# Migrating from Facebook: specific challenges, and some thoughts

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/migrating-from-facebook-specific-challenges-and-some-thoughts/392562
**Category:** Community Building
**Tags:** facebook-migration
**Created:** [January 2, 2026, 5:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/migrating-from-facebook-specific-challenges-and-some-thoughts/392562 "2026-01-02T17:51:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

### Author: ![stephtara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/stephtara/32/517827_2.png) [@stephtara](https://meta.discourse.org/u/stephtara)
#### Post date: [January 2, 2026, 5:51pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/migrating-from-facebook-specific-challenges-and-some-thoughts/392562/1 "2026-01-02T17:51:23Z")

</div>

# Why I’m writing about this (introduction)

> [@stephtara](#):
>
> Over the last days I have come to realise [facebook migration] is a key element in my issues, that might have been a bit of a blind spot until now. I’m planning on putting together what I’ve understood regarding the Facebook migration question as soon as I have an hour or two to sit down and write. [(source)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discouragement-of-the-first-time-discourse-admin/391379/36)

This was a few weeks back, and life happened in the meantime. To my surprise back then, it indeed seems that “migrating from a successful facebook group to Discourse” doesn’t actually seem to be a common situation here:

> [@pfaffman](#):
>
> I think that less than one in a thousand (or 10k) discourse sites has come from Facebook. I’ve done over a hundred migrations from other platforms and zero from Facebook. [(source)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-about-creating-a-new-category-for-facebook-migration/391699/2)

> [@pfaffman](#):
>
> I’m not saying that lots of people aren’t using Facebook. I’m saying that they haven’t come to discourse. There’s very little discussion mentioning Facebook other than Facebook logins.
> 
> They just aren’t here. [(source)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-about-creating-a-new-category-for-facebook-migration/391699/12)

> [@pacharanero](#):
>
> If you [search Meta for ‘leaving Facebook’](https://meta.discourse.org/search?q=leaving%20facebook) there isn’t a huge amount here yet. [(source)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-about-creating-a-new-category-for-facebook-migration/391699/15)

Migrating a successful community from Facebook is, however, the situation I’m in, and I think it can explain some of the frustrations I’m encountering getting started with Discourse. **Moving a thriving community from a sticky, integrated, established platform like facebook presents different challenges than starting a community from scratch** , or moving a struggling/non-thriving community over from some other platform, where things are not working great. As @chapoi says (emphasis mine), it has to do with:

> [@chapoi](#):
>
> […] making a migration work on every level, _technical and social_. [(source)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-about-creating-a-new-category-for-facebook-migration/391699/16)

Background about my situation these two topics, if needed:

> [@Discouragement of the First-Time Discourse Admin](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discouragement-of-the-first-time-discourse-admin/391379):
>
> I’m posting this as a separate topic from [Structuring an active support community migrating from Facebook](https://meta.discourse.org/t/structuring-an-active-support-community-migrating-from-facebook/390619) because it feels on another level: community building starts before anybody is there, when the community builder (let’s call her that) designs the way the community will function and implements that community design in her tool of choice: adjusting settings, adding or removing functionalities, picking a theme, creating categories, thinking about the member onboarding flow, how moderation wil…

> [@Structuring an active support community migrating from Facebook](https://meta.discourse.org/t/structuring-an-active-support-community-migrating-from-facebook/390619):
>
> I run a support community for owners of diabetic cats, since 2018. We’re on Facebook (3 separate groups: a main one with close to 8k members, one for vets with 2.5k members, and another smaller one for “beginners” that get overwhelmed with the main group). I’m getting to work preparing our future on Discourse. Decisions is made, Discourse installed, I have some migration/onboarding ideas, but before that, I’m having a long hard think at how to organise things here on Discourse. Amongst various…

I’ve just spent some time now going through all the #facebook-migration topics I could find to take a shot at synthesising where we’re at regarding this issue, quotes at hand. Some are ancient, but I’ve tried to pick out those that are still relevant for today’s discussion. Forgive the long post (again, I know) but I think there is value in bringing things together.

