What are the most interesting facebook groups to join?

November 27, 2016 5:16 AM

After years of mostly ignoring facebook, I have decided to start using it more to learn interesting things and form an online community. In that regard, what do you think are the most interesting facebook groups to join, and why? I am an artsy and scientific nerd who likes intellectual culture, and I am interested in being exposed to new things.
posted by mortaddams to Society & Culture (6 answers total)

I've actually had the most luck with groups that are about media that I'm interested in but aren't exclusively dedicated to them. In my case, the most active groups I'm in are one for my favorite podcast and one for my favorite webcomic, and both are more a collection of smart people having discussions about interesting things than anything else. It's worth looking in to if any of your interests have similar groups.
posted by Itaxpica at 8:14 AM on November 27, 2016

Best answer: I don't know how it is in other areas, but Buy Nothing is the first (and only) thing I've used Facebook for in years. My local group is very active and it definitely has an active community feel to it.
posted by aniola at 8:57 AM on November 27, 2016 [2 favorites]

I'm on a couple but they are specialized for sailing so may not be what you're looking for, my general point is it's not the worst platform for specialized group topics but not so great for wide ranging general interest. The UI smushes all the posts together in the general feed and is way too eager to ""share"", as it's pushing you to sign up others and push marketable info to your "friends". I rarely post and would dread being in an online conversation of any depth, the UI is wretched for interacting and kind of hard to read.

There are a lot of good folks using the platform well but the best seems to be for quite specific topics, so I'd really suggest searching very specifically and browse open groups carefully before joining.
posted by sammyo at 9:15 AM on November 27, 2016

Best answer: Follow these Facebook pages for excellent and often entertaining insights about systemic racism:
Ijeoma Oluo
Spectra Speaks
Franchesca Chescaleigh Ramsey
Love Life of an Asian Guy
Junot Díaz
posted by pseudostrabismus at 9:56 AM on November 27, 2016

Best answer: Science Babe
posted by SyraCarol at 10:14 AM on November 27, 2016

There are an awful lot of regional professional groups, the one near me for my industry is invite only and pretty high quality. Essentially the same kind of thing that used to be on listservs.

I follow a few local activity ones (i.e. 'Bay Area bike camping'). Have made a lot of friends by simply showing up to someone else's open call to hang out, great place to borrow gear, share knowledge of local conditions, etc.

The science-y one I love right now is local mushroom identification forum. It's the season for it and I'm learning a lot more than I would on my own with a guidebook.

So basically to me the only ones that are really useful rather than click bait are all LOCAL in some way.
posted by bradbane at 10:33 AM on November 27, 2016 [1 favorite]