Facebook Group vs Facebook Page

Diffen › Technology › Internet

Facebook Groups and Pages are different ways in which communities of people come together around a common shared interest or topic. A Facebook Group is a virtual area where members of specific common interests connect, share and collaborate on a given topic or idea. e.g. people interested in soccer or photography. On the other hand, a Facebook Page is useful for brands, public figures, companies and organizations to broadcast information to their fans (or people who like to follow them).

Comparison chart

Facebook Group versus Facebook Page comparison chart
	Facebook Group	Facebook Page
What it is	Facebook Group is a virtual area where members connect, share, collaborate on a given topic or idea.	Facebook Page however, is useful for entities, public figures, companies and organizations to broadcast information to their fans.
Messaging	Messages can be sent directly to the Inbox. Feature can be used for groups with 5000 members or less	No direct messaging into inbox available.
Search Engine Indexing	This feature is available, although not as exhaustively usable.	This feature is provided but can be used more extensively with pages than with groups.
Targeted Posting	Not available	Can use the feature to let a certain demographic audience receive messages while disabling it for other members.
Applications	Cannot add applications	Applications can be added to customize the pages.
Membership	Categorized into 1) Open 2) Closed and 3) Private / Secret	Always public.
Engagement Analysis	Not available	The administrator / creator can analyze behavior of the members by studying the data available.
Widgets	Not available	‘Become a fan’ widget available to enhance user experience.
Vanity URL	Not available	Feature is available.
Visitors known as	Members	Fans

Group Members vs Facebook Page "Fans"

People who belong to a Facebook group are called members. People who "like" a Facebook page used to be called "fans". In 2010 Facebook changed the nomenclature from "Become a Fan" to simply "Like". Emotionally, there is a lower barrier to entry in saying you "like" something than in saying that you are a fan. So Facebook took this step to encourage more engagement between individuals and pages.

Sending Messages

As the administrator or the creator of a Facebook Group, you have the luxury to post messages directly into the Inbox of all your members. This feature comes in handy, only if your member count is less than 5000. Once it reaches 5000 or more, you will be unable to send direct messages to your members.

Facebook Pages do not allow creators / administrators to send messages into Inboxes of "fans".

Indexing by Google

While both Groups and Pages provide search engine optimization to users in conjunction with other applications, Facebook Pages provide more opportunities than Groups do.

Targeted Posts

Facebook Groups do not have an active feature where posts, information or any other data can be sent to a specified audience only.

Facebook Pages have a unique feature where in you can target the information you want to send out to audiences based on language and location. If you have members from around the globe and you wish to send out information to the English speaking audience only, you can set that as your preferred setting and send out the information.

Applications

Facebook Group does not support a customizable application feature.

Facebook Pages, on the other hand, support applications. You can customize the page as you like with addable applications. You can add more tabs and other features with the help of external applications.

Membership

A Facebook Group can be categorized into Open, Closed and Secret. An open group serves as well as a Facebook Page because there is no need for moderating membership. A closed group asks for the administrator to approve all members and a secret Facebook Group does not show up in searches and can be accessed only by invitation.

A Facebook Page remains public and does not have an option to make it private.

Engagement Metrics

Facebook Groups do not have a provision for creators or administrators if they need a demographic break up of their audiences.

Facebook Pages, on the other hand, help administrators to get detailed analysis about the fans and the activities they are engaging in. These details enable the administrators to check the total interactions, comments, wall posts and ‘likes’ that the users have indulged in.

Widgets

Facebook Groups have no widgets that enable members to become fans.

Facebook Pages can help an administrator to convert visitors into fans by supplying them with a ‘Become a fan’ widget.

Additional username or Vanity URL

Facebook does not provide any vanity URL or username facility for groups.

A Facebook Page, on the other hand, enjoys this unique feature. This Vanity URL feature enables a company to claim a URL that is short, memorable and includes the company's brand. e.g. http://www.facebook.com/cocacola

References

About the Author

Nick Jasuja has over 15 years of technology industry experience, including at Amazon in Seattle. He is an expert at building websites, developing software programs in PHP and JavaScript, maintaining MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, and running Linux servers for serving high-traffic websites. He has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Engineering.