# Why Facebook group migration matters

I’m wondering if the sentiment expressed in this post from 2018 might not explain somewhat why “migrating facebook groups to discourse” isn’t a bigger or more visible preoccupation so far here on meta:

> [@erlend\_sh](#):
>
> Beyond that, there’s just not a whole lot to gain from us trying to prominently position ourselves as a Facebook Groups alternative. Fact is, if your group is relatively tiny and strapped for cash then you’ll have an easier time getting started on a free platform that’s subsidised by a larger vertical play. Probably only 0.01% of Facebook Groups out there would be able to pay for hosting, and being _willing_ to is a whole other story when you’ve gotten used to the idea of 🆓. [(source, 2018)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/44)

Happy that this seems to be changing:

> [@mcwumbly](#):
>
> I welcome more topics about migrating from facebook [(source)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-about-creating-a-new-category-for-facebook-migration/391699/5)

Beyond my personal issues, why should Discourse/Meta care about facebook group migration? Because Facebook groups are _huge_. For many people (me included), they are the highest value the platform offers and what keeps people there.

> [@Rändi\_Brewer](#):
>
> I hate Facebook, but cant seem to give it up. Lately I’ve only been using it for the “communities” I’ve joined. [(source, 2020)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-would-it-take-to-replace-facebook-with-discourse/84060/63)

> [@asirota](#):
>
> It interesting to note that for many (including me) the only reason I am on Facebook is because of groups. Without groups I would have abandoned it years ago. In fact if the two groups I am in right now left for discourse I would happily leave Facebook. So the connection for many to Facebook is tenuous at best. [(source, 2020)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-would-it-take-to-replace-facebook-with-discourse/84060/65)

## “Competition”

Facebook groups _work_. I have personally been looking for an alternative for _years_, and there aren’t many, aside from Discourse. I have known forums which have “bled out” to facebook groups, and this also seems to be an ongoing preoccupation for Discourse communities – the fact that facebook groups represent some kind of competition for the communities we are trying to build on Discourse.

> [@ChrisBeach](#):
>
> I’ve been concerned for a while that local community forums like mine are dying out on the open web.
> 
> They’re being superseded by Facebook Groups, and Zuck is now dedicating further effort to this feature: [(source, 2017)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/1)

> [@merefield](#):
>
> Facebook Groups have significant overlap with Discourse both functionally and in their mission.
> 
> …
> 
> As you may or may not have noticed from other posters, eg [here](https://meta.discourse.org/t/forum-owners-how-do-you-fight-facebook-groups/166100) and [here](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/2), however, is that Facebook Groups have been observed to have been impacting the popularity of some Discourse forums. [(source, 2020)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-would-it-take-to-replace-facebook-with-discourse/84060/55)

> [@merefield](#):
>
> But I agree, I’m facing significant competition for users. One’s that DO come over complain about there being ‘too many’ posters on the equivalent FB group and ‘how nice it is to have a smaller community’ …. nice problem to have? … ho hum … [(source, 2018)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/35)

> [@Forum owners, how do you "fight" Facebook groups?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/forum-owners-how-do-you-fight-facebook-groups/166100):
>
> My current forum story: [My 2nd Discourse forum, 2 years after the first one](https://meta.discourse.org/t/my-2nd-discourse-forum-2-years-after-the-first-one/165489/1) The first days were amazing. A lot of people came and posted. But suddenly, the activity decreased a lot. Since the forum existed before and it was a re-opening after being unavailable for two months, a spike of activity and then a decrease is expected. However, I’m not very optimistic for the following weeks and months, despite the fact that I had only positive feedback and that users even donated 400$ on the very fi…

## The open web

In addition to that, I believe that for the good of the web (and the world), we need to work on freeing ourselves (collectively) from the tyranny of “Big Platform” (right). I’m not alone. For example:

> [@merefield](#):
>
> What I’m struggling with now is … how to get past the Facebook-era?
> 
> How do we replace Facebook?
> 
> There is no option but to tackle this … we can’t let a single private company control so much private data … it’s completely untenable!!
> 
> So what will replace it? [(source, 2018)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-would-it-take-to-replace-facebook-with-discourse/84060/5)

Building platforms like Discourse or Mastodon is part of that. But we all know that having the tools is not enough. Quoting freely Doctorow’s Law of Enshittification: **people won’t leave crap platforms they’re locked into unless there is an extremely strong pull to do so, and a sufficiently frictionless alternative.**

Like others, I am doing what I can to pull us in what I feel is the right direction (including contributing to rebooting the blogosphere). Finding a realistic alternative to Facebook groups for community builders like myself is part of that plan. That is why I care.

