

Facebook Launches Standalone Groups App - robhodge
http://techcrunch.com/2014/11/18/facebook-launches-standalone-groups-app/

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asronline
Called it! Check out my blog post from 2 days ago:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8613878](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8613878)

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shanemhansen
I might try this app out. I recently turned my Facebook off due to privacy
concerns. However I found I was missing out on really important stuff like
family reunions, engagements, new baby pictures.

I currently browse facebook only in a private tab, mostly as a response to
frictionless sharing.

If I could only consume the part of facebook that I need to stay in touch with
family that would be great.

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orbifold
Hm what's wrong with making phone calls, writing emails / letter to do that?
Send them baby pictures by post for christmas or something.

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bduerst
Extra clicks and time needed to do it comes into consideration.

Usually about now is when someone claims, "If they were your _real_ friend
they would put forth the effort.", but by that logic, if you were their _real_
friend you would put in the effort in to make yourself easier to share with.

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rock8y
Always thought facebook can challenge meetup.com, will wait to see if like
minded groups will use this with referal only entry

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12423gsd
I find Facebook lists to be a lot more convenient for "micro-sharing". The
lists are completely on your end, and none of your friends know what list they
are on. It just makes it so that everything from you is targeted to them .

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roymurdock
Given the amount of vitriol surrounding Facebook messenger as a separate app,
I'll be interested to see how users respond to this new head that has spawned
on the Facebook app hydra. Looks like a direct competitor to Groupme and
Whatsapp groups, and one that could've (should've?) been implemented within
the messenger app rather than building out a completely separate application
for chats that probably already live inside messenger.

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dang
Also
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8625259](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8625259).

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taude
I really appreciate FB splitting off their features into products. I use the
Chat app a lot more than I was expecting. I seldom view the "news feed" which
is mostly garbage for me. I look forward to an "Event planning" and calendar
integration...

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Hansi
Why can't they just make all the same features that are on the main web site
available in the main app? I use groups a whole lot but I see no need for a
separate app... that just means more context switching and will most likely
lead to app jumping like main vs messenger does now :/

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derefr
For one not-minor advantage, you get context to badging and push
notifications. I have the notifications from the Facebook app itself
completely disabled because it's a flood of non-urgent interrupts—but I rely
on notifications on the Facebook Messenger app, and would probably leave
notifications enabled on Facebook Groups if I had a group I participated
heavily in. It'd be sort of like Pair, or Slack (but for non-company groups),
both of which are disruptive sub-markets that are eating Facebook's lunch.

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hallman76
edited: Sorry I confused Groups and Rooms! ignore this.

\------------------------------------------------

A couple of UX decisions in the Rooms app are interesting.

It uses QR Codes to provide access to a Room. You take a screenshot of the QR
code, the Rooms app scans your camera roll to find new rooms to give you
access to.

The typical account creation process is side-stepped. You create an account
after you use the app. The account is initially based on your device, so it's
only needed if you switch devices or use multiple devices.

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bduerst
That's rooms, not groups.

It makes it difficult to get more users into a room, and [seems to] pander for
mobile interaction.

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zkhalique
What do you think your biggest use cases will be for the new Facebook Groups
app?

I'm curious, because in the past, Facebook Groups seemed to be forums
basically.

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batiudrami
I have groups for:

-My football tipping group

-My D&D group

-My board games group

-A group of my closeish (25 members) friends used to organise events and general chit chat which we aren't necessarily comfortable sharing with all of Facebook.

For me, the valuable features of Facebook are now groups and events,
everything else is just junk.

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zkhalique
I wonder what you'd think of an app dedicated solely to real-life groups and
events:

[http://qbixstaging.com/Groups](http://qbixstaging.com/Groups)

Try it out and let me know your feedback. Planning to release it soon.

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thrush
Is the app in the iTunes store yet?

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mdhgriffiths
Try this link:
[https://itunes.apple.com/app/id931735837](https://itunes.apple.com/app/id931735837)

