Facebook Groups Launch To Bridge Online, Real-Life Gap

Facebook today announced an ambitious project to keep social circles more closely bonded on the site than ever before: Facebook Groups.

Three months ago, Google's Paul Adams posted a slideshow taking issue with the way social networks today don't adequately bridge the gap between online and real-life. Adams also outlined how an ideal social network based on real life would work, catering more to smaller social groups.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg addressed many of those issues directly today and says Facebook has solved these problems with "a great groups product that is better than any other group communication tool."

The new Facebook Groups is a "social solution" that takes advantage of real-world connections. Zuckerberg compared it to Facebook's current photo technology in which you can quickly and easily tag friends. Like photos, groups don't have to be set up by everyone themselves and parts of the process will be automated.

While the concept of Facebook Groups have existed on the site for some time (see the most ridiculous), the revamped groups feature will be based on your social connections. Each group will have an icon and a logo to "resemble a human space," says head of product Chris Cox. There will also be group chat and email list functionality.

Zuckerberg also seemed to take a swipe at Twitter during his address, saying "Nobody wants to make lists" and they're not the right solution. Asked whether Facebook will continue to support its current list functionality, however, Zuckerberg says it will.

Read more about Facebook's announcements today from Larry Magid's live blog. Also, Mashable has a screenshot of the new Facebook Groups here.

Comments

[dana williams16]

11:09 AM on 10/07/2010

Will a facebook group become a real group? or it's only real groups going to become facebook groups?
What's more powerful? real life or digital life?

Facebook, for me, still need to work on the gap between real and digital, i don't need 2 lives, a real life and a digital life, i need a life experience that is made of both. At the same time.

A great connection of these 2 worlds i saw recently is http://www.aliveshoes.com/v.php, it's about shoes, and not about friends, but it really incarnate what i am talking about, a fluent experience of digital and real, in front of the pc and with your body ( with shoes).

I like it a lot, it gives me the feeling that the digital world helped this project to start up.

I think that the digital world has to help, not replace our real world.

D.

[craft ryan]

11:51 PM on 10/06/2010

True group functionality on Twitter is provided by third party clients such as Grouptweet, not
Twitter Lists. Unlike Facebook Groups, Grouptweet requires all parties in the group to opt-in, instead of putting the burden on users to opt-out and constantly monitor which groups random "friends" are adding them too....

[Tweak Your Life]

08:34 PM on 10/06/2010

I do believe that this was Facebook's try to make their site seem more exclusive and more cool again. I put this together on my own blog: Facebook Has Groups…Trying to be Exclusive Again
http://tweakyourlife.com/127/facebook-groups-trying-to-be-exclusive-again/

Facebook has lost so many cool points over the last couple years. I explain how they need to do something to get them back. Everyone is on FB now. So much that people find some parts of the service to be a hassle. Groups is FBs way to undo a lot of this.

[LordBear]

04:40 PM on 10/06/2010

Quote: Zuckerberg said "'Nobody wants to make lists' and they're not the right solution."

I beg to differ. Clearly our young pup of a CEO likes to reach broad conclusions based on the transactional data they see on their servers, but data is only data. It requires interpretation and that can lead to mistaken conclusions. Because FB didn't see lots of use of the Friends Lists does not mean the idea is bunk. A) I like lists and I know lots of people who do. B) When Facebook first created FLs, a fair number of people used them but THEN, Facebook redesigned things again, making access to one's lists more awkward, leading to less usage. IOW, because you guys blew the implementation of this class of functionality does not necessarily prove that people don't want or would not use Lists.

Asked whether Facebook will continue to support its current list functionality, however, Zuckerberg says it will.

[SuperNerdo]

03:56 PM on 10/06/2010

Great to see the platform evolve but here's some food for thought - Does Facebook constantly need to reinvent itself to maintain its status as the largest social network? Interesting to see the drastic change in online communities in just three short years. http://bit.ly/aebWUY

[Kuuba]

07:16 PM on 10/06/2010

Facebook is a sham. It's a data mining site created by a thief who got lucky.

[Shinzart]

03:35 PM on 10/06/2010

That seemed like a bit of a slanderous tweet.. "Facebook Takes Swipe At Twitter Lists, Announces "Facebook Groups"". I don't think they are really taking a swipe at twitter lists. Facebook has tried lists and they didn't get the types of numbers and results that they would like to have seen so they're trying something that would be more integral to the site, easier to use and more user friendly.

~J

[lawrencemuh]

03:10 PM on 10/06/2010

Now we have shared freedom space!!!