There are many good people doing valuable things who are trapped on Facebook, and I would very much like to be able to give them a way out.

_I want to write another topic on how I see the integration of Discourse with other open source tools can create an ecosystem comparable to what we use Facebook for now._

# Switching costs

In the various discussions I surveyed here on Meta, the question of switching costs comes up again and again, in different ways, over the years.

Starting in 2014… to this day:

> [@ajkoft](#):
>
> I guess you are viewing this because of a problem “you already have a strong Facebook group, and would like to move them to Discourse, but not sure will they do because…” [(source, 2014)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/who-have-same-problem-migrating-people-from-facebook-to-discourse/13629)

> [@dau](#):
>
> Now the problem is luring people into the Discourse site. Unfortunately Facebook is just too convenient, people are used to just posting directly into the Facebook Group. [(source, 2017)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moving-over-facebook-group-not-an-import-question/61566)

> [@westes](#):
>
> No one really “migrates” from a FB forum because they have too much content locked down. For my own group of 15K users I wouldn’t be surprised if the Discourse forum only has 100 members after the first year. It’s going to take a lot of time and patience to develop a strategy to work people into trusting and using Discourse. So I don’t view migration as being a) possible or b) fast. [(source)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-about-creating-a-new-category-for-facebook-migration/391699/3)

> [@pacharanero](#):
>
> […] I agree with the posters about the ‘switching costs’ that users undergo when they move away from Facebook and onto an independent platform like Discourse. Cory Doctorow has written extensively on this, here’s an example article [Commentary: Cory Doctorow: Social Quitting – Locus Online](https://locusmag.com/feature/commentary-cory-doctorow-social-quitting/) but the concept of switching costs infuses a lot of his writing, especially on [Enshi\*\*ification](https://www.wired.com/story/tiktok-platforms-cory-doctorow/) (which is what has happened to Facebook). [(source)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-about-creating-a-new-category-for-facebook-migration/391699/15)

> [@stephtara](#):
>
> […] it’s a change with a steep cost to community members, not the least going from “an extra on a platform one is already using and tightly embedded in” to “a whole new world”. For the admin too, be it regarding the technology or the community management mechanics which will have to be wielded to offset the cost of change to members. [(source)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-about-creating-a-new-category-for-facebook-migration/391699/13)

This is not a detail, or something that can be solved just by telling people to get over it and move. Let’s look at what these switching costs are made of a bit more closely, and what could be done to offset them.

Most “normal people” do not “live online” anywhere else than on Facebook (and maybe Instagram, and WhatsApp group chats). They barely know how to properly search for something with Google, let alone type/copy a URL in their browser address bar. Online _is_ Facebook.

People who are already using Reddit, or Mastodon, or even Bluesky: they are not the problem. But they are a minority.

## Platform integration

I think that one thing we all recognise as Facebook’s strength is that it brings everything together in one place.

> [@tophee](#):
>
> one important benefit of fb over discourse is probably its ability to combine updates from various groups into a single newsfeed (and I’m not referring to the integration of social media with groups but to the combination of multiple groups) [(source, 2017)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/23)

> [@merefield](#):
>
> The main issue which caused such a migration for me to fail was the fact users did not like to visit another webpage (yeah!) and they didn’t like the fact that they wouldn’t receive new posts in their Facebook feed or Facebook notifications (as if Facebook is its own browser! 🤦‍♂️ ). Users seem to like “everything in one place”
> 
> …
> 
> Don’t underestimate Facebook stickiness then … [(source, 2021)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-persuading-closed-fb-groups-to-move-to-discourse/209659/3)

