Facebook Groups
Ranked 4 of 5 online communities by recommenders
People recommend Facebook Groups for niche hobbies and well-organized private groups, though critics say it has gotten worse over time and its search does not work.
People recommend Facebook Groups for niche hobbies and well-organized private groups, though critics say it has gotten worse over time and its search does not work.
28 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 17
- criticize it
- 11
- approval share
- 61%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 17 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1.5 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Useful niche and private groups
“Some private groups have a ton of useful info that's well organized”
Comment from 20 Feb 2026 in “Facebook is absolutely cooked” “It's mostly crap but there is very useful updates there as well”
Comment from 13 Aug 2026 in “Facebook ads are so hard to block that uBlock Origin stopped filtering them” “Private Facebook groups, however, can be genuinely useful.”
Comment from 3 Jul 2026 in “Pieces: Social Network for People” - Comment from 24 Apr 2026 in “Meta to cut 10% of jobs, or 8k employees”
- Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “I tricked Claude into leaking your deepest, darkest secrets”
Good communities overall
“both Marketplace and Groups are actually pretty valuable and useful”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “Meta’s new commercial terms will allow the scraping of news sites: experts” “FB Groups are one of the best corners of the internet imo.”
Comment from 26 Feb 2026 in “Facebook is absolutely cooked” “There are honestly some really good groups on there.”
Comment from 15 Jul 2026 in “I tricked Claude into leaking your deepest, darkest secrets” - Comment from 16 Jan 2026 in “Ask HN: How can we solve the loneliness epidemic?”
Direct access to owners and members
“I could post on my local T1D group looking for long acting and could get 5-10 offers.”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “What it's like to have your insulin pump die while you're on vacation” “especially if you want to interact with the owners directly”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Bangkok rentals extracted from Facebook Groups”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Quality has declined over time
“I like the FB group UX, but it's definitely gotten worse over time.”
Comment from 2 Feb 2026 in “Ask HN: Has anybody moved their local community off of Facebook groups?” “Facebook Groups are garbage, but everything is in such a degraded state that they might look OK in 2026.”
Comment from 13 Jan 2026 in “Local Journalism Is How Democracy Shows Up Close to Home” Drew discussion away from open forums
“They've put a log-in barrier on various communities, lowering the barrier to entry tech-wise, but forcing people into their ecosystem when forums have existed for years.”
Comment from 16 Oct 2026 in “Meta’s new commercial terms will allow the scraping of news sites: experts” “Facebook groups have destroyed online forums and with that killed long discussions on the internet.”
Comment from 10 Jul 2026 in “Focus” “sending your traffic to facebook wasn't necessarily the best idea”
Comment from 2 Jul 2026 in “Bring Back Crappy Forums”
Other online communities people recommend
The four most recommended other online communities, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| late.sh | 31 | 11 | 74% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Newgrounds | 30 | 1 | 97% | 8 | — | Approved |
| r/LocalLLaMA | 20 | 3 | 87% | 9 | — | Approved |
| Facebook GroupsThis page | 17 | 11 | 61% | 8 | — | — |
| r/BuyItForLife | 6 | 0 | 100% | 4 | — | — |
What people said
27 of the 28 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“They've put a log-in barrier on various communities, lowering the barrier to entry tech-wise, but forcing people into their ecosystem when forums have existed for years.”
“both Marketplace and Groups are actually pretty valuable and useful”
“Its all part of the game to keep you sucked in.”
“It's mostly crap but there is very useful updates there as well”
“not the bigger Frankenstein it has become today”
“There are honestly some really good groups on there.”
“Facebook groups have destroyed online forums and with that killed long discussions on the internet.”
“Not like any of these features are particularly good, but the combination beats anything else out there”
“discord and Facebook groups are not indexed so ai can't search them”
“Private Facebook groups, however, can be genuinely useful.”
“The search simply doesn't work and doesn't even try to work.”
“sending your traffic to facebook wasn't necessarily the best idea”
“I could post on my local T1D group looking for long acting and could get 5-10 offers.”
“facebook group posts are showing up in Google search results quite often now”
“facebook groups are not terrible for very niche hobbies”
“FB Groups had an identity that actually couldn't be tied by anyone else to your profile or identity in any other group.”
“especially if you want to interact with the owners directly”
“I'm hoping Facebook will bring back API to access Groups. My family Photo is in it.”
“FB Groups are one of the best corners of the internet imo.”
“Some private groups have a ton of useful info that's well organized”
“it is the only thing that works for non-techie people”
“I like the FB group UX, but it's definitely gotten worse over time.”
“I'm a bit glad that it's no longer Facebook groups.”
“things like Meetup or Facebook groups help a lot”
“Facebook Groups are garbage, but everything is in such a degraded state that they might look OK in 2026.”
“I poasted my way to getting a law passed... on Facebook Groups.”
“FB Groups on the other hand became monetised, despite it breaking FB rules.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.