NEEDS TO KNOW HOW SO MANY DOGS ARE KILLED EACH YEAR!

There is a photo of an injured dog, the description offers a link to a ‘…video that shows one poor dog being rescued’, and the administrators also appear to be genuine. All of these factors combine to create a credible-looking cause, which, at the time of writing, is supported by 1,208,122 members.

But digging deeper…

Looking beyond the facts above suggests slightly less than sincere motives. The story itself has been around for at least four years (as this Sun newspaper article from 2005 shows) and, while it has some grounding in fact, has been blown out of proportion.

In addition, the group’s contact information is not an animal rights organisation; it’s a ‘Home Business opportunity’ and the first (and only) piece of news begins with ‘EARN FROM HOME..ARE YOU INTERESTED?’. The only other links on the page are to the organisation’s website.

Typical social networking behaviour?

I think this shows that people on social networks such as Facebook:

• take things at face value
• believe large membership is a sign of credibility
• aren’t always concerned with the organisation behind a group; simply the cause
• use groups as a badge of their beliefs, views or interests.

All the ingredients for a successful Facebook group

So, despite its dubious motives, this group is a good example of how to be successful on Facebook.

• Select a group name that appeals to people’s emotions, beliefs or passions; capture their attention and make them curious, so that they want to find out more.
• Create a well-written description of the group and present its aims clearly.
• Provide supporting materials for your group or cause, such as an image or video.
• Make the administrators easily identifiable and approachable.

Provide relevant links

I doubt many people will have actually clicked through to the amazing ‘home business opportunity’, so this group has probably failed on one important point: providing a relevant link for further information.

If the link had been along the lines of ‘Sign a petition to stop this cruelty NOW!’, I am certain that a large percentage of the group’s supporters would have chosen to follow it. As it is, regular web users are now completely wise to offers of this type and, I would guess, have mostly ignored it.

More information

Here are some more indepth articles from around the web on creating (and maintaining) a successful Facebook group:

• How to create a successful Facebook group (2007)
• 5 tips to revive a fading Facebook group (2009)
• Facebook groups – Why some flourish and others fail (2008)
• Facebook group vs Facebook fan page: What’s better? (2008)

Your life in their hands

Travel social networking sites have been around for some time now (some might say the market’s saturated), helping people to plan and write about their trips. The key element of many of these sites is helping people to meet up and make friends, as you would expect.

A couple of brave souls have gone further than this and actually put their travels in the hands of their networks. In 2008, blogger and journalist Vicky Baker wrote a weekly column in the Guardian about her travel-networking experiment across Central and South America. She based the entire three-month trip around meetings with, and recommendations from, locals she met online.

Then this week, I read about freelance journalist Paul Smith’s plan to hitchhike around the world in 30 days, raising money for charity:water. Here’s the catch: he’s going to rely on the Twitter community for offers of travel and accommodation, turning it into a ‘Twitchhike’ (his pun, not mine). He can choose from all the offers he gets, but if he can’t move on from a particular place within 48 hours, ‘the challenge is over and I go home’.

This got me thinking; what other parts of our daily lives could we throw to the social-networking wolves? Here are a few of my ideas.

• Live for a week as instructed by your network: what time to get up, what to wear, what to eat and how to behave. Probably best to book a week off work first; rolling in the door at 11am in orange spandex leggings and purple eyeshadow might not go down too well. Especially if you’re a guy (although it would entertain your colleagues).
• Let your friends choose your job: apply only for roles sent to you via Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and so on. This is a good one if you don’t know what you want to do or lack the confidence to apply. Of course, this relies on people who actually know you to make suggestions. Or not. Hell, go crazy.
• Everyone’s an agony aunt: this is a bit like the problem page in the newspaper, but with a twist. Post your latest emotional conundrum on your blog; see what your community suggests you do. Choose the best three responses (or get someone else to) and use the one that gets the most votes.

Do you have any ideas? Have you heard of anyone else doing similar things?

How to alienate your Facebook audience

Last night, I was searching for the Facebook ‘page’ and ‘group’ of a freelance PR and marketing networking website that I have a profile on. The website appears to be moderately successful, judging by the number of individuals listed.

When I found the correct page and group, I was surprised to see that each had only three and two members respectively. As my mouse hovered over the ‘join’ button on the group profile, I saw the list of ‘related groups’ that the administrator had chosen. I immediately decided against it. Why?

Consider the message your ‘related groups’ send about your organisation

As you know, when you join a Facebook group, it shows up on your personal profile for your ‘friends’ and networks to see. If I had joined and they had then visited this group to see what I was supporting, they too would have noticed the list of related groups. These include a number of very political and right-wing causes, which I do not advocate and do not want to be seen to.

Facebook is in the interesting position of being a ‘cross-over’ social network. By this, I mean it began as a means of personal expression, but has gradually attracted the attention of businesses and organisations as they have realised its marketing potential. In addition, our ‘friends’ are not just our friends; they often include work colleagues and business contacts too.

If they’re not relevant, separate your personal interests from those of your business

The administrator of this particular group has made an error by confusing his organisation’s interests with those of his own. He’s alienated a vast majority of an audience that would certainly have an interest in the group and its aims, but not his personal causes and preferences. They should be kept to his individual profile for his own contacts to see.

This is currently a wasted opportunity and shows a surprising lack of foresight from a network that should, in theory, know all about PR and how best to market itself. It should replace the current groups with links to groups that really are related, of use and of interest to its potential audience. Then the network might see its Facebook membership numbers grow.

I’ve had a quick look online to see if there was any guidance concerning Facebook use for companies, in terms of marketing. Most of what I could find only concerned how to protect themselves in the face of employee Facebook use. If you know of any good guides, add a comment to share them here.