Can Facebook Groups be an intranet option for smaller organizations? |

Can Facebook Groups be an intranet option for smaller organizations?

Thu, Jan 13, 2011

Social media management, Social Media Tools, Uncategorized

When Facebook Groups was unveiled last year, I was skeptical. Facebook tinkers with its platform so much (to its credit) that I sometimes just tune out. Professionally, I need to know about these changes. And, more importantly, I need to know how they impact my clients. But, this one just didn’t do much for me.

Until I started revisiting the tool recently.

I started by creating a secret group for a collection of individuals and colleagues I’m looking forward to brainstorming with in the next few months. I started to learn more about Groups. And more about the capabilities and potential it had for brands.

One use that jumped out at me for smaller organizations: Using Facebook Groups as an organizational intranet.

Let me explain.

Smaller organizations (non-profits even) don’t typically have the resources necessary to buy an off-the-shelf intranet product. And, they certainly don’t have the staff resources to manage a more complex intranet that would include programming, content creation and editing and community management.

No, these organizations are short on staff the budget in most cases.

Enter Facebook Groups.

Why does Facebook Groups make sense as an intranet option for these smaller organizations?

* Critical mass. With 550 million users and counting, chances are your staff is already using Facebook recreationally. So, there shouldn’t be many gaps or folks saying “I’m not on Facebook” anymore.

* Familiarity. Since so many people use the tool on a regular basis, you shouldn’t have to train folks on features and functionality. They’re already there.

* Just enough functionality. In most cases, these small organizations don’t need a full-feature intranet. They just need the basics. And, in some instances, they need a way for staff to collaborate and work together from geographically disperse environments.

So, how would staff use Facebook Groups as an intranet? I think there are a few key pieces of functionality that would prove extremely useful:

* Real-time collaboration. Don’t just chat one-on-one–chat in a group setting with all members of the group that are online at any given time using the Facebook chat feature. This one has serious implications. Potential uses: Virtual group meetings, scheduled 10-minute team brainstorming sessions and a great back-channel during group conference calls.

* Seamless photo sharing. Again, familiarity wins here. Chances are your employees have already uploaded pics to the largest photo sharing site on the Web. So, we know they know how to do it, which is usually half the battle with intranet-type products.

* Group write/edit docs on the fly. Sure, it’s no Google Docs–not by a long shot–but it does have basic document sharing and editing functionality. Again, it’s enough for most smaller organizations. This would be perfect for team projects. And, would free up email for more important notes and discussions–instead of sending documents back and forth with changes and edits.

What do you think? Is Facebook Groups a viable intranet option for smaller organizations? I’d love your two cents.

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SpotLocal 5 pts

1 thing I haven't been able to track down so far, is back up. Can you back up the posts, threads, photos and docs from a group? If it is possible, do you have to be the admin to do so, or can any member do a back up? Thanks for the comments! Chris

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JGoldsborough

As an employee comms guy at heart, I am right with you here, Arik. I think FB groups can absolutely be used as an Intranet for small biz or project management/collaboration for project teams in an org of any size. We are using secret groups at FH to share ideas with some of our teams that are spread across different offices.

The one thing that makes all this a bit of a pain is the inability to add people with whom you aren't friends to groups. There's an easy way around it -- e-mail out the link and ask people to request access to the group -- but still, I'd like to be able to send e-mail invites directly from the group. A small obstacle to a huge idea for small biz. Nice work!

Arik Hanson

Right, but that's a fix I'm guessing Facebook may address in the not-so-distant future. Thanks for weighing in!

Dena

If a group is secret, as you said you set yours up as, how can people find it and request to join? Also, how do you combat the members you invited or accepted inviting others to the group not part of the org? I tried it and the admin does not have the option to accept or decline - they are automatically part of the group until the admin dismisses them. This is a security issue and not truly an intranet then.
Do I have this wrong?

To answer your first question, you want the admin to invite folks. But, as Justin said, the trick is they need to be friends first. This creates some in-office issues (boss/employee friending, for example), but it is what it is at this point. And, you can always put the privacy measure to good use. Re: your second question, I'm not sure I understand what you're saying. Can you clarify?

Densim71

Hi Arik, Thanks for the response. In regard to the second question, I had a member of my closed group (where I am the admin) invite someone on their personal friends list and I did not have the option to accept or decline this person. I simply got a notification that this person was added. This person has nothing to do with my organization. I know I can dismiss them, but this means that the walls can be penetrated! Do I have this right? Thank you, again.

Melissa Berggren

Great thinking here... but the biggest miss is ownership. Not your server, not your space = risk. I've seen facebook shut down very active groups for trademark infringement and "indecency" (a breastfeeding support group). Communities can take a big hit when they *poof* vanish. For a company, I'd rather keep it on your own turf.

Scott Hepburn

This is a great point, Melissa. I think Facebook Groups CAN work in an intranet-like way for some orgs, but not for all. Like everything else in communication, each group should choose the tools best fit for its members and goals.

Fair point, Melissa, but I think it's a risk worth taking for most smaller orgs or non-profits. Sure, Facebook owns the data and the platform, but if you're really using it as a collaboration tool (and really you can't use it for a whole heck of a lot more than that really) I think it's relatively safe. Is it a risk? Absolutely. But, as with any risk, you have to weigh the pros and cons and decide if it's worth it. Plus, I don't see this working for orgs with regulatory or huge privacy issue (read: health care), so I know where your head's at! ;)

Mike Pilarz

Arik, I hadn't yet tinkered with Facebook groups so thanks for the overview. For the kind of collaboration you intend to use it for, it sounds like a solid tool, and I could see how a lot of teams could benefit.

But for use as an intranet, I just can't see many companies taking the security risk, and for good reason. Facebook doesn't exactly have a sparkling reputation when it comes to protecting user data.

Well, Melissa made a similar point above. And, I hear that. I'm not suggesting this move is for everyone--but for some smaller organizations I think it presents a unique option for a number of the reasons I've outlined. Thanks for chiming in, Mike!

Rick Spratley

Arik, great post. And I think it is a great collaboration space for smaller, cash strapped organizations for the reasons you point out. As Facebook becomes much easier for individuals to create walls between their personal, family and professional networks, users will be more open to professionally collaborating inside Facebook. It will be interesting to see if Facebook invests in this corporate collaboration space the same way Google did with its cloud email and document collaboration tools. Maybe five years from now, we will leave one position and join another it will be as simple as plugging our Facebook professional workspace into our new employer's Facebook walled garden where we can do our work, collaborate, communicate, etc.

Janet Fouts

You've got some great points here Arik but I think Facebook has a long way to go before it competes with Google groups etc. Mostly it's the way discussions are displayed . Threads get buried in the feed and if users respond to a discussion in the timeline instead of replying to the original poster the thread gets truncated.
As you say, Facebook is constantly iterating and this may improve.

I'm with you on the issue of information organization, Janet. For that reason, I prefer LinkedIn Groups over Facebook Groups in a lot of circumstances. I think FB is a better network, it's where we spend more time, and is conducive to quick comments. LinkedIn is better for organizing threads. And Google Groups has advantages neither of these offers, but there are drawbacks there (mainly, that it's Google...).

Good points, Janet. But, I like Facebook Groups over Google simply because of the ease of use. Sure, it's not perfect, but most everyone is familiar with the "OS." You can't say the same for Google Groups, really.

There are a lot of good pints here Arik but I think the big drawback of Facebook groups is the way discussions are displayed. It's easy for useful content to get buried in the stream and discussions tend to get broken up when people reply to the group instead of to the original comment.
As you say, Facebook is constantly evolving, and maybe it will turn into such a resource.

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