Facebook Group Limits, Do You Agree?

As you probably already know, Facebook has some limits set on groups within Facebook. Baratunde Thurston has covered the issues that he ran into. The last company that I was working at used Facebook groups as a way to keep in touch with their members that had profiles on Facebook. This is a great tool for generating leads as well as organizing events, but if you try to surpass 1000 (or 550 in Baratunde’s case), you are going to run up against a wall.

Suddenly you are blocked from messaging your group. Doesn’t this make the group practically useless at this point? One purpose of the group is a sign of affiliation. The other purpose is to message those that have opted-in to receive messages. The main reason for the shut down of Facebook messaging was the Brody Ruckus incident that took place late last year.

Since then, Facebook has remained one of the best sites for maintaining connections with others but it has not been useful for generating groups. I have a feeling that this problem will be resolved when Facebook opens up their API to include groups. At that point someone will develop the “Opt-in Groups” application that enables users to enter their email address and receive messages from admins. Is this really the best option though? Do you think Facebook should ban messaging for groups with over 1000 users?

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42418 Comments2007-09-07+14%3A37%3A59Nick+O%27Neill »

I agree that this is a huge limitation (especially for groups like Students for Sensible Drug Policy who are trying to maintain contact with thousands of students on campuses across the country).I think the solution is for FB to automatically include a footer with links in each message sent out through groups that allow folks to easily 1) remove themselves from the group or 2) stay in the group but unsubscribe from message notifications. This is how many orgs operate with e-mail blasts. Why can't FB implement a similarly simpe system with their messaging system?

Comment by Tom Angell — September 7, 2007 @ 9:12 am
I agree that this is a huge limitation (especially for groups like Students for Sensible Drug Policy who are trying to maintain contact with thousands of students on campuses across the country).

I think the solution is for FB to automatically include a footer with links in each message sent out through groups that allow folks to easily 1) remove themselves from the group or 2) stay in the group but unsubscribe from message notifications. This is how many orgs operate with e-mail blasts. Why can't FB implement a similarly simpe system with their messaging system?

Comment by Tom Angell — September 7, 2007 @ 10:12 am
Ban groups over 1000? Seriously? Baratunde mentioned "apple students" has over 400,000 members in its group. Totally a pay to play move that may give some insight to, dare I say, a seedy underbelly of Facebook. Pretty effed up from a company thats building itself on openness. With millions and millions of users, doesn't 1000 users in a group seem a bit short sited? The whole point is you JOIN a group. You see how many users are in the group. You can LEAVE the group if you don't like it or their messaging practices. Plain and simple.

Comment by bryan w — September 7, 2007 @ 11:06 am
Ban groups over 1000? Seriously? Baratunde mentioned "apple students" has over 400,000 members in its group. Totally a pay to play move that may give some insight to, dare I say, a seedy underbelly of Facebook. Pretty effed up from a company thats building itself on openness. With millions and millions of users, doesn't 1000 users in a group seem a bit short sited?

The whole point is you JOIN a group. You see how many users are in the group. You can LEAVE the group if you don't like it or their messaging practices. Plain and simple.

Comment by bryan w — September 7, 2007 @ 12:06 pm
[...] allfacebook – the unofficial facebook blog « Facebook Group Limits, Do You Agree? [...]

Pingback by IBM Announces $1 Billion Facebook Commitment - The Unofficial Facebook Blog — September 7, 2007 @ 3:19 pm
I totally agree…I am getting involved with the web strategy of a presidential campaign (to remain nameless as of now)…and we have a rather large facebook group and we are looking to create a college-focused website to build a brand off of the facebook group. However, most people are not active on their groups so when we launch the site, we expect a slow trickle of movement to the site, rather than the mass expansion we could get if we were allowed to send a message informing people of the new site.It is certainly undermining the use of a group as a valid tool for 'group' based communications.

