UPDATE: Facebook doesn’t support anymore the process described in this post. Sorry :(
As you probably know if you’ve been reading this blog for some time, Facebook pages have been a late addition to the feature list of the social networking website.
Last November, Facebook pages were launched as a way to provide businesses, brands, organizations and higher ed institutions with a way to set their own profile on the network.
On Facebook, profiles have always been reserved to individuals. Some institutions learned it the hard way by having their institutional profiles taken down. Before Facebook Pages were launched, groups were the way to go for colleges and universities willing to engage their students in this space.
That’s why today your institution might have an official group on Facebook as well as a page.
Well, the good news is that you don’t have to live with this split situation any longer and you can have your group members automatically become fans of your Facebook page.
I tested the process with the Higher Ed Experts group and page, and it was really a breeze (Facebook does the work for you). The transfer was completed in about 8 hours.
Here’s what you need to do:
- You need to prove that your group and your page have the same creator/admin. Basically, Facebook will only perform the transfer if you can show that the group and the page are legit and related as explained in Facebook FAQ’s about Pages:
If you have a group that fits into one of the categories offered for Pages and you are the official representative of that artist, business, or brand, we can help you convert your group into a Page. Please fill out your request here by providing us with the URL to your current group and the URL to the Page you have created that you would like your group members and group content transferred to.
- Submit a request via this online form. Select “Pages” in the “Issue” pull-down menu on this form and include in your request the web addresses of the group and the page.
- You will receive an automated email reply acknowledging your request
- Facebook support team will then notify you by email when the process is completed
I’ve also noticed a few important things to take into consideration:
- Facebook group members (at least in my test with HEE group/page) are not removed from your group, but also become “fans” of your page – without knowing it, so you will have to notify them yourself
- While you can remove a Facebook member from your group, you can’t do the same with a Fan. So, if you want to have a tight control over the “membership” of your presence on Facebook. It might actually make more sense to stick with your group.
- In my test, the wall posts I made as the group creator/admin were transferred as well to the wall of my Page, but my icon and name were switched to the icon and name of the Page.
Anybody went through this process? Please share your experience with the rest of us by posting a comment.
To the Facebook user, joining a Group may be different in many respects from becoming a Fan of an organization. For this reason Group admins should at the very least notify Group members that a switch to Page status is in the works, so they can leave the Group beforehand if they prefer not to become “fans.” Members may then feel like the Group’s admin has their interests in mind and is communicative.
Most Group members might not care about the difference between Groups and Pages, but it just seems ill-advised (to me) to make the switch without alerting the Group members (and maybe giving the reason for the change).
As Karine stated, you can’t remove a fan; however, you can block them.
From Facebook: “At this time, there is no way to remove or ban a user from being a fan of your Page. However, if a fan is abusive, you can block them from posting content on your Page. To do so, please click on the “Block” link found underneath the posted content. Additionally, you can report the user or the user’s postings on your Page to us by using the appropriate report links. We will review the reported material and remove anything that violates our Terms of Use. If warranted, we will either warn or disable the user.”
Thanks for adding the info, Todd.
Andy, what is the difference for the end user when the group was set up by the organization to promote itself, its events, etc? Why would it be so ill-advised to perform the switch without alerting before (instead of after) the group members? Can you be a bit more specific? I’m really interesting in your opinion on this.
You can actually opt-out very easily from the Page, so the option can be given once the transfer is done.
Thank you for the post! very useful info.
I’ve just started a Facebook page and haven’t published it yet. I talked to a few friends of mine and right away they suggested for me to start a GROUP. None of them really know what “pages” are. So it looks like I will need to have both – a page and a group. Would be nice to integrate both into one place!
Does anyone know the answers to these questions. If so I’d appreciate some input – thanks.
When the Facebook support staff migrates your members from your FB Group site to your Page:
A) does your Group become deactivated or from that point on do you have both a Group and a Page
B) Do you have to create a Page ‘shell’ first before FB support staff migrates your members? Or do they create a basic Page for you, add your migrated fans, and then you modify your page?
thanks,
Gerald
Gerald, here are my answers to your questions:
A) When I went through the transfer, Facebook didn’t take down the group. It just copied the members/wall post to the page.
B) The Facebook Page was already created. You need to do that and include the address of your page in your request to Facebook.
