Alan you are correct, the other Group was started by someone else years ago, still not sure who, they handed me the admin of it, I just removed everyone at the time, and left, didnt even know it was still there, must have an old account in it or something.
Facebook works like a website and a forum, the actual front page of the website is very much like a normal facebook page (I will use AuStrom the V-Strom Group as an example):
So we have setup Austrom (Aussie V-Strom Owners)
Website looks like this:
http://www.austromriders.com.au/ so no forum, with basic info on it who we are, and is the website face of who they are and how to find them
We then have our Facebook
PAGE which we use in Facebook land for finding people to join the group, it is totally viewable to everyone but works just like the OzSTOC facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/austromriders/We then get to the Facebook Discussion
GROUP which works just like the forum, but is facebook based, it is a closed group, so unless you are a member you can't view anything inside of it, also like forums you have to apply to join, there are a couple of questions you must answer to verify that you are a real person, and that you have an interest in being part of the show:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/AuStrom/In the last 28 days AuStrom has had 345 posts, 4,250 comments, 6,958 likes.
673 members of our 731 interacted with the group in some way.
Sunday is the most active day, 8pm is the busiest time.
The top post with 170 comments, 175 likes, and 536 views.
We approved 46 new members, declined 88, and blocked 19
it is all very secure, your privacy levels are about the same as a forum, all comes down to your settings on your actual account, just like a forum would.
the part that got us doing this the facebook group rather than the forum was the fact that it is quick, simple, zero cost, you can upload images, video, files without having to use a 3rd party, cast live video,
I use Facebook as the major marketing tool for Hip Pocket, the work they have done around becoming a user friendly, safe, interactive company is quiet amazing.
it is not perfect but nothing is, this is an experiment to see if it might work, and i 100% agree with chris is that the forum is important, i still refer to it when i get ST questions from people and i do read it daily.
Cheers
Streak