Comment by Andrew — September 7, 2007 @ 4:40 pm
I totally agree…I am getting involved with the web strategy of a presidential campaign (to remain nameless as of now)…and we have a rather large facebook group and we are looking to create a college-focused website to build a brand off of the facebook group. However, most people are not active on their groups so when we launch the site, we expect a slow trickle of movement to the site, rather than the mass expansion we could get if we were allowed to send a message informing people of the new site.

It is certainly undermining the use of a group as a valid tool for 'group' based communications.

Comment by Andrew — September 7, 2007 @ 5:40 pm
I can 100% identify with Baratunde. The limit is absurd.I know of at least 2 non-profits havinging their profiles entirely deleted. Not only is 100s hour of work, data, and relationships are down the digital drain. I worked from an arts organization in DC and had my identity and data killed. No warning. No you have 24 hours to rectify this. Or this is a warning. Gone. Deleted period. Its like having your blog erased or your thesis entirely wiped out.Beth Kanter also details the same problem here with the National Wildlife Foundation. http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/09/more…..

Comment by Nathan Ketsdever — September 8, 2007 @ 12:38 am
I can 100% identify with Baratunde. The limit is absurd.

I know of at least 2 non-profits havinging their profiles entirely deleted. Not only is 100s hour of work, data, and relationships are down the digital drain.

I worked from an arts organization in DC and had my identity and data killed. No warning. No you have 24 hours to rectify this. Or this is a warning. Gone. Deleted period. Its like having your blog erased or your thesis entirely wiped out.

Beth Kanter also details the same problem here with the National Wildlife Foundation. http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/09/more-f...

Comment by Nathan Ketsdever — September 8, 2007 @ 1:38 am
As I've written the past, I'm completely unhappy with Facebook Groups. I think they should be re-done completely. There should be some way to view what's going on in your groups in your news feed. This way groups become more hubs of activity and not badges of interest or ways to blast messages.

Comment by Justin Thorp — September 8, 2007 @ 8:18 am
As I’ve written the past, I’m completely unhappy with Facebook Groups. I think they should be re-done completely. There should be some way to view what’s going on in your groups in your news feed. This way groups become more hubs of activity and not badges of interest or ways to blast messages.

Comment by Justin Thorp — September 8, 2007 @ 12:18 pm
Nice Brody Ruckus shout-out.

Thanks!

Any messaging allowance on FB's part above 1,000 users will be blatantly spammed and used for commercial gain.

Keep complaining people, call yourself a WAHHHbulance, but from a FB perspective this is the smartest thing they could do — less they (re)open their world to a spamming-pa-looza.

Comment by Brody Ruckus — September 11, 2007 @ 9:30 pm
[...] The community is what matters most. If you rally enough people around a niche then you’ll have a sustainable model that will keep itself running, policing itself and going forward. That’s why Ning has found itself in such a prime position, check out some of their featured networks here – from a place for Readers and writers of crime fiction, to AdRants (which I covered here as well) and a Wakeboarding site. As well as a ridiculous amount more. These sites typically don’t have more than a few thousand (if that) subscribers, but they are small passionate communities that won’t be able to survive on a Facebook group (as these groups are way too limiting). [...]

Pingback by On federated and niche social networks at Uno de Waal — September 14, 2007 @ 4:30 am
I have recently begun using a FB Group to raise awareness for our non-profit. There are some serious limitations to the current Groups implementation. A couple of limitations related to administering the group:

* I cannot create any kind of autoresponder message to send a welcome message to new members

* I cannot see the date when a member joined the group – I only see a listing of their public search information

It would also be nice to having a blogging feature as part of the group. Right now I keep editing the "Recent News" block, which is quite limiting in what you can do.

Comment by Chuck — September 24, 2007 @ 7:05 am
[...] links to take a look at:Community Technology FoundationWidgifyAllFacebookLeeaseNing [...]

Pingback by Uno de Waal » Facebook groups: A low engagement model — October 16, 2007 @ 11:44 am
Facebook booted me from their service days after creating a group which was intended to be a watchdog against antisemitic facebook groups. Does Facebook support antisemitism & racism? They would not give me any reason for booting me, and have not yet responded to my requests to be reinstated. I have noticed quite a lot of racist, antisemitic and pro terrorist groups posted on Facebook, it seems odd that Facebook would boot me shortly after creating a group to defend civil liberties and safeguard a public service. Can anyone give me advice on what I can do to get them to reinstate me?

