This page is managed by employees and volunteers of the Deval Patrick Campaign Committee.
<
p>Maybe someone who knows can clear it up.
alexswillsays
as though the Fan Page is the one “managed by employees and volunteers of the Deval Patrick Campaign Committee.” While the new Group was in fact set up by supporters.
<
p>Both can be useful tools but there should be a certain amount of coordination to be effective. Whoever is handling new media should keep an eye on Facebook from now on and try to corral the groups that will be popping up to support the governor. Most will only have a couple dozen members, but they should still be reached out to. I wouldn’t recommend blasting these pages with posts to join the “official” group, but reaching out to the administrators as they pop up, they’ll most likely want to be helpful.
lynpbsays
I started it as an organizing tool because I am not fond of the campaign’s organizing tool, aPebble. I’ve been successful so far – in under a week, there are already over 300 members. Sign up!
<
p>I’m on my way out the door, I’ll post more of the benefits when I return this evening.
amberpawsays
so I could not check who signed up and follow up with them at all.
<
p>But filled the dining room anyway – one from aPebble, the rest from my own network.
<
p>The Apebble guy who was supposed to get back to me never did.
<
p>Your public access page is excellent, Lynn and I think the supporters who sign up show initiative and appreciate your openness and initiative as well!
There’s no such thing as a “facebook friend page”. You might be referring to personal profiles, because only personal profiles can have “friends”. Groups can be open membership (anyone who wants to may join) or they can be private and require that you be invited before you can join. Groups have been with Facebook since nearly the beginning; Pages are a relatively new innovation, they’ve only existed since … 2007? Something like that.
If Scott Brown has both a personal Profile and a Page, then you can be his “friend” and a fan of his Page. Neither of these is a Group, though. Now, what do you mean by “the invitation pages”?
Peter is correct that “friends” need to be approved.
<
p>From what I have seen, group pages are intended to be more collaborative, for example supporting a cause, such as re-electing Governor Patrick and Tim Murray.
<
p>A fan page, as I understand it, is intended to be more for support of a person or organization.
<
p>I believe that there is a limit to the number of people that one can “friend” so that politicians have been moving towards fan pages.
<
p>Are there any FB junkies out there who can explain the nuances? I’d love to know.
alexswillsays
I do not believe there is a limit to the number of friends you can have.
<
p>However, you were on the right track regarding differences between groups and fan pages. As an admin for a group, you have a lot more control over communication with the group members. You can send mass messages and host events through the group. Whereas on the fan pages you cannot do either.
<
p>Fan pages, however, have the advantage that their updates get included as notifications to people who are “fans” (as long as they aren’t turned off.) This allows the candidate to have a more personalized “digital presence,” a la Twitter. (However, they should have one of those too.) The fan pages are also geared towards individual people in general whereas groups are geared towards, well, groups of people.
<
p>In conclusion, it would be in a candidates best interest to have both.
At least not yet, but it looks like I’m getting there. I am indeed one of Deval Patrick’s FB friends. We are friends in real life.
<
p>When his personal page limit was hitting 5000, I seemed to recall something about a 5,000 limit.
<
p>I googled it just now and this is what I found:
<
p>
Me and my 5,000 Facebook friends / What happens when you reach the ultimate in cool, pointless thresholds?
There were no bells, just so you know. There were no alarms or whistles or charming notifiers, no clowns or sparklers or strippers, not even a measly congratulatory phone call from the zippycute billionaire tweeners who run Facebook Inc. offering me a free Herman Miller chair, a fistful of stock options and a lifetime supply of Skittles.
There was no toaster oven. No plaque. There was no giftage whatsoever, no celebration or surprise party, nor was there the exact opposite — no dire warning, no threatening email saying I have now officially encroached upon some sacred corporate territory and my account must be shut down unless I fork over $25,000, a hair sample and some semen to buy the next magical, top-secret insight, like the Mormons or the Scientologists or Oprah.
p>For whatever it is worth, in my own mind, I will “friend” a politician, even if I am not endorsing the person, if we are “friends” at the level of FB friends (that’s a nother discusssion!). But I try to limit becoming a “fan” to people I am actually supporting.
<
p>Thanks everyone for the clarifications.
alexswillsays
I had no idea there was a 5,000 person friend limit! Clearly I’m not popular enough to have discovered that. đŸ™‚
There are a lot of differences between Groups and Pages, but for campaign purposes, they key difference is this: A Group’s admins can send actually messages to the entire membership of the group, that act just like individual person to person messages; however, a Group is limited to 5,000 members. There’s no limit to how many Fans a Page can have, but a Page can’t message its membership en masse.
<
p>Groups have been with Facebook since almost the beginning. Pages were added circa 2007, as result of Facebook’s opening up more – lots of bands, companies, and organizations were starting Groups to represent themselves, and Facebook created Pages to be better suited for that purpose, while Groups could remain for their original purpose of letting a bunch of people with a common interest share stuff or plan things together.
