Closed Social Media Platforms: The Good, Bad, and Future of these Private Groups
With nearly 3.8 billion individuals on social media, there seems to be something for everyone. Whether you’re into posting photos, answering questions on forums, or crafting tweets to share with your following there are a wide variety of ways you can expand your social media “footprint” and it’s only going to continue growing.
The use of platforms such as Facebook Groups and WhatsApp allow for a more intimate and personalized way of engaging online. These are “closed social media platforms”, meaning the content, user information, and group details can only be viewed by those invited/accepted into the group.
Over the past few years, Facebook has shifted its focus to promoting and prioritizing the use of Facebook groups, according to Salvador Rodriguez, a CNBC reporter. Rodriguez also stated that Facebook spent an estimated $10 million on a 60-second Super Bowl commercial to advertise Facebook groups, further establishing their new focus of the platform.
Ultimately, the reason for the big push and new focus was to build communities. According to Facebook founder himself, Mark Zuckerberg, “the most important thing [Facebook] can do is develop a social infrastructure to give people the power to build a global community that works for all of us.” His goal is to provide a space of “supportive, safe, informed, civically-engaged, and inclusive” communities that can impact people on a global level.
While his reasoning for Facebook groups seems sincere and impressive, we have to examine them at a closer angle and understand the benefits and risks they pose to society.
Pros
The first great thing about closed social media platforms like Facebook groups in the ability to develop a community of individuals with a “common goal.” Whether the group is established to share gardening tips, find people who share the same genetic condition as you, or a place to talk about parenting fails, all of the group users are seeking the same thing — a community of people who “get” them.
Members of these groups often build trust amongst each other due to this common ground and understanding. According to tech expert blogger, Tom Petrocelli, this “breeds implicit trust.”
Beyond the group members having a safe community they can trust, these closed platforms are self-sustaining. Social Melon believes that this is one of the main “pros” to closed Facebook groups. The nature of these groups allows the community members to spark conversation, carry out discussions, and naturally engage with each other. Little to no effort is required on behalf of the Admin to create and share content.
Cons
With like-minded individuals often comes the inability to receive news or information different from your personal ideals and beliefs. In recent months, a countless amount of misinformation has been circulating on closed social media platforms like Facebook groups and WhatsApp. A recent study on COVID-19 news misinterpretations was just completed in which researchers found that social media allows the spread of misinformation which can lead to damaging “behaviors and attitudes” that impact the way we are currently interacting in the world. Beyond news about COVID-19, misinformation can also be spread about politics and everyday news. Misinformation is easily spread within a closed group of individuals, which ultimately leads to an even larger cycle of misinformation beyond the walls of the group. This information can be harmful or hazardous to the wellbeing of society.
In order to minimize the risk of misinformation in these closed groups, a few things should be implemented for a more well-rounded and civilized group. Facebook should continue to roll out more fact-checking options to be displayed for group users. The ability to identify “fake news” and misinformation articles and posts would significantly increase these ideas from spreading further. The option to continue to view the content should be given, but a warning should most definitely be in place.
Some less detrimental cons of closed groups are the inability to reach a larger audience, promote with proper ads, and the lack of insights for any business-related purposes. While these are not impacting the group community, they may make you rethink starting a closed group in the first place, especially on Facebook.
The Future of Closed Groups and Tools within Platforms
With Facebook’s efforts to push groups and leading to more than 10 million Facebook groups and 1.4 billion users amongst them, we can see that they are not going anywhere and can apply this data to the future of other closed platforms and tools.
As humans, we desire to feel included and a sense of belonging with those who accept, interact, and validate us — that’s what these closed groups do. I believe that Facebook groups and other niche platforms will continue to develop and evolve over time as they widely implement safety and fact-checking features, while still allowing individuals to receive what they were looking for in the first place — a community.
