Hello, I'm Mike Prasad.

Facebook launched their new and much talked about Groups feature today. Mashable has full coverage on the live event this morning about each feature (definitely worth a read) but decided to get my digital hands dirty and test out Facebook Groups around some specific use cases. But before I get to those, let me give you a quick overview of some key aspects that make it interesting beyond just group status updates:

Groups have Privacy Types which allow for very different uses. Open, Closed, and Secret which hide or show the group members and/or content.

Group Members must be invited or approved by request which allows for peer and admin curated growth.

Groups have Events which are owned by the Group and Group Admin and in addition to normal event features, can be limited to only Group Members.

Groups have Shared Docs which, while admittedly simplistic, can be used for collaboration and wiki-type information sharing and updating.

Groups have Real-Time Group Chat which could allow for real-time virtual meetings and live private discussion.

So now you about Facebook Groups unique features. Now here are the 3 Groups I created, each for a different type of use case:

Real Example #1: WOWee Ambassadors of Sound (link)

This is an example of a group for a business and marketing/branding use. I created it for {M} Consultancy’s new client WOWee One for which we are working on growing a grassroots community base. The idea is to offer a VIP group for fans from the existing WOWee One Fanpage that really love, support and want to represent the brand and product, which is a portable rechargeable power bass speaker for iPhone/iPad/Portable Gaming/etc.. I made it a closed group (members are publicly visible but content is not) because we will have special offers and access only for fans that decide to become brand ambassadors. Also, the private content adds to the “VIP’ness”. Fans can request to become an Ambassador or other Ambassadors can invite a friend into the program. This allows WOWee to support and award fans who really help grow the brand community.

Tip: Don’t forget to upload a group avatar and write a decent description.

Real Example #2: #LAFoodieCrew (link)

This is an example of a enthusiast community group. If you know me, then you know I’ve been a huge foodie way before my involvement with @KogiBBQ. A lot of us LA Tech people are always meeting up for dinners, tastings, and other random noms. To date, it’s always been organized by a mishmash of tweets, texts, calls or occasionally eventbrite . Inevitably, someone misses out. Solution? Create a space on Facebook, where we all have profiles, to suggest and coordinate around our meetups and share our love for good food! Within 20 minutes, we already had our first meetup scheduled! Since I like brands, I came up with a quick name and logo to bring it all together. I setup a Group Doc to list meetup ideas and used Group Events for setting up official meetups. Since it is an Open Group, anyone can see and share meetup details, local foodie posts, and join via any member. This allows us to coordinate and share both as a group and with potentially interested Facebook users. One nice aspect is that a Group Event is owned by the Group, but can also be shared and opened up for anyone to RSVP.

Group Events and Docs are shown on the #LAFoodieCrew Group Page

Group Docs is used to organize, propose and collect meetup ideas

Group Events are automatically related to the group and members are automatically invited. Making it a public event also allows anyone else to RSVP.

Real Example #3: Pivotal LA

This is an example of a private community group. Years ago, when the L.A. Tech Community and Scene all but existed, a number of key organizers, influencers and community leaders teamed up as an unofficial group called Prototype LA. We shared resources, hookups, advice, and coordinated to foster and grow a tech scene in L.A. Over the years, we’ve kept in touch via an unofficial mailing list, but most of us still worked directly, which limited our individual effectiveness when helping each other out. Another thing that happened is that the people that I considered pivotal within L.A. tech grew, moved, and moved across areas of focus. I wanted to connect all these people and give the original Prototype LA group an update. By creating a closed (but not secret) Facebook group, anyone could see who is involved and but we now have private space to collaborate and share resources. This type of limited-but-not-hidden visibility also allows us to slowly grow the group via peer approval and hopefully the fact that it exists on Facebook, a platform we all interact with daily, will assure that the group doesn’t stagnate when all of us get too busy, as we frequently do. 

So there you have it, 3 real examples and use cases for Facebook Groups. Whether they will all prove useful in the long-term, we will have to see. But they each are off to a good start. Each case solves a specific problem or provides a specific use for the parties involved. More than just a list, which are much more limited, I’m sure we will see some more interesting uses of Groups in the next weeks.

Is there anything I think Facebook Groups is lacking? Sure, I’d love to see some Twitter integration, or even more some, Shared Group Files that can be uploaded, which would rock for clubs, college groups, private business uses, etc.. but it’s a pretty good start as is. And this is coming from a guy who generally hates Facebook..

Have any examples of how you are using Facebook Groups? Think some of the above examples have could be better? Post below along with your comments!