Comment by Mike — January 6, 2009 @ 6:54 pm
It is ridiculous that facebook has limits on the number of groups you can join. .There are 419,000 groups and we are limited to 300 groups? This has to be changed.

Comment by Linda Stepp — February 6, 2010 @ 7:47 pm
THEY ARE TIGHTENING THE KNOTS AND WILL BE SOON CHARGING US FOR ADVANCED FEATURES ON FACEBOOK, LIKE IF YOUR GROUP EXCEEDS 1000 THEY MAY CHARGE YOU SOME $$ YEARLY OR SOMETH

Comment by IKEA — June 30, 2011 @ 11:26 am

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I agree that this is a huge limitation (especially for groups like Students for Sensible Drug Policy who are trying to maintain contact with thousands of students on campuses across the country).I think the solution is for FB to automatically include a footer with links in each message sent out through groups that allow folks to easily 1) remove themselves from the group or 2) stay in the group but unsubscribe from message notifications. This is how many orgs operate with e-mail blasts. Why can't FB implement a similarly simpe system with their messaging system?

Comment by Tom Angell — September 7, 2007 @ 9:12 am

I agree that this is a huge limitation (especially for groups like Students for Sensible Drug Policy who are trying to maintain contact with thousands of students on campuses across the country).

I think the solution is for FB to automatically include a footer with links in each message sent out through groups that allow folks to easily 1) remove themselves from the group or 2) stay in the group but unsubscribe from message notifications. This is how many orgs operate with e-mail blasts. Why can't FB implement a similarly simpe system with their messaging system?

Comment by Tom Angell — September 7, 2007 @ 10:12 am

Ban groups over 1000? Seriously? Baratunde mentioned "apple students" has over 400,000 members in its group. Totally a pay to play move that may give some insight to, dare I say, a seedy underbelly of Facebook. Pretty effed up from a company thats building itself on openness. With millions and millions of users, doesn't 1000 users in a group seem a bit short sited? The whole point is you JOIN a group. You see how many users are in the group. You can LEAVE the group if you don't like it or their messaging practices. Plain and simple.

Comment by bryan w — September 7, 2007 @ 11:06 am

The whole point is you JOIN a group. You see how many users are in the group. You can LEAVE the group if you don't like it or their messaging practices. Plain and simple.

Comment by bryan w — September 7, 2007 @ 12:06 pm

[...] allfacebook – the unofficial facebook blog « Facebook Group Limits, Do You Agree? [...]

Pingback by IBM Announces $1 Billion Facebook Commitment - The Unofficial Facebook Blog — September 7, 2007 @ 3:19 pm

I totally agree…I am getting involved with the web strategy of a presidential campaign (to remain nameless as of now)…and we have a rather large facebook group and we are looking to create a college-focused website to build a brand off of the facebook group. However, most people are not active on their groups so when we launch the site, we expect a slow trickle of movement to the site, rather than the mass expansion we could get if we were allowed to send a message informing people of the new site.It is certainly undermining the use of a group as a valid tool for 'group' based communications.

Comment by Andrew — September 7, 2007 @ 4:40 pm

It is certainly undermining the use of a group as a valid tool for 'group' based communications.

Comment by Andrew — September 7, 2007 @ 5:40 pm

I can 100% identify with Baratunde. The limit is absurd.I know of at least 2 non-profits havinging their profiles entirely deleted. Not only is 100s hour of work, data, and relationships are down the digital drain. I worked from an arts organization in DC and had my identity and data killed. No warning. No you have 24 hours to rectify this. Or this is a warning. Gone. Deleted period. Its like having your blog erased or your thesis entirely wiped out.Beth Kanter also details the same problem here with the National Wildlife Foundation. http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/09/more…..

Comment by Nathan Ketsdever — September 8, 2007 @ 12:38 am

I can 100% identify with Baratunde. The limit is absurd.