> [@merefield](#):
>
> [O]ne of the other significant reasons [Facebook Groups] are successful is that activity on a Facebook Group is posted on participants news feed in amongst other content from other sources they subscribe too.
> 
> […]
> 
> The lack of this capability has caused at least one of my migrations from Facebook Groups to fail, with users complaining they hated going to a separate place and that they could not see their Discourse posts in their Facebook news feed. This despite the huge benefits Discourse offers in other areas. I know my experience of such failure is not unique. [(source, 2020)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-would-it-take-to-replace-facebook-with-discourse/84060/43)

> [@asirota](#):
>
> A few things I have noted:
> 
> - People want a single click join experience to groups. They don’t want to deal with signups/logins/passwords.
> - The post and comment composition UI must be seamless and simple. Discourse is super powerful and but cognitively it is too much for many. Have to allow people to post with very little distraction.
> - the newsfeed is important yes, but what drives it is the addictive notifications system Facebook employs. [(source, 2020)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-would-it-take-to-replace-facebook-with-discourse/84060/65)

Here are some advantages of facebook “integration” for a community on that platform (facebook group):

- integration of **community notifications** with all the other notifications in Facebook, that the person is already monitoring day in and day out, which creates an easy pull back into the community at no extra cost
- **content from the community** just “shows up” in the person’s usual online activities (via the Facebook news feed), also bringing them back to the community without any extra effort on their part
- members can easily connect outside the community through their facebook accounts (friending, following, Messenger conversations), allowing **friendships** to grow through the “life already shared on Facebook”, which then in turn benefits the community (stronger relationships between members)
- the community is very **easily found** by people who need it, either through search inside Facebook or by leveraging the various networks inside Facebook (other groups, pages, asking on one’s wall, “suggested groups”, etc)

## Platform familiarity

For people whose whole online world is pretty much Facebook, offering anything _outside of Facebook_ in itself is already a huge barrier. The simple action of going to a website or installing/using a different app on their phone, which may be trivial to us, is not so for them.

> [@ajkoft](#):
>
> From my point of view, I still have hesitation because I’m afraid than people will not get into the forum, as they use Facebook at all day, and there is no notification to them. [(source, 2014)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/who-have-same-problem-migrating-people-from-facebook-to-discourse/13629)

> [@dau](#):
>
> But no matter how good Discourse’s software gets, the issue I’m having is actually getting Facebook users to visit our Discourse site and discuss issues there. Even our discussions about our Discourse site are STILL happening in Facebook! There’s just too much inertia & familiarity. People automatically log in and check Facebook all the time, but very rarely visit our Discourse site. [(source, 2017)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/4)

> [@oshyan](#):
>
> So people will still be on FB, and many will just not want to have to deal with a separate platform, even if their login is integrated from FB, even if it looks familiar and simple, etc, etc. It’s just “one more thing”. Do you see what I mean? That’s why I’m investigating the FB feed injection concept. [(source, 2021)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-would-it-take-to-replace-facebook-with-discourse/84060/78)

> [@HAWK](#):
>
> Essentially you need to persuade your members of the value proposition that a forum offers over Facebook.  
> As you say, it’s a tricky proposition because you’re asking people to form another habit when their lives already feel insurmountably busy. That’s why Facebook communities work so well – the habit already exists. [(source, 2017)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/moving-over-facebook-group-not-an-import-question/61566/6)

> [@oshyan](#):
>
> The problem is that Facebook makes it easy for everyone, at least at first. Easy as a user to join a group, to keep up to date on it in the feed of posts that they already visit, and easy to contribute with comments or new posts. It’s a familiar UI, notifications are centralized, and there is even somewhat “smart” filtering so that, for example, the group(s) I am a member of that have literally 1000s of posts a day do not completely overwhelm my main Facebook feed.
> 
> …
> 
> So we all agree that Discourse is better than Facebook Groups. And yet… there are many very successful and active Groups. This is a problem we as Discourse users, admins, community builders, and indeed the development team itself should all be thinking about seriously. Because those people on Facebook aren’t there because they think it’s the absolute best way to talk about their topics of interest or have good, er, discourse. They’re largely there because it’s convenient, in numerous ways people have talked about above. [(source, 2021)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-would-it-take-to-replace-facebook-with-discourse/84060/74)

Even if that in itself is not a roadblock, changing tools (for anybody!) is going have a cost. There are differences in how one posts, comments/replies, how notifications are managed, extra features (badges? tags? trust levels? quoting?), how one accesses another person’s “profile”, the design is different…

# Offset switching costs by providing more value

We all agree that the key to this kind of migration is to be able to offer **more value** to community members on Discourse than in the Facebook Group that they know and love, and is seamlessly integrated with the rest of their online life (aka Facebook).

