How do I create a new group in Facebook?

I am just getting into Facebook and want to create a new group for my friends to join. How do I do that without getting lost in the admittedly slick, but still confusing, world of Facebook and its many, many capabilities?

Dave's Answer:

I agree with you that Facebook is far more visually attractive than MySpace and the like, but that it's also rather confusing, all in all. One thing that bothers me is that everything changes "within" the page, so that if you make the mistake of using the BACK button on your browser to try and back up, you just find that you're on the site you visited before Facebook, not the previous page on Facebook itself. Gets me all the time!

Anyway, creating a group is easy once you figure out the basics of navigating the Facebook world. Start out by logging in to your Facebook account and then clicking on "Groups" on the left-most navigational menu:

You'll now be looking at a list of different groups, but, really, what you want to see is the "Create a New Group" link on the top in fairly small type:

Facebook: Top Navigational Menu: Groups: Create a New Group

Click on it and you'll see the fairly complicated form you'll need to fill in to build your new group, starting with the basic information:

Your "Network" lets you create a group that's either just for your existing circle of friends and colleagues or widely available to the entire Facebook community. I chose the latter, since there are lots of Facebook users who I know, I just haven't connected with yet.

The categorization of your group is also critical if you want people to browse and find it. For my own "Friends of Ask Dave Taylor" group, I chose Internet & Technology --> Cyberculture. Perhaps "General" would be a better subcategory, but after years of running this site and chatting with so many of you, I feel like we're building our own community, so...

Once you've entered those rudimentary items, there's more you can optionally fill out:

You might or might not fill all of these fields out. It's probably useful to identify your location, however, and if your group has an affiliated Web site, definitely add that to the group description too.

Next up on this rather long and detailed page, you can also specify some additional capabilities for your nascent group:

Unless there's a reason to limit things, I encourage you to leave all the capabilities selected to make your group as robust and useful as possible.

Finally, you can determine how Facebook publicizes your group -- if at all -- with the last set of options:

That's all there is to it. Specify all the capabilities you desire, add some useful (keyword rich) descriptive text to help people find your group, specify appropriate access capabilities, and click on "Create New Group" to make it so!

Facebook: Create New Group: Upload Picture/Photograph

If you're so inclined and have a good one laying around, I encourage you to upload a picture as part of your process. It'll help your group stand out in search results and through other ways that people might stumble upon it.

Finally, once it's either uploaded or you've decided to skip the photo upload step, your group is created and you get a list of who is a member. For now, it'll be just you, but you can easily invite a few - or all - of your Facebook pals to join up, and even people who aren't Facebook members as of yet to join. Be careful, though, no-one likes spammy messages, even if you think your group is totally legit.

Hope that helps you understand how to work with Facebook groups. If you'd like to see what I created as part of this, please check out: Friends of Ask Dave Taylor on Facebook. I'll look for you there!

Categorized: Facebook Help (Article 7535, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: facebook, groups, mailing lists
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Comments

hey
i was tryin to use ur site to make a new group , but my settings on my facebook were diff to the ones you showed on ur pics, if u could plzz help that would be great :D

Posted by: Daisy at November 9, 2008 6:32 AM

Hi.
I started an alumni group for my old school, and I was wondering if there was anyway I could invite people to it who aren't already my friends.
They have facebook, but is there a faster way instead of adding them as friends then inviting them to the group?
Thankyou alot.
Maddy

Posted by: Maddy at November 25, 2008 9:31 PM

Another question--I have a closed group and got emails from folks asking to join. I didn't save the emails at the time, but when I went to facebook to answer their requests to join, I couldn't find them! Do requests to join only show up in email? I feel bad, b/c I trashed those.

Posted by: K at June 19, 2009 9:39 AM

im doing a school proyect and im i need to open an accont on facebook, as if i where a school but i dont know how to do... can you help??

Posted by: teresa Orozco at July 15, 2009 12:35 PM

I would like to start new group Advocates for special needs children Education thank you

Posted by: dorothy french simard at August 25, 2009 8:44 PM

i wanted to know how to make a support group in facebook, some page says "become a fan" others "become a supporter", i wanted the later. hod do i do that? thanks.

Posted by: jai leonardo at October 18, 2009 6:22 PM

Hey, I think they upgraded this because it looks different from the one I have on my screen.

Posted by: Maisy at December 1, 2009 2:50 PM

You're right, Maisy. I'll have an updated group creation post coming in the next week or so: already have a draft written. it'll also show how you can create a private group where you get to approve members rather than a public group. Stay tuned, I'll try to add a link here when I've written and published it too.

Posted by: Dave Taylor at December 1, 2009 4:43 PM

to create a group on facebook, type group in the search box then click on the group icon. you will then see create new group, simply click and fill out the form, done

Posted by: peter speakman at December 8, 2009 2:09 PM

hi i cdnt get it help me plz

Posted by: momina at February 27, 2010 9:14 AM

i want to invite people to my group who are on facebook but arent my friends...how do i do this?

Posted by: jessica at March 2, 2010 11:26 AM

Hello Dave
I have created a new group on facebook: My biggest problems is that i dont know how to add pictures to entries on the wall?

I often use a quote from another site, but the picture is never added, which means you nead to load it seperately with the photos link but then it show seperate and not next to the topic?

Please assist

tks
magda

Posted by: Magda at April 11, 2010 5:37 AM

i dont know how 2 make a facebook and an e-mail.i did it 1st,the e-mail,but they said INVALID PASSWORD.that makes me FREEK OUT.please help me

Posted by: keerthna at April 29, 2010 7:01 AM

I want to join facebook group so that i can share with friends

Posted by: Damilola,festus at April 30, 2010 3:37 AM

thanks, hey, u rank top when searching "how to build facebook group", really nice
when i tried to build facebook group, the difficulty is i dont know if the result is certain person or a group, lol

Posted by: grace at May 22, 2010 12:59 AM

Facebook layout has changed a lot since this post and I have a question that it seems many others here have. I want to create a group but want to invite people to it that aren't necessarily friends in my personal FB account. Is this possible? Also, it seems that now there is no option to have other details like your website address, postal address, etc.

Posted by: Annette at February 3, 2011 8:52 PM

How do you change "Ask to join group" to "Join" on facebook? Then one doesn't need permission to join a facebook group.

I created a group called "Queer Pride". I can add members one by one which is tedious and doesn't give their permission. Anyone who comes to the group has to click on "Ask to join group". There are a lot of groups where we can directly join without being first confirmed by the sysop. I would prefer them to click on "Join group" where you don't need to give them permission.

Posted by: Lyle Lexier at March 22, 2011 1:20 AM

can u help me send a message to ppl asking them to join my group

Posted by: dori at April 13, 2011 9:01 PM

Hi
I have carefully followed instructions (or so I thought) to set up business facebook and am now building my list of friends. I have understood that business Facebook allows me to invite people I do not know to be friends.
A short while ago Facebook banned me for contacting people for two days because I had invited somebody I do not know to be a friend.
What am I doing wrong? How can I work out what I am doing incorrectly, and what I should be doing instead, to ensure I am doing everything correctly?
Facebook business is under: centre for achievement
Many thanks
Silvia

Posted by: Silvia Wright-Davies at May 8, 2011 8:52 PM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!