Hope this helps.
If you have your group members transferred to your page without notifying them (I have hundreds in my group), do they receive some sort of notification after the fact? Does the change shown in profile streams (theirs and mine?)
Thanks!
[…] Transfer members from your group and notify them. Starting a fan page and already have a group? No problem! Collegewebeditor.com outlines some great instructions. […]
Hi guys,
Do you know what is the maximum number of a fan page to be able to send updates?
For example, if you have group with more than 5000 people, you cannot send message to all members.
What is the limit for fan pages?
Thought you should know that you can no longer convert Facebook groups to pages. I submitted a request two weeks ago to do so and haven’t received a response, meanwhile if you look at Facebook’s help center it states that groups can no longe be converted to pages, booo:(
yup mine as well I sent it out about 2 months ago and i still haven’t gotten a response. that’s horrible. but i guess they have been flooded with endless request for the conversion.
Maybe Facebook should just enable admins a quick click-through button to convert group members to fan pages.
Checked their FAQs — unfortunately they no longer offer this
I have a Facebook Group. Can it be converted into a Page?
We’re no longer able to convert Facebook Groups into Pages. You’re welcome to create a Page and notify your Group members that you’ll be using the Page instead of the Group going forward. If your Group has too many members to send them a message, we unfortunately aren’t able to provide you with any other solutions for how you might contact them about this change.
http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=175
Thanks for posting this and thanks for all the people that have commented have had some of my questons answered now and I know now just to stick with my group until it gets too big over 5000+ members then I will think of creating a page.
I just tried it yesterday or the day before, after having created the page similar to the group.
I filled in the form and received an automatic eMail notification of Facebook.
Haven’t heard anything yet. Perhaps it has got sth to do with the fact I filled in the form in German. Dunno.
It is not possibile to convert a group in a page anymore. Read the Faq! And if your group has more that 5.000 user you cannot event notify them to ask to pass from the group to the page. These guys at FB are really incredible!
Against fb terms I created a profile for a school alumni type of “group” ..but it is not a group, just a profile with a group name. Does anyone know if there is a way to switch this profile to a group without getting the boot from fb. I’ve got two of them ..one with over 800 friends and the other with over 1800 friends. Although I am wrong for using a fake name, it would be such a pain to start over again. Is fb forgiving? What are my chances of switching?? Should I just keep the profile until I get the boot ..then start a group?? Does anyone have any thoughts on this. Thanks.
Has anyone experienced serious backlash from this? Meaning have you lost a lot of followers in converting from group to fan page without the auto transfer? I’m exploring options here and trying to ease the anxiety. :) Thanks!
To be honest when I transferred members from group to a page by sending a message just over 10% joined the page, I think because many people don’t check their emails, automatically delete them and pages have only recently become a major part of the Facebook experience. Shame as the page is a lot more suitable for what I do and would really love to ditch the group now. Thankfully I also had a profile which had been disabled by Facebook, and the “friends” of this profile were transferred as fans (of which I’ve found we’ve had no complaints and only a very small number have left, whereas we’ve gained more than we’ve lost). Not that I’m suggesting starting a profile, I wasn’t aware when I started it that it wasn’t allowed as I’d just come from Myspace.
Well, I read all the conversations in this blog post. I have learnt so much about facebook pages and groups. Overall, i just wanted to know if it is still possible to convert a group into a page ? Though i read mix conversations. Or is there a place where i can know everything about facebook profiles, pages, groups and any branded interactions on facebook.
ou need to prove that your group and your page have the same creator/admin. Basically, Facebook will only perform the transfer if you can show that the group and the page are legit and related as explained in Facebook FAQ’s about Pages:
If you have a group that fits into one of the categories offered for Pages and you are the official representative of that artist, business, or brand, we can help you convert your group into a Page. Please fill out your request here by providing us with the URL to your current group and the URL to the Page you have created that you would like your group
What is the current status of groups and pages. Is it still a good idea for companies to have a fan page rather than a group? do the recent changes to the face-book default user page affect whether messages are displayed on the users home page?
Facebook no longer supports transferring group members to fandom.
http://www.facebook.com/help/?faq=12811
[…] Starting a fan page and already have a group? No problem! Collegewebeditor.com outlines some great instructions. *Note: Facebook has discontinued transferring groups to […]