# Facebook's new feature – community pages: a new opportunity or a challenge?

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2010/04/01/facebook039s-new-feature-community-pages-new-opportunity-or-challenge/
- Published: 2010-04-01T21:53:16+01:00
- Author: Howard Lake

![](https://www.fundraising.co.uk/files/images/news/FBcpage.jpg)

Facebook’s newly introduced feature of [community pages](http://mashable.com/2010/04/01/facebook-community-pages)
allowing supporters to set up a page for their cause, but also allowing Facebook
community to take over administration of the page once it becomes very popular might
cause quite a stir with already complicated situation of fan pages of many charities.

I have recently talked to a charity (and noticed at least two more on Facebook) 
desperately trying to manage unofficial fan pages popping out here and there, so
I am not sure how the new functionality of Facebook will be used. If we struggle
with accepting the fact anyone can set up a fan page on Facebook, how will we cope
with the idea of anyone being able to manage its content? Yes, I am very skeptical
at this stage, even though I see great opportunities in self-moderated communities
of cause supporters as such!

[Facebook community page](http://www.facebook.com/pages/create.php), by allowing
everyone to become an administrator might prove just as confusing to manage as Google
Wave at its early stages, because for some reason we are still not used to curating
of content and communities as a group. We still want to control the messages and
we still very often want to control our brand. On one hand I am extremely happy 
that Facebook is pushing the line, and will make many traditionally thinking organizations
to face the nature of social media. On the other hand I am deeply worried that I
will see many repetitions of recent [Nestle crisis](http://www.nfpvoice.com/nfpvoiceblog/2010/3/26/greanpeace-case-study-of-social-media-measurement-and-strate.html),
but this time in non for profit sector. Please tell me I am not right…

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