Facebook kills off Discussions Tab
Another week, another set of Facebook changes ... this time:
Discussion tab:
Facebook has begun notifying Page admins (via messages on the Page) that it will be removing the Discussions tab application from all Pages on October 31, 2011 and it appears that Pages can no longer install the app.
The in-house app, also known as Discussion Boards, allows Pages to host simple forums. However, Facebook says “The best way to encourage conversation and feedback is through posts and comments on your wall”. It will therefore eliminate the Discussions app, despite AppData showing that it has 22 million monthly active users.
What is a little more confusing is that it also says: "We've removed these tabs for now as we work on tools to help you moderate and filter content. Our goal is to help you can manage everything from one powerful place. Stay tuned." So it's not entirely clear whether the Discussions tab will resurface in another, more manageable guise, or whether they will disappear completely.
As those who use a third-part tool to moderate Facebook Pages will know, the API from discussions doesn't get pulled into any tools and therefore has to be moderated from the front end. It may be this problem - or simply inattention - which has led to the many instances we've seen of otherwise well-run brand/celebrity pages having a Discussion Tab full of slanging matches or customer complaints.
Discussion tabs - if they are moderated properly - do have a function, and it would be a shame for Facebook to pull them completely.
- They are far more easily archived than the wall, and provide a good place for discussion about, for example product issues and developments
- They can also help to get difficult discussions off the Wall, if the community managers steers it: i.e ".... we can help you but please move the conversation here... "
I see a real need though, for an area devoted to customer service issues, which should be kept away from the engaging conversation of the wall. This would benefit both brands and users. Users would know exactly where to go with their issues, and brands can easily find and respond to them, leaving the more positive conversations to go on elsewhere. And PLEASE make it easy to moderate, with the API available to third party tools and banning functions! This area would need to be clearly and regularly signposted through from Page walls, but I think it could work well. You?
7 comments:
I'm very slightly relieved by this news: Moderation and management of discussion tabs were - as you say - more honoured in the breach than the observance.
There are the odd exceptions (Marks & Spencer, ASOS spring to mind.) And - as you suggest - these tended to be heavy on the Customer Service content. Only very rarely (All Blacks) have I noticed spontaneous community formation (and even on the All Blacks page it's mostly promotional spam and attempts at SEO link-building.)
The reality (from our research) is that a well run Page might attract fewer than 1% of its Daily Active Users (DAU) to the actual Page on a daily basis (slightly more during recruitment activity, notably less during periods of low engagement.)
The remaining 99% of DAU are reached in their News Feeds and never visit the Page.
Since Discussion Boards can only be accessed through the Page (and often only the link to visit them isn't immediately visible on the 2011 version of the Page user interface) it's safe to say that MOST users never knew they were there. That's not to say that there aren't nuggets of useful information there, (Lewis Webb tells me that he's had really insightful stuff come through on Discussions) but Brands have found it understandably hard to justify building out their communities there.
I'd like (very briefly) to address the "Why not use Discussion Boards as a Customer Service tool" idea.
I think we all agree that a user complaining on Facebook is a user who is unwilling to search for the correct customer service channel, or (worse) who is dissatisfied with the service that they have received to date through that channel. Much of the time, they want to complain in public; either as an expression of their anger or from a misplaced belief that embarrassing a brand in public will result in a faster response.
And we all agree too, I think, that addressing specific complaints off-Wall is good practice; and neither the Private Message nor the "Contact us at..." approaches is really elegant.
I think a link to an alternative threaded discussion might be useful; but I'm not convinced that Discussion Boards hosted on Facebook were the best place for this...
Thanks Matt - great stats :-) I think we have to face the fact that if a customer has a problem with a brand, then pretty much the first thing many of them will do it to seek out the Facebook Page. You're right about the need to vent in public, and the advantages to the complainer are:
1. Their complaint may snowball and gain the critical mass to get action or change from the brand
2. Unlike a solitary tweet, it will stay around for a while (unless deleted by admin). And the link to the page can be tweeted as well of course.
3. It's comparatively easy to find the page and there's no letter-writing or being put on hold.
So, I think it would be wise to face the fact that the Page WILL be used this wway, and name a tab and signpost it accordingly.
Not all FB pages are business oriented. There are many support groups of all sorts on FB that use discussions in a good way. FB needs to give options. Not get rid of things millions DO use. FB is not all about businesses, don't forget charities, support groups and topics from movies to dance. This is where discussions are useful and FB again doesn't care about users unless they are businesses.
That's a really good point, thanks for making it.
There's a lot going on in Facebook but I don't think some of the changes have done the site good. Can you still view mutual friend's list? I think they removed that one. I hope the discussion boards will return with better features.
I think Facebook is shooting itself in the foot on this one. This, of course, assuming that they're not going to pull out something better than discussion forums.
Their contention of using posts and comments for interaction is just shortsighted. Somehow, they are of the impression that your social network is the only graph out there. I'm not about to discuss my interests using posts and comments.
A page is a placeholder for an interest (even brands are interests at some level). People need the space to interact and discuss and explore it. It's not just about customer service. Customer service is a conversation between a company and its customers in that sense. But, more than that, users need discussions. It's the most effective and engaging method for the transfer of knowledge.
There is now a free alternative called Forum for pages https://www.facebook.com/202980683107053
It allows Pages owners to install a new Discussions tab to their Facebook page and also import all their existing discussions so that they don't lose them on October 31st.
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