Reader Dilemma: Duplicate Content on Facebook Page and Group

Posted on June 18, 2010 by Laura Christianson

One of my readers — Ann — asked the following question about Facebook. She’d like to hear from other Facebook users who have encountered her dilemma. Readers, it’s your chance to shine and offer Ann your advice!

Ann writes:

I have a personal Facebook profile and started a Facebook Group for a ministry I run.

However, I realized that maybe I should have started a FB Page, instead of a Group, so I created a Page (and kept the Group, too).

Because I want the people on the Page and the Group to get my post,  I have to now do a double entry by posting on both the Page and the Group. However, there are people who have signed into both the Page and the Group, so they get the post twice. If they’re also part of my personal page they get it three times.

I’ve had one friend send a message to say that they get my posts multiple times and wonder if they should opt out of one. They still want to hear from me but not fill their FB inbox with so many of the same thing. How can I help them?

Ann’s issues, in a nutshell:

  1. Can she eliminate doing a double entry?  If so, how?
  2. Can she prevent people who subscribe to her Page and her Group from receiving multiple copies of her post?
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  • Ann

    Thanks for posting this, Laura. Sure hope someone – or somemany – have solutions to my dilemma.

  • http://twitter.com/mbsmithTX Mary Beth Smith

    Ann, I did the same thing with a couple of organizations when I first began working with groups and pages. One of them required that I be able to frequently post things out to the entire membership's newsfeed, whether I was personally connected or not, so when I realized that wasn't possible with a group, I simply created a fan page like you did. Except…I notified everyone on the group page that they needed to go join the fan page, and put a BIG notice on the group with a link to the fan page, and advised them that it would be shut down. That pretty much solved the problem.

    What I wish COULD have happened would have been a way to simply convert it. If there's a way to do that, I haven't found it. I guess Facebook prefers to spend their time figuring out new ways to change the way things look for us, as opposed to working on practical things – lol! Particularly since they don't give you much insight into how the 2 structures differ in how they communicate out to your membership, and in providing analytics to the administrator. Just sayin'… :)

    Good luck!

    :) Mary Beth Smith

  • jien

    How do I get out of a group I am in and take the whole group off my facebook page

  • http://bloggingbistro.com/ Laura Christianson

    To remove yourself from a group, click your Home tab. Then in the lefthand sidebar click “Groups.” A list of all your groups will display. Hover over the group you want to leave and a little x will appear to the right of the group. Click the x to remove yourself from the group. It will prompt you, “Are you sure you want to remove your membership from ___ group?” Click “Remove.”

    Once you remove yourself from the group, it will no longer show up on your personal profile page.

    If you are the admin of a group and you want to delete the entire group, you first have to remove all the members by going through the “click the x” process. Remove yourself (the group admin) LAST. Once the last person (you) has been removed from the group, the group will disappear forever into Facebook heaven.

  • Mary Ann Ambrozik Konopski

    Hi I have a Group called United States Defense League (USDL)  I noticed a month ago that someone else has started a Page with my exact same name.  I asked them to rename they said they would and the site was taken down,….no I see they are back on again like I never spoke to them and they are carrying on with MY NAME.  Only difference is I”m a Group and they are a PAGE…I’ve tried to report the duplicate but had no success because I’m a Group and they are a Page it won’t take the report.  Pls help.

  • http://bloggingbistro.com/ Laura Christianson

    Groups are created from personal profiles and Pages are not connected to Groups in any way, so Groups and Pages with the same names wouldn’t be considered duplicates by Facebook. So unfortunately, because you didn’t create a Page with that name first, I think you’re out of luck.