I know of at least 2 non-profits havinging their profiles entirely deleted. Not only is 100s hour of work, data, and relationships are down the digital drain.

I worked from an arts organization in DC and had my identity and data killed. No warning. No you have 24 hours to rectify this. Or this is a warning. Gone. Deleted period. Its like having your blog erased or your thesis entirely wiped out.

Beth Kanter also details the same problem here with the National Wildlife Foundation. http://beth.typepad.com/beths_blog/2007/09/more-f...

Comment by Nathan Ketsdever — September 8, 2007 @ 1:38 am

As I've written the past, I'm completely unhappy with Facebook Groups. I think they should be re-done completely. There should be some way to view what's going on in your groups in your news feed. This way groups become more hubs of activity and not badges of interest or ways to blast messages.

Comment by Justin Thorp — September 8, 2007 @ 8:18 am

As I’ve written the past, I’m completely unhappy with Facebook Groups. I think they should be re-done completely. There should be some way to view what’s going on in your groups in your news feed. This way groups become more hubs of activity and not badges of interest or ways to blast messages.

Comment by Justin Thorp — September 8, 2007 @ 12:18 pm

Nice Brody Ruckus shout-out.

Thanks!

Any messaging allowance on FB's part above 1,000 users will be blatantly spammed and used for commercial gain.

Keep complaining people, call yourself a WAHHHbulance, but from a FB perspective this is the smartest thing they could do — less they (re)open their world to a spamming-pa-looza.

Comment by Brody Ruckus — September 11, 2007 @ 9:30 pm

[...] The community is what matters most. If you rally enough people around a niche then you’ll have a sustainable model that will keep itself running, policing itself and going forward. That’s why Ning has found itself in such a prime position, check out some of their featured networks here – from a place for Readers and writers of crime fiction, to AdRants (which I covered here as well) and a Wakeboarding site. As well as a ridiculous amount more. These sites typically don’t have more than a few thousand (if that) subscribers, but they are small passionate communities that won’t be able to survive on a Facebook group (as these groups are way too limiting). [...]

Pingback by On federated and niche social networks at Uno de Waal — September 14, 2007 @ 4:30 am

I have recently begun using a FB Group to raise awareness for our non-profit. There are some serious limitations to the current Groups implementation. A couple of limitations related to administering the group:

* I cannot create any kind of autoresponder message to send a welcome message to new members

* I cannot see the date when a member joined the group – I only see a listing of their public search information

It would also be nice to having a blogging feature as part of the group. Right now I keep editing the "Recent News" block, which is quite limiting in what you can do.

Comment by Chuck — September 24, 2007 @ 7:05 am

[...] links to take a look at:Community Technology FoundationWidgifyAllFacebookLeeaseNing [...]

Pingback by Uno de Waal » Facebook groups: A low engagement model — October 16, 2007 @ 11:44 am

Facebook booted me from their service days after creating a group which was intended to be a watchdog against antisemitic facebook groups. Does Facebook support antisemitism & racism? They would not give me any reason for booting me, and have not yet responded to my requests to be reinstated. I have noticed quite a lot of racist, antisemitic and pro terrorist groups posted on Facebook, it seems odd that Facebook would boot me shortly after creating a group to defend civil liberties and safeguard a public service. Can anyone give me advice on what I can do to get them to reinstate me?

Comment by Mike — January 6, 2009 @ 6:54 pm

It is ridiculous that facebook has limits on the number of groups you can join. .There are 419,000 groups and we are limited to 300 groups? This has to be changed.

Comment by Linda Stepp — February 6, 2010 @ 7:47 pm

THEY ARE TIGHTENING THE KNOTS AND WILL BE SOON CHARGING US FOR ADVANCED FEATURES ON FACEBOOK, LIKE IF YOUR GROUP EXCEEDS 1000 THEY MAY CHARGE YOU SOME $$ YEARLY OR SOMETH

Comment by IKEA — June 30, 2011 @ 11:26 am

Facebook Group Limits, Do You Agree?

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