The limit is on being able to send messages: Once group membership is over the limit, you can no longer message the members. Sorry about that. IIRC it used to be limited.
sco says
Seems like it was started by BMG’s own LynPB.
bob-neer says
<
p>Maybe someone who knows can clear it up.
alexswill says
as though the Fan Page is the one “managed by employees and volunteers of the Deval Patrick Campaign Committee.” While the new Group was in fact set up by supporters.
<
p>Both can be useful tools but there should be a certain amount of coordination to be effective. Whoever is handling new media should keep an eye on Facebook from now on and try to corral the groups that will be popping up to support the governor. Most will only have a couple dozen members, but they should still be reached out to. I wouldn’t recommend blasting these pages with posts to join the “official” group, but reaching out to the administrators as they pop up, they’ll most likely want to be helpful.
lynpb says
I started it as an organizing tool because I am not fond of the campaign’s organizing tool, aPebble. I’ve been successful so far – in under a week, there are already over 300 members. Sign up!
<
p>I’m on my way out the door, I’ll post more of the benefits when I return this evening.
amberpaw says
so I could not check who signed up and follow up with them at all.
<
p>But filled the dining room anyway – one from aPebble, the rest from my own network.
<
p>The Apebble guy who was supposed to get back to me never did.
<
p>Your public access page is excellent, Lynn and I think the supporters who sign up show initiative and appreciate your openness and initiative as well!
<
p>Well done.
peter-porcupine says
cos says
There’s no such thing as a “facebook friend page”. You might be referring to personal profiles, because only personal profiles can have “friends”. Groups can be open membership (anyone who wants to may join) or they can be private and require that you be invited before you can join. Groups have been with Facebook since nearly the beginning; Pages are a relatively new innovation, they’ve only existed since … 2007? Something like that.
peter-porcupine says
I am a friend of Scott Brown. I am a fan on his fan page.
<
p>One was approved by Scott, the other was just joined. I’ve seen the invitation pages, but they are unusual.
cos says
If Scott Brown has both a personal Profile and a Page, then you can be his “friend” and a fan of his Page. Neither of these is a Group, though. Now, what do you mean by “the invitation pages”?
kate says
Peter is correct that “friends” need to be approved.
<
p>From what I have seen, group pages are intended to be more collaborative, for example supporting a cause, such as re-electing Governor Patrick and Tim Murray.
<
p>A fan page, as I understand it, is intended to be more for support of a person or organization.
<
p>I believe that there is a limit to the number of people that one can “friend” so that politicians have been moving towards fan pages.
<
p>Are there any FB junkies out there who can explain the nuances? I’d love to know.
alexswill says
I do not believe there is a limit to the number of friends you can have.
<
p>However, you were on the right track regarding differences between groups and fan pages. As an admin for a group, you have a lot more control over communication with the group members. You can send mass messages and host events through the group. Whereas on the fan pages you cannot do either.
<
p>Fan pages, however, have the advantage that their updates get included as notifications to people who are “fans” (as long as they aren’t turned off.) This allows the candidate to have a more personalized “digital presence,” a la Twitter. (However, they should have one of those too.) The fan pages are also geared towards individual people in general whereas groups are geared towards, well, groups of people.
<
p>In conclusion, it would be in a candidates best interest to have both.
kate says
At least not yet, but it looks like I’m getting there. I am indeed one of Deval Patrick’s FB friends. We are friends in real life.
<
p>When his personal page limit was hitting 5000, I seemed to recall something about a 5,000 limit.
<
p>I googled it just now and this is what I found:
<
p>
<
p>Read more here:.
<
p>For whatever it is worth, in my own mind, I will “friend” a politician, even if I am not endorsing the person, if we are “friends” at the level of FB friends (that’s a nother discusssion!). But I try to limit becoming a “fan” to people I am actually supporting.
<
p>Thanks everyone for the clarifications.
alexswill says
I had no idea there was a 5,000 person friend limit! Clearly I’m not popular enough to have discovered that. đŸ™‚
<
p>The fan pages make a lot more sense now.
kate says
If you confirm me you are one closer to hitting that 5,000 mark!
alexswill says
cos says
There are a lot of differences between Groups and Pages, but for campaign purposes, they key difference is this: A Group’s admins can send actually messages to the entire membership of the group, that act just like individual person to person messages; however, a Group is limited to 5,000 members. There’s no limit to how many Fans a Page can have, but a Page can’t message its membership en masse.
<
p>Groups have been with Facebook since almost the beginning. Pages were added circa 2007, as result of Facebook’s opening up more – lots of bands, companies, and organizations were starting Groups to represent themselves, and Facebook created Pages to be better suited for that purpose, while Groups could remain for their original purpose of letting a bunch of people with a common interest share stuff or plan things together.
alexswill says
Groups do not have limits on their membership.
cos says
The limit is on being able to send messages: Once group membership is over the limit, you can no longer message the members. Sorry about that. IIRC it used to be limited.