The Goal: Uncovering Source Facebook Groups That Keep Reporters/Journalists Current For Their News Beat
The Solution: Use Facebook’s Open Graph search to zero in and join groups that can help you with your reporting goals
The Steps:
In my last Facebook for Journalists & Reporters post, I wrote how Facebook Pages could be used to stay on top of Journalist interests. Today, I want to explore another newsworthy aspect of Facebook – that of FB groups. The amount of current information can be most useful indeed! Here’s how.
How To Use This Facebook For Reporters Resource:
So glad you asked! Do right now:
Step 1.) Visit:
and type in your particular beat.
Let’s say that your beat is Dallas, Texas news. Search for
You’ll see something like:
Step 2.) Click on “See more results for “dallas news” and then select “Groups”:
You can then scroll thru the results to see if any groups particularly meet your needs.
You’ll notice something possibly depressing – the number of groups returned is pretty dismal indeed. It’s obvious that Dallas News pages would give you far better results.
Still, though, Facebook groups definitely have their place for current news reporting.
Let’s say that your beat, instead of a local community, is an industry or niche. Say, hmmm…
Groups returned include:
But still, yep…kinda dismal.
So how CAN you use Facebook groups for your news sourcing?
You can uncover the best ones from influencers on Facebook.
Depending upon the privacy settings, Facebook will show you the groups to which people belong.
Step 3.) Simply visit the individual’s profile in question, and tack on ‘groups’ after the link.
For example, my Facebook URL is
And here are the open groups to which I belong.
I am known within the marketing and NJ circles, so groups you’d want to investigate include:
- www.facebook.com/groups/imsuperfriends/
- www.facebook.com/groups/14940352484/
- www.facebook.com/groups/TTATACentralNJ/
As you can see, sourcing from Facebook groups is a wee bit more difficult than Pages, but you *can* hit paydirt for those groups your other colleagues are ignoring.
Neat, aye?
You have just learned how to uncover useful groups on Facebook. Tracking them will give you a steady stream of updated news and commentary about your particular interest.
Enjoy!
Grow strong,
Barbara Ling
Get Started Here
You’ll love what you learn… Promise!