Top Lawyer Coach, LLC

This New Feature Lets Users Reach Smaller Groups of People

Facebook has introduced a new group feature that will allow you to communicate with friends, business page fans, and clients all at once rather than through a contact list.

The revamped group feature takes the place of friend lists, which company founder Mark Zuckerberg said only 5% of  people on Facebook use.

If you communicate more often through Facebook than by email, then groups will especially come in handy as they replace mailing lists. Any Facebook group can be set up to send out an e-mail anytime anyone posts to it. A group e-mail address will enable members to send a post to the address that will turn into a group post.

Facebook groups will come in three levels:

• Open - Members and the content of the group are public.
• Closed - The members of the group are made public, but the content is kept private. (This is the default.)
• Secret - Both the members and the content of the group are private.

Anything posted in the group will only be visible to members unless set otherwise.

Another feature is group chat, which will let a group member chat with everyone in that group at once. The Facebook Blog said that was one of the most requested features.

"We wanted to make it easy for users to create a shared space where they can quickly post photos, chat with other members who are online, and even keep in touch when they're not on Facebook through a group address," Facebook said.

A group can be set up by clicking "create group" in the left hand column of the home page. Users can request to join groups by clicking on "request to join this group," which will appear under the group photo.

Some groups require administrative approval to join, while others are private and will not show up in search results.

Users will still have access to old groups but will not be able to convert them to the new design.

More resources from Top Lawyer Coach:

Don't Let Business Fans on Facebook Un-Friend You

Use Social Media to Interact with Clients

4 Facebook Apps for Your Fan Page

Boost Business with a Winning Facebook Page