> [@Falco](#):
>
> […] the most important thing is what is your capacity to pull people to the new place. In both cases, we have a large number of benefits to members to migrate over so they came in droves and the Facebook community was abandoned organically when everyone moved.
> 
> We keep repeating this point over and over here, you can’t simply create a Discourse instance and expect people to come over, you need a whole go to market strategy and several compelling reasons for users to migrate. If you don’t have that, you are doomed to fail. [(source)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-about-creating-a-new-category-for-facebook-migration/391699/17)

Being in control of the Facebook group you are migrating from gives you some control to limit the experience on the Facebook side as you build up the Discourse side:

> [@sam](#):
>
> It strongly depends on who is in charge, if you are in control of the community you can excert force and move people. Shut down an existing group, move it to read only at Facebook and so on. If you are not in charge, all bets are off, it is very very hard to convince people that sugar is bad for them. [(source, 2017)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/6)

There is no shortage of ideas on this matter – the flexibility of Discourse makes a lot of things possible, too.

> [@Martin\_Cash](#):
>
> We have a large independent community on Facebook that we would like to reign-in. I’ve had pressure from various orgs to move these customers off of Facebook and onto our new Discourse platform. Because most conversations on our Facebook group were Support-related (How do I…?), I decided instead to focus my efforts on beating the channels that I _can_ influence directly - our phone and chat support lines. If I can provide more insightful (crowdsourced) answers that are as easy and fast to find as calling or chatting in, I feel that I can beat all these channels in the long run…including the popular Facebook group
> 
> […]
> 
> I started by providing community members with direct access to CSRs with the caveat that CSRs need to allow time for other members to contribute in order to grow the community organically…this strategy conflicted with a goal to reduce “time to answer”, but I felt that is was important enough to disregard as we grow the community. [(source, 2017)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/11)

> [@dau](#):
>
> Periodically post notices & descriptions of new content in Discourse to the Facebook Group and immediately select “Turn off commenting for this post” [(source, 2017)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/14)

> [@simon](#):
>
> Maybe some kind of incentive could be created for people who visit a Discourse topic after seeing it on facebook? [(source, 2017)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/16)

> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> Carl is famous within his area, so the crowd is going to follow him 😉 [(source, 2017)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/19)

> [@SouperC](#):
>
> > [@arnie](#):
> >
> > Facebook is closed platform, it cannot be indexed… New people will not come from open web… You are not the owner of the content… People who don’t use fb cannot participate… Many reasons to use discourse are there
> 
> Indeed these are all valid, but none of them really matter to the people who you are looking to attract to your forums\website.
> 
> Whatever it is… it needs to provide value TO THEM vs facebook group (or anything else) [(source, 2018)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/46)

> [@merefield](#):
>
> One solution is to provide features, content and experience they can’t get on Facebook. Writing plugins that tailor the experience for the specific subject matter is a powerful option but that’s an advanced topic. [(source, 2021)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/advice-on-persuading-closed-fb-groups-to-move-to-discourse/209659/3)

However, the more established the community on Facebook, the more difficult it will be to attract enough initial members to get some momentum going for that value to be made visible.

> [@arnie](#):
>
> Facebook Groups offers now topic categorisations just like categories in discourse. To convince existing members of a Facebook group to go and use discourse is even more difficult. As one can say, hey why we need this, while we have all that already in fb groups 😕 Someone also said, that extra value, like content and conversation will differentiate, but initial conversation will not develop while they have already made that value in fb groups… [(source, 2018)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/30)

> [@pfaffman](#):
>
> I corresponded with an install customer today who tried and failed to replace Facebook with Discourse. Things that I would try include:
> 
> - make the facebook group read-only
> - contrive to post links to Discourse topics to the facebook group
> - configure facebook logins
> 
> I assume that Facebook Groups must be better than the “discussions” I see in people’s feeds on facebook, but for those, it is virtually impossible to follow an entire conversation. Whenever I see a topic/thread I’d like to read I almost always give up because it takes like 2 clicks per message to be able to see them all. [(source, 2020)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-would-it-take-to-replace-facebook-with-discourse/84060/67)

# Let’s not forget **user experience**

A lot of the discussion regarding how the community on Discourse needs to provide value that members will not find on Facebook focuses on features and discussion. This is perfectly valid. Discourse has many features that can be used to provide a richer “community experience” than facebook groups. But that is not enough.

