Thinking of starting a Facebook genealogy group?

One of the many things that social media allows us to do with genealogy is share what we know with relative ease with other people of similar interests.  

And one of the easiest ways to do just that is through starting a Facebook group.  There are already numerous genealogy groups available - just try searching a key word and see what comes up.

But if you don't find what you want, or like, or if you simply want to share your research with family members, its simple as a snap and a click to get a group going.

I'm not going to go through all of the steps that you need to go through to get a group up and running.  Facebook support does a wonderful with that.

But I do want to write what it means to be an "Administrator" of a Facebook group.

As an Administrator - and everyone who establishes a group on Facebook becomes the de facto leader of that group - you have certain power, and with power, comes responsibilities, just like Superhero's.  It's true!

Now this may sound awfully evident - but some people lose sight of this.

As an administrator of a group, you have to remember that what makes a group flourish - either in content or in manners - is to keep a level head, maintain common sense approaches to problems and remember to keep communication going between you, the group and and the members.

Just like a healthy houseplant, a Facebook group, once it's established, needs some attention to flourish.  

If you neglect it, it will wither and die.

If you aren't careful, it can develop "pests" in the membership.

And if you hover over it, and suffocate it, people won't participate and it'll die off.

Security settings allow you to control who sees the group, who can join and control over the posts.   You can appoint co-administrators (others who have equal control over the group) or moderators with more limited permissions.

You can control who approves members, but you cannot control who members themselves would like to suggest for membership.

The number one complaint that I here discussed among moderators are "problem members".  These are people who join groups and are there to, and lets put cards on the table, "stir the shit."  They post off topic, they break common sense rules, they use language that violates a "General" audience.

This is why simple rules make sense.  For example, "Please stay on topic, refrain from profanity, no advertisements." and "please take personal disagreements you may have with someone out of the group and settle them between yourselves."  These help you to not get over burdened in details and other people's "stuff".

On the flip side, the rules have to apply to YOU, the administrator, as well.  You have to work with the group, not "lord yourself" over it.

For example, if you remove a post, use messenger to let the person who wrote the post know why it was removed.   Simply removing it without any explanation make it look like their contributions don't apply.

If you need to remove a member, let them know why and do so in a manner that explains to them why something was done.  Perhaps they were unaware of the rule.  Perhaps they were unaware of the offense.  Err on the side of being a good host.

The absolute rudest thing that you can do is take a negative action against someone and then stick your head in the sand and hide.

Let me be perfectly clear: removing someone and failing to let them know why is cowardly on the administrator's part and it is a sign of terrible manners.   It is a bad reflection on your part.

A gracious person takes the feelings of others into account, even when the other party hasn't.  Being rude has no foundation in society. And it will not help your group flourish.

One other bit of advice.  Never start a group out of revenge, or to take the spotlight from another existing group.  I am not a die hard believer in Karma, but I do believe that nothing good ever comes from something rooted in hard feelings.

And while this may sound a bit namby pamby - the Facebook groups that do thrive do so because people are interested, they feel welcome to add content, and they share a common bond.

If you have those three ingredients, then your Facebook group should enjoy success.

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It's Easter weekend.  Have a safe and enjoyable Easter.  See you Monday.