Should your animal organization have a Facebook group? Maybe, says social media consultant Christie Keith.

“Facebook groups are somewhat like online forums and somewhat like email lists,” Keith said. “They can be public or private, and a number of people from two to thousands can work together on projects, discuss common interests, share files and just hang out.”

Why should some animal organizations consider using a Facebook group? “A page is your face to the public,” Keith said. “Because it’s public, people can share posts you make there, so you should post adoption, fundraising, volunteer recruitment and other similar messages you want to share with your community to your page.”

On the other hand, she said, “Some animal organizations work to pull pets from shelters who have limited time, such as the many organizations that use social media to network dogs in urgent need of help.

“Those types of messages are really aimed at other rescuers, and using public pages or personal profiles to share them means community members who aren’t part of the rescue world will also see them when they’re shared.”

The problem with that, she said, is such messages can reinforce the idea that the pets in shelters or rescue groups are sick, abused, traumatized or otherwise “damaged,” thus potentially discouraging adoptions.

“If we want to spread the word about pets who need a rescue pull, we should be able to do that in a way that’s effective and doesn’t have unintended negative consequences,” Keith said. “Groups are perfect for this. Rescuers can talk with each other, posts can’t be shared publicly and the group can be set up so people get email notifications of posts and/or comments, as well as see them in their Facebook newsfeeds.”

Another great use for Facebook groups is to discuss a project, such as a fundraising event, or share related files, like flyers or other graphics related to the event.

You can learn more about, and create Facebook groups here.