> [@codinghorror](#):
>
> 💯❗ Content is king. If you have great content, everything else follows. If you do not… [(source, 2018)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/48)

I think this is missing the point that unless the access to said great content functions “well enough” for people, it means nothing:

> [@SouperC](#):
>
> You need to give folks a reason (or multiple reasons) to visit (and continue to visit) your community. The platform you choose is only a small part of that\*.
> 
> …
> 
> \*That said, appearance and UX is still important. There’s a base level that folks expect and they will bounce otherwise… [(source, 2017)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/25)

Facebook has invested huge sums of money in making its platform as frictionless and sticky as possible, to keep people there. That is the benchmark (of frictionlessness) that Discourse is up against, when it comes to migrating communities from Facebook.

> [@SouperC](#):
>
> > [@merefield](#):
> >
> > The Facebook UI is a crowded, noisy mess. (Test: where is FB Group search? You have 5 seconds ;)) Coming back to my Discourse instances is like breathing fresh country air in comparison.
> 
> I think this gets overlooked. The user experience on Facebook is not great… but people are indoctrinated to use it.
> 
> Offer a better experience with higher quality information/curation and clarity and people will come visit your forums. [(source, 2018)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/45)

I think this is an important point. The interface you are used to will always feel “easier” to use, because you’ve been doing the same thing with it for years. The interface of the new platform will not only have to be _as good_, but _better_, because you are not committed to it yet – if you hit any snag, you are likely to turn away, particularly if there is a nice cushy comfortable familiar alternative waiting for you there.

UX/design/interface are paramount – especially in a context where your users are people who have been conditioned to one way of doing things for many years, and where getting an initial critical mass of members to the new platform to jumpstart the migration is necessary to create the _added value_ which will convince the bulk of the community to take the plunge.

The best features in the world for community-building have no value in of themselves – only through enough people using them. And what will “make or break” having people staying around to use them is their first contacts with the interface.

> [@ChrisBeach](#):
>
> We’re all sitting in a bubble here - most of us have years of experience within Discourse and know its advantages well.
> 
> But our users see a wholly different view on their first visit.
> 
> I did some user testing a while ago. The first comment was “it just looks like an Excel spreadsheet.”
> 
> The advantages of Discourse don’t leap off the page. Many of them are invisible to casual users (like the moderation features, for example). [(source, 2018)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/43)

There are also features, which we may consider as “added value”, like titles for topics, which can actually generate a lot of friction (and therefore decreased user experience for the new member trying to contribute). See conversation following here:

> [@How exactly do I get people to use my forum?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-exactly-do-i-get-people-to-use-my-forum/374916/18):
>
> I recently realised one line of friction with a forum is that we discuss in threads aka topics, which have a subject line, and need to be created. One can see with email - which is decreasingly used - that some people struggle with subject lines as a concept, or as a challenge. Whereas chat apps just give you an audience. Even with slack or discord, where chat happens within channels, a normal user doesn’t start a channel, they just pick one. So, I think starting conversations is something y…

# And what about admins and community builders?

The first-line “users” of Discourse are the community admins and builders. Without them, no community member will even set foot on the platform. Here, too, the bar facebook sets is very high:

> [@oshyan](#):
>
> And it’s easy for Admins/Community Builders, too. Starting a group is free and takes only a few minutes, and you have an existing somewhat “captive” audience there (any of your existing Facebook friends, for one thing), who all have just a few clicks to make to join your community (as few as 1, “Join”, if you don’t want to require people to review rules).
> 
> Some of these Facebook advantages, especially for admins, are difficult to overcome […]. [(source, 2021)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-would-it-take-to-replace-facebook-with-discourse/84060/74)

