Integration with FaceBook group, not page

With the 6.0 release, we added the ability to push status updates from you website to Facebook Groups. With this, you (the admin) need to create a "Channel" in the JFBConnect configuration area. Then, on the front-end, any admins (or other user groups you give permission to) can use the social toolbar to post an update from your site back to the page. That will include a link to the page you posted from and JFBConnect will set the Open Graph tags on your site to create a good 'preview' of your site on your group.

Coming in the 6.1 release, due out by mid-June, we're going to be adding more functionality to the Channels system by letting you show the streams from them. With it, you'll be able to show all the posts from your Group on your site. You'll even be able to 'merge' multiple streams together for display so that you can show a Twitter feed, Facebook Group feed and LinkedIn Company feed all in one time-sorted display.

I hope that helps answer your questions and sounds like something you'd be interested in. If you have any feedback, comments or suggestions for future improvements though, we'd love to hear them.

Thanks,
Alex

Our approach for deeper integration with FB Groups/Pages, Twitter Streams and other social channels is a multi-step process:
1) JFBConnect v6.0 (Out now) - Ability to create the 'Channels' and manually push your content to them. The advantages of this features are:
a) you don't have to leave your site
b) you can quickly push the same status update to multiple social networks at once and
c) admins on your site can push the content to these channels without having to be a Facebook Admin of the Group/Page or owner of the Twitter stream. This helps with management on larger sites.

2) JFBConnect v6.1 (June) - Ability to pull in streams to your page. It should have similar functionality to the extension you linked to, with even more abilities to pull in content from other social networks and merge them altogether. I'm sure we'll have great feedback on new features users will want once v6.1 is out as well.

3) JFBConnect v6.2 (later this year) - Ability to automatically push content to the social channels created. For example, publish an article and it will automatically be posted to your FB Group or Page.

I hope that explains our strategy for the social network "Channels" feature that we started rolling out earlier this year.

Alex

No problem for the help in explaining what we're shooting for in the future and what our general recommendations are.

Once ready, what should be my strategy with group vs page? I will still use website login using (empty) FB page, do I say this FB page is bogus, please proceed to the group - link here? I still have to keep both group and page?

If you don't need a Facebook Page, you don't need it then. The Facebook Application is what's necessary for your site to integrate with Facebook. With that, you can authenticate users and request additional permissions, like the management of your Facebook Group. With that permission, you'll be able to import the Group stream, or post additional updates to your group.

You shouldn't need a Page at all if you don't want it. Your Application is meant just for your site to be able to communicate with Facebook (for authentication and performing requests on your users behalf). Beyond that, if you have and need your Group, you should keep it and simply use JFBConnect to make the connection between your website and Group stronger.

I hope that helps,
Alex

The ability to import and display a stream from a Facebook Page or Group, Twitter Stream, or LinkedIn Company are coming in the 6.1 release. We're still finalizing that release, but it should be available around mid-June. If you have a "Channel" setup for your Group already, to be able to Post/push content from your site to the Group, when you install JFBConnect v6.1, you'll be able to quickly import and display that feed using the new JFBCSocialStream module that will be in that release.

As for the Facebook Page, you can do whatever you want with it There's no connection between a Facebook Page and your Application that's required. There are additional things you can do, like the "Page Tab" feature in JFBConnect where you show your site within your Facebook Page. If you don't want to take advantage of that feature and don't want to use your Page at all, you can safely remove it. Again, please ensure you're not deleting your Application from the the FB Developers area.

I hope that helps,
Alex