1.5 Learning how to spot ‘good’ groups
Facebook groups vary considerably in how they are run by the admins, the rules of the behaviour in the group and who they allow to become members. For example, some lecturers run their own Facebook groups, or work with students who are admins of semi-official groups.
Students have been using Facebook groups for some time as part of their education. Research is now beginning on what makes a good Facebook group for students. In the next activity, you hear from two people who have been involved in running or researching these Groups.
Activity 2 What makes a good Facebook group?
Timing: 10 minutes
Watch the following video from Cath Brown in which she discusses how to run a Facebook group. As you watch make a list of the core tips she gives.
Download this video clip.Video player: Video 4 Top tips for setting up a group
Transcript: Video 4 Top tips for setting up a group
Cath Brown
I think if you want to set up a group from start, the starting point is to get other fellow admins together and make sure the people you’ve got there are people who’ve been sensible and constructive in other groups. They don’t necessarily have to be people who are your best friend. You know, one of my best friends is lovely but she wouldn’t be an obvious admin. But they need to be people who’ve got the right sorts of qualities. So they know how to be sensitive and constructive and measured.
They’re not too... thin-skinned, they’re prepared to discuss things, you can think what the sorts of qualities are. Come up with some plans in advance about what’s the group for, what sorts of issues might arise, one issue that commonly arises in my experience if it’s a study related group is deciding whether it’s okay for people to share their assignment marks and different groups do different things but you need to figure it out in advance so people know where they are.
You need to set up some simple group rules. Some of those might be about conforming to institutional requirements, about things ike copyright collusion etc. and obviously those should always be part of your group policies. Some will be about following your institution’s social media policy, and obviously there’s general things about just being decent human beings to each other.
But don’t make it so long that people are just going to not read them. I think it’s a good idea to put in place the questions that people have to answer before joining the group to help avoid all the spammers and scammers. No one wants to spend their time dealing with people who are trying to sell you sunglasses or trying to encourage you to buy your work from essay mails or anything like that. So anything that can help exclude those is good.
A few things I’d avoid. One is being a sole admin. I think you always want a team of people, not just because you can’t be on duty all the time, but also because we all can benefit at times from discussing things with other people and from having someone else who will say to us, maybe not. I’d avoid ever allowing people to debate admin decisions in the group.
That doesn’t mean to say you have to be a dictator, people can talk to you. And if people raise things that you think are a matter for, or should we change the group rules? You can have a discussion in the group about it, but you should lead it. If you end up going down the rabbit hole of people saying, why did you delete my post? And then you try and explain it and then say, ah, but you’re not allowing free speech. And you know, it can just get a bit unpleasant. So I’d have that as a policy. I wouldn’t be too hyper-rigid about things. Obviously you need some guidelines.
You don’t want to go completely off on one in a group and allow absolutely anything. For example, the group that relates to the area I live in says it has to be related to this area and to the people living there. But if a side discussion develops about something, then I wouldn’t completely jump on it. Because we all know, you know, if you’re in a meeting with someone, you might have a quick side discussion about what you’re doing at the weekend, minding you. And I wouldn’t jump too much on side discussions unless they’re taking over.
And a really important one, do not allow your group to make you miserable. If it’s not working for you, then your fellow admins can recruit someone to replace you. You do not have to stay in something that is making you unhappy. Social media is there to help you, not the reverse.
Video 4 Top tips for setting up a group
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Interactive feature not available in single page view (see it in standard view).
Answer
- Get fellow admins together who will be sensible and constructive.
- Plan what your group is for and how people will be allowed to share information in.
- Set up groups rules. Make sure it follows your institutions rules.
- Use questions to check who is trying to join the group.
- Avoid being a sole admin for the group and avoid having discussion in the group about admin rules.
Groups vary considerably, it is always worth checking when you join groups who the admins are and what the group rules are. While some of the experiences you might have in these groups might be irritating or just frustrating, you may also encounter more risky situations. In the next section you will learn more about Facebook groups and the risks they pose to your digital safety.