> [@merefield](#):
>
> I guess another issue is the low barrier for entry for an FB Group.
> 
> One of my instances is a residents community … there’s a parallel FB group and in one amusing turn of events, when a huge bit of bad vibe and argument was sparked on the initial FB group, someone started a rival FB group to accommodate all but the persona-non-grata. So there are now two FB groups covering the same scope … Of course with Discourse you have more active Moderation, which surely would have controlled this, hopefully, but I digress.
> 
> The point is you can set up an FB group very quickly & cheaply, whereas with Discourse you know the options - the solution is by far and away better, but it takes more work and/or money. A frustrating advantage they have in that respect. [(source, 2018)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/facebook-groups-zuck-is-coming-for-us/64437/38)

> [@merefield](#):
>
> Facebook Groups are successful for many reasons, not least because they are easily set up non-technical people quickly and leverage a pre-existing trusted user account pool. However one of the other significant reasons they are successful is that activity on a Facebook Group is posted on participants news feed in amongst other content from other sources they subscribe too. [(source, 2020)](https://meta.discourse.org/t/what-would-it-take-to-replace-facebook-with-discourse/84060/43)

Discourse is far superior in terms of capacity, features, independence, moderation tools, etc. It’s a no-brainer. But the experience of setting things up (I’m not talking about installation, because that is a one-time overhead that can be dealt with) is infinitely more complex than for a facebook group.

Of course, the tool is more powerful, has more functionality, so some of that is normal. And if you’re starting from scratch with your community, it’s probably manageable. But if your competition for your future Discourse community is your own thriving Facebook group, you are going to have to do a lot of tweaking and fiddling and preparing and organising and adjusting and customising and setting-fixing upfront, to make sure that the precious and valued community members you have managed to talk into going along for the ride to your “new digital home” don’t have a disappointing first contact with the platform. And as I’ve tried to demonstrate in this topic, the bar for that is going to be higher than “out of the box” Discourse.

When we talk of user experience (I know the Discourse Team is aware of this, of course) we are also talking about the admin’s user experience. So how does that experience of trying to set up Discourse to migrate a facebook group to go for the Facebook-wannabe-Discourse community builder? This is what I’ve been trying to give feedback on and share in some of my previous topics and posts, and I sometimes got the impression I was misunderstood.

# Wrap-up

First, sorry for writing so much, and for all the quotes. But I wanted to show that this is not a fringe, isolated issue that I’m dealing with. I certainly have my shortcomings, but there is a wider “facebook migration” issue at stake here. I also don’t want anybody to think I’m ungrateful or overly critical of Discourse and all the wonderful people contributing to it. I think it’s a great platform and I’m going to make it work for my community, but I think it has even more potential, which I’d love to see it reach!

The key points I’d like to make:

- facebook group migration is a “use case” that might be worthy of more attention than it has had over the last years (at least, as is reflected on Meta)
- both admins and members “coming from Facebook” arrive with high expectations in terms of frictionlessness (and integration)
- setting up a Discourse instance for a facebook group migration has different “requirements” in terms of community builder work than creating a new community from scratch or setting up a good home on Discourse for one that is struggling elsewhere
- the migration strategy, in terms of added value to be provided on the Discourse side to draw users in, cannot limit itself to content and interaction quality, but must also include interface/UX for naive/facebook-formatted users
- the main obstacles I see so far to Discourse being a “competitive” alternative to Facebook groups are the complexity of initial configuration for a community builder who is discovering the tool, and the “functionality overwhelm” of the interface for new community members who might not have very high digital literacy (which increases the burden on the community builder)

As far as my community migration is concerned, I’m looking forward to sharing more about the “migration strategy” aspect once I’ve managed to untangle myself from all the configuration and setup stuff.

I’m of course happy to hear about other “facebook migration” stories, and obviously, any responses to what I’ve laid out here. Again, sorry for being so verbose.

I know this looks a little like a quote-dump at times and there is some redundancy, sorry about that. I’ve added years in the source mentions if they aren’t recent, as I know Facebook and Discourse have evolved over the years – although I’ve paid attention to only keep quotes that still seemed valid today.

---

_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/migrating-from-facebook-specific-challenges-and-some-thoughts/392562)._