Groups
Presentation to the AARP
Leila Chirayath | December 2nd, 2008 | Stanford Persuasive Technology Lab

Key Questions
1 How do groups differ from other Facebook tools?
2 Groups vs. Pages
3 Successful uses of groups

Common Facebook Tools
Facebook Tool Examples
Groups
Affinity-based clusters of FB users around an
organization, idea, or theme.
Applications
Third-party or Facebook-driven widgets that users
add to their profiles
Pages
Affinity-based clusters of FB users around an
organization or person, generally used for
companies and products

Key Questions
1 How do groups differ from other Facebook tools?
2 Groups vs. Pages
3 Successful uses of groups

Groups vs. Pages
• Designed for
common interest
user clusters
• Some
customization
tools
• No analytics
• No profile-like
functionality

Groups vs. Pages
• Group type
enables secret
groups and
other social
functions
• Admins/officers
listed on page
• Related groups
listed on main
page

Groups vs. Pages
• Designed for
companies &
products
• Rich
customization/
integration
tools
• Analytics
• Integrated
advertising

Groups vs. Pages
• Customization
includes blog
importing,
video
• Applications
function as on
user profiles
• No listing of
admins

Key Questions
1 How do groups differ from other Facebook tools?
2 Groups vs. Pages
3 Successful uses of Facebook tools

Success Stories - Apps with a Social Mission
(Lil) Green Patch
Shows a running count of the number of
square feet of rainforest saved by every
user as they use the application.
348,718 daily active users
Causes
Lets you start and join the causes you
care about. Donations to causes can
benefit over a million registered 501(c)
(3) nonprofits.
92,014 daily active users

Success Stories- Events
Feb 4, 2008
Colombian protest
against FARC rebel
group
up to 2 million
people attended

Success Stories - Groups for Peace-building
Kenyan
Groups
Top groups
after post-
election
violence have
5-7,000 users
Ushahidi.com
used to monitor
violence

Questions?