Mark Zuckerberg’s latest missive calls on Facebook’s online communities to change the world by adding value to the connections people make.
Highlighting the work done by support groups on Facebook, Zuckerberg makes a strong argument for peer-to-peer networks in his latest manifesto Building Global Community. He also acknowledges the role physical organisations, such as charities and not-for-profits, have made in developing these.
Published last week, the document has attracted attention from people wondering what the next development from Facebook will be?
What’s new?
The manifesto is good news for those who value engagement over numbers, as it pledges to value impact highly. Though people rarely go looking for groups to join, the role of suggestions and friends invitations has been acknowledged. As a result, this will be used to improve the reach of groups in the future.
Though criticised for failing to outline how Facebook plans to tackle the problems faced by online communities, Zuckerberg does promise:
- Facebook will now measure its success according to the meaningfulness of its groups, and not the total number.
- Facebook’s goal is now to strengthen communities on and offline, using the social network to reinforce physical communities.
- Additional functionality will be added to allow groups to include sub communities.
- Suggestions for groups will be improved to help people connect with those that are the most meaningful to them.
Improving your online communities
This should all be music to the ears of organisations who already have strong online communities set up. If used correctly these changes will help put you in contact with engaged individuals, and help target information to specific audiences. Many charities were affected by changes that saw paid-for-advertising prioritised over organic engagement, and perhaps these changes will rectify this.
If you haven’t already got a good idea of who your online audiences are and how you can better cater for them, then get in touch to discuss your online strategy with Copper.
Digital project manager
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