Facebook will be archiving all groups created using the old groups format
Some group owners are seeing the following message at the top of the group admin page:
Over the next few months, Facebook will be archiving all groups created using the old groups format. Moving forward, you can create groups using the new groups format, which makes it easy to share with the important groups in your life.
Facebook offers pretty thorough guidance about the forthcoming archiving and upgrades in the site’s help section, fleshed out in three different questions.
The site explains that old groups that get archived will automatically also become available in the new group format. Most of the associated content will remain available in the upgraded version, with some notable exceptions.
The things that won’t make it over are:
- Recent news
- Group officer titles
- The information box under the old group picture
- The group network
- The members of your old group.
Yup, you’ll have to redo your membership list in the new group if you wait for Facebook to do the archive and upgrade for you. The archived version will include:
- Group photos and wall posts
- Group discussion threads, which become wall posts
- The group description, which can be found at the top of the page when you click “see all” members in the new group
Facebook recommends that save backups of their group content before the archiving. Plus, the site wants all businesses using groups to promote themselves to switch to pages instead.
At some point, a link saying “upgrade this group” may appear at the top of the owner’s admin screen — only for old groups, of course. Ones created in the new format won’t go through any of this. And groups that have less activity might not see an upgrade prompt at all.
For now, the messages that readers have said they are seeing come as friendly early alerts, which we appreciate. Putting the word out early seems like a wise move, based on how people reacted to recent upgrades of profiles and pages.
Readers, what do you think about the way Facebook is handling the eventual phasing out of the old groups format?
