For a brief moment, please think back to the very best family or group trip you can remember. How long did that trip take to plan? How many times did you bounce ideas back and forth between various family members? I’m sure the planning for that wonderful trip took a lot of time, and plenty of collaborative discussions occurred over the course of weeks and months. In the traditional sense, traveling with a group can be somewhat challenging if you are using the old telephone tree method to provide folks with brief updates and solicit ideas. Plus, there is always a relative that does not know the meeting of the word “brief” when it comes to telephone conversations. Hence, a greater amount of time and energy is consumed by group leaders using a traditional telephone method. This all may come as no surprise, but the senior trip planner has a life as well. For that reason, it is highly important to select a robust virtual platform that will provide travel members with timely information, provide a collaborative capability at a very low cost. One of the few platforms on the market today that offers all of these features is Facebook Groups.
What is a Facebook Group?
If you have not heard about the power of Facebook Groups, let me take a few seconds to provide you will a little detail. A Facebook Group is a virtual place within Facebook for a group to communicate. People can share their common interests, pictures, opinions, content, recommendations, make announcements, and much more. What I like about this virtual space is that anybody can set up and manage their own Facebook Group. According to Lifewire.com, anybody can set up and manage a private Facebook Group If you have ever liked a Facebook page, then you understand the whole concept of sharing information with other people who have a shared interest. Facebook Groups (FGs) are slightly different from Facebook Pages because FGs provide their members with a higher degree of exclusivity and public privacy. In short, Facebook Pages are always public, whereas an FG doesn’t have to be. If you are not a Facebook user, I would like to explain a few features concerning a Facebook Page. So, if you comment or like a particular page, all of your information will be available to anyone on Facebook who looks at that specific page. So, if you were to visit the Global Escape Travel Page (my page) on Facebook, then you will see anyone who commented on a photo, discussed an article or every picture I posted. In fact, you will be able to see everyone who liked my page. For some people, this does cause some privacy concerns, especially if they do not have a solid understanding of how to protect their personal profile. Due to the scope of this article, I will not go into personal Facebook profiles and protections.Facebook Group vs. Facebook Page
Are you thinking about creating a Facebook group? If so, let me start by explaining the difference between a Facebook Group and a Facebook Page. First of all, a Group can be more private than a Page since the Group’s creator has the option to make it closed. When a Group is closed, only those who have been invited to the Group can see the content and information shared within it. An example of a Closed Facebook Group might be team members who are working on a project together and want to communicate with one another more efficiently. Another could be a preschool whose parents need to stay informed about current events or various volunteer activities. In the latter case, there is no need for the greater public to know about the internal operations of the preschool.Closed Facebook Groups
By creating a Closed Group, the team is provided a private setting to share ideas on the project and post updates, just like with a Page. In the end, all information is shared only with members within the Group once it’s made closed. Others will still be able to see that the Group exists and who are members. Still, they will not be able to view any posts or information within the closed Group unless they are invited.The Secret Facebook Groups
The secret Group provides more privacy than the Closed Group. This type of Group is exactly what you would expect it to be — secret. Nobody on Facebook can see a secret Group other than those in the Group. This Group will not appear anywhere on your profile, and only those within the Group can see who the members are and what is posted. These Groups could be used if you are planning an event that you do not want somebody to know about, or if you want a secure platform to talk with friends. Another example might be a family who wants to share pictures and news on Facebook but without other friends seeing everything.The Public Facebook Groups
The third privacy setting for a Group is public, meaning that anyone can see who is in the Group and what has been posted. Still, only members of the Group can post within it. Learn more about Facebook groups here: linkConclusion
In closing, if you are thinking about planning a group trip, I recommend that you create either a Closed Group or a Private Group for group collaboration and planning. A closed group is the best Group to create if you are planning a large trip. Closed Groups are great if you need others to join the Group to offset expenses or if you are a travel agent and wish to create a buzz about your trip. For example, if I were planning a group trip to Orlando, Florida, I would set up a Closed Facebook Group so that potential members could find the closed Group on Facebook—then ask to join. However, if you are planning on a destination wedding and only want private family to attend, I would set up a Private Facebook Group to keep all the internal planning secret. So, please add creating a Facebook Group to your planning checklist. If you have setup a Facebook Group? I would like to hear your purpose for setting up your Group. Was the Facebook group helpful?