Facebook’s love-hate relationship with Hashtags seems to have taken another turn for the worse, with the company announcing that Hashtag topics in groups, which were added in 2019, will be depreciated next month. In this screenshot posted by Radu Onescu, group managers are now being notified that the Group Topics option is permanently going on vacation.

Check out Facebook’s full explainer at its Help Center.

“Topics in Facebook groups are going away soon. This means that admins won’t be able to add hashtags to other people’s posts or manage the list of group hashtags. However, anyone can still add hashtags to their own group posts, and selecting the hashtag will show other Facebook posts that use that hashtag.”

Hashtagged

So, it’s not necessarily a huge step, it just lessens group admins’ capacity to categorize different discussions in the app, which had initially been seen as a means to better sort group conversations. Clearly, it wasn’t too popular of an option, which makes sense since it requires additional admin workload in categorizing each post correctly. Originally, the idea was for admins to allocate a range of defined topics for the group, and members would then be able to use said tags for navigation within each community. However, it seems that group members either aren’t using them or that admins just don’t bother, which, once again, underlines this confusing relationship.

At different times, Facebook has pushed Hashtag usage as a means to better categorize discussions, but then they seem to fade out due to a lack of user interest. Hashtags have always been a habitual element on Twitter and Instagram, but they have never really caught on on Facebook, which stands to gain a lot from the additional topic markers. Inconsistent user applications have, sadly, made it an unreliable option.

You can still use Hashtags on Facebook – tap on a tag and it’ll take you to a display of other posts that have applied the same, but due to privacy restrictions, reach limits, and various other factors, they just don’t make for a viable discovery tool. In terms of general advice, whether or not marketers should use Hashtags on Facebook, no existing evidence serves as definitive proof that suggests they drive reach boosts in the app. You would have to experiment to determine what works best for you and your audience. However, there’s nothing that suggests that adding tags is a necessity, with this latest update underlining the fact Hashtags just aren’t a major part of the Facebook user experience.

The Wrap

But hey, don’t let the overarching depiction determine whether or not it’ll work for you. It all boils down to individual usage, and maybe your group is already using relevant Hashtags that’ll help sort the relevant discussions, better-enabling users to find the topics of most interest to them. But again, Group Topics will soon be gone. Facebook flags that the coming change will start on April 3rd, with admins no longer able to add topics to someone else’s group post, while from May 3rd, admins can no longer download topics that they’ve added to other people’s group posts.

Sources

http://bit.ly/3L602EU