Find my Facebook Group.
February 26, 2012 1:57 PM Subscribe
Why doesn't a group I created on Facebook show up when others search for it?
I created a group on Facebook a few days ago. When people not in the group search for it on Facebook, it doesn't show up in the results. I have the privacy set to open.
Is there a waiting period before groups are approved and published? I've tried creating other groups on the same account, and on another Facebook account with the same results.
I created a group on Facebook a few days ago. When people not in the group search for it on Facebook, it doesn't show up in the results. I have the privacy set to open.
Is there a waiting period before groups are approved and published? I've tried creating other groups on the same account, and on another Facebook account with the same results.
It seemed to me like mine started showing up after the group had a lot of activity - kind of like how when I started our Toastmasters club page, it didn't show up in search until I "liked" a ton of other pages, convinced a few people to "like" the page, added a ton of details/photos/events/posts. After a few days of either lots of members (maybe ten or fifteen for the group) or lots and lots of all kinds of activity for the page (only two likes, but easily fifteen posts, ten pictures, etc.) they each appeared, magically, when searched for.
The easiest solution is to get people to join the group by inviting them via message. I want to say that the Ohio Mormons group showed up in searches at ten members, but that was several years ago. I only invited twenty or so to start, and strangers (not friends of friends) were joining after the tenth or eleventh person joined.
Come to think of it, "In Memory - Gordon B. Hinckley" had easily fifty members within hours, though. A bunch of my friends joined it almost as soon as I had finished creating it, but most of the members after that were total strangers. So it must have been searchable really fast. I know I joined the first memorial group within probably minutes of hearing about his death, and it had only been in the Utah media for maybe half an hour when I heard (I created my own because the first group had a typo in the name.)
I'm absolutely stone-cold certain there's no approval process. Not given what shows up when you search for stuff. Once a group exists, though, the hierarchy of who shows up in search first seems entirely based on group size: even the "closed" groups with 39 members show up ahead of the active groups with 38 members.
posted by SMPA at 7:31 PM on February 26, 2012
The easiest solution is to get people to join the group by inviting them via message. I want to say that the Ohio Mormons group showed up in searches at ten members, but that was several years ago. I only invited twenty or so to start, and strangers (not friends of friends) were joining after the tenth or eleventh person joined.
Come to think of it, "In Memory - Gordon B. Hinckley" had easily fifty members within hours, though. A bunch of my friends joined it almost as soon as I had finished creating it, but most of the members after that were total strangers. So it must have been searchable really fast. I know I joined the first memorial group within probably minutes of hearing about his death, and it had only been in the Utah media for maybe half an hour when I heard (I created my own because the first group had a typo in the name.)
I'm absolutely stone-cold certain there's no approval process. Not given what shows up when you search for stuff. Once a group exists, though, the hierarchy of who shows up in search first seems entirely based on group size: even the "closed" groups with 39 members show up ahead of the active groups with 38 members.
posted by SMPA at 7:31 PM on February 26, 2012
Did your friends search via the Facebook iPhone app? I ask because I cannot find (some) groups when I search via the iPhone App, but I find them when using a browser.
posted by The Toad at 8:34 PM on February 26, 2012
posted by The Toad at 8:34 PM on February 26, 2012
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posted by DoubleLune at 3:54 PM on February 26, 2012