Facebook Upsets Users by Deleting Discussions

Recently, page admins started seeing messages that Facebook will be deleting the discussion board app at the end of this month. Despite the fact that many Facebook pages have active discussions with tons of valuable information, Facebook stated that wall posts and comments are a better way to engage users, and all the discussions will be deleted! 

“We're Making Pages Better 

We want to make sure the tools you use to manage your page are as effective as possible. Here's an update that may affect how you connect with your audience:

· Improvements to Insights: You'll now see a new public metric called People Talking About This underneath your fan count to show the number of people on Facebook who have engaged with your page in the last 7 days. Learn more in your Page Insights. 

· Discussions: The best way to encourage conversation and feedback is through posts and comments on your Wall. To focus on this, we'll be removing the Discussions app on October 31st. Learn More”

I visited several gluten-free Facebook pages to see how they use discussions. While popular pages like Gluten Freely have many discussions, the most recent post was about one month ago. However, it used to be a very active discussion board, and there are some great resources.  

On the Food Network Facebook page, there are over 1,200 topics in their discussion board and posts are made daily. There are many comments from fans upset about Facebook deleting the discussion board and wondering how they can continue. Some suggested Google Plus or creating a Facebook group. One user created a blog in an attempt to continue the Food Network discussions. Perhaps some will decide to move them to LinkedIn or Ning.  What do you think of Facebook deleting discussions, and how will you preserve them before they vanish?