Facebook recently released a survey that highlights the importance of Facebook communities in rallying support during challenging times such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
The survey, which was conducted in 15 countries indicated that Kenyans were among the most active on Facebook communities and that COVID-19 had managed to bring out the best in most of our communities.
According to the survey, 98% of Kenyans sampled reported being able to mobilize support for others during the pandemic through their Facebook group/community, while 97% of Kenyans surveyed confirming that they had received some form of support from Facebook groups. The support ranged from helping others shop their groceries during the lockdown, sharing vital information about the pandemic from health authorities and providing financial support to local businesses.
68% of Kenyans surveyed also confirmed having received emotional support from groups during the pandemic, and as many as 75% of those surveyed said they had given emotional support to others.
Kenyans are ranked as the most active participants in community groups of the 15 countries surveyed. 45% of those surveyed in Kenya indicated that they were active on groups daily for multiple hours, compared to an average of 26% for the rest of the countries.
Of the Kenyans surveyed, 88% confirmed that the most important group they are part of at the moment operates online and they are willing to continue supporting and engaging with their groups in future. 89% of the respondents also said they appreciate the importance of digital tools in helping their communities thrive during the pandemic.
Overall, respondents reported being comfortable sharing their feelings and perspectives with their group than with their friends and family and that their groups had become more important to them since the COVID-19 outbreak. The survey shows that most of the groups are built around people who share a common trade or profession and around people who share a similar hobby or activity.
Facebook currently hosts tens of millions of active communities with over 1.8 billion people using Facebook Groups globally every month. More than 10 million Kenyans actively engage in groups monthly.
The survey was released as Facebook commemorates 10-years of Facebook Groups. The company recently rolled out new features to help communities grow and connect in more ways.
The new features include:
- Chats: Create and join real-time conversations within a group.
- Prompts: Start conversations with a new type of collaborative post where you can share photos about a specific topic and swipe through everyone’s responses.
- Q&A: Admins can host text-based question-and-answer sessions that are easy for the community to participate in.
- Customize your profile in groups: Change the way you show up in different groups by setting a custom profile photo and sharing info that’s relevant to each community.
Facebook is also keen to support Group admins and has introduced additional tools to enable them effectively and efficiently manage their groups. The tools include;
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- Admin Assist: Set rules so Facebook can help moderate posts in your group for you. For example, you can decline posts with certain keywords or from people who haven’t been in the group very long or whose posts have been reported in the past.
- New Topics: Organize content by topic with hashtags and pin a topic to the top of the group to highlight it for everyone.
- Branded Content for Public Groups: Use the Brand Collabs Manager to make money from your Public groups by connecting with brands looking to promote their products and services.
- Community Management Certification: Take an online course on how to build, grow and support your communities through a set curriculum and exam.
