Facebook group memberships across a bellweather town have risen 39 per cent in 12-months.
The rise was recorded in Braintree, Essex further underlining the importance of Facebook groups in the media landscape.
Almost a million individual Facebook group memberships was recorded in the district with a combined population of more than 150,000.
With two-thirds of the UK population using Facebook and two-thirds of them using Facebook groups, this means 67,000 people in the district are connected to more than FOURTEEN individual Facebook groups.
Overall, 155,000 people live in the wider Braintree district which ranges from the urban deprivation of parts of Braintree built as a post-war new town and now houses 43,000 people to the rural village of Foxearth with just 300 people.
The findings are part of the eight year of research I’ve carried out on the district to better understand how Facebook groups work in communities. This helps my training for public sector comms people.
Why Facebook groups are significant to public sector
Facebook groups are key to how people find out news and information in their area.
Ofcom data has shown that Facebook groups are the most significant channel for people aged between 25 and 65 for local government information. This beats printed newspapers, online news sites, WhatsApp, radio, TV and email newsletters.
This research comes in the wake of extensive research by academics showing that the online communities have been actively targeted by the far right. Both sets of findings underlines the strategic and tactical importance of Facebook groups.
Examples of Facebook groups
As with other parts of the country, groups include community noticeboards which cover all aspect of community life. An example is Braintree Community Hub with 20,000 members serving a town of more than 40,000 right through to the Nounsley Community group with 300 members in a community of 3,200.
The sharp communicator should not focus solely on the large groups which can be busy with posts rapidly disappearing. But groups can help the communicator better target. So, the 1,000 members of the Wickham St Pauls group may be the right people to tackle an issue in the village.
Alternatively, the communicator needs to knit together a network of receptive Facebook groups to share a particular message.
Elsewhere, there are also niche groups which can be useful for reaching smaller sections of the community. So, Braintree Mums with 660 members can be valuable if the audience you are looking for is parents with 1,600 members of the Romani in Braintree group also representing a place to find a particular community.
Groups by community
The breakdown of Facebook groups mirrors the population of each community.
Notes on the research
I first chose Braintree district to research in 2018. The area was chosen because of a mix of urban and rural areas. The research was carried out manually searching more than 50 wards, communities, villages and towns in the wider district.
I go into more detail on how to reach Facebook groups in the ESSENTIAL COMMS SKILLS BOOSTER workshop.