[Facebook] Use of Group Type: Social Learning

[fititnt]

We are testing the Use of Group Type: Social Learning on Facebook groups (here documentation https://www.facebook.com/help/184985882229224?helpref=faq_content) on a internal group of Etica.AI and I'm also helping another big group here on Brazil to find how to improve the logistics.

But with this functionality in special, we have some issues.

Desktop view

It works. Is possible to force the "Units" of the course be the first page that a person will find when join a group.

Mobile view via web (paid url, m.facebook.com)

It works, but... maybe we're looking wrong (a possibility, very familiar with the mobile version) but to see the Units of the Social learning, we have to go to the group info, and only then click to see the Units. Then it will show.

So, its not really a bug, but is harder to a mobile users find the unities than than on desktop.

Mobile view via web (free url, "Free Basics", via free.facebook.com)

It does not works. The Facebook interface on free.facebook.com is broken. We should report this to Facebook to check if is really one issue or is a false positive.

The way to almost go to the part that shows the courses is similar to the mobile view (the person have to go first to the group information to then click on the units, but different from m.facebook.com, the free.facebook.com will show a blank page.

[fititnt]

I just send a bug report to Facebook about this issue that (if is a real bug, not just a false positive) affects the end users:

Use of Group Type: Social Learning does not work on free.facebook.com (free basics) We're testing the Group Type: Social Learning on a group. It works fine on Desktop web View. It works "Ok" on mobile view (m.facebook.com) but under free.facebook.com, when clicking on the link that should show the "Units", it simply go to a blank screen. The screenshots are from someone who was able to test. At https://github.com/EticaAI/forum/issues/67 I have the full description of this issue.

Here the screenshots:

[fititnt]

Just one extra, Facebook asked my personal opinion again about the platform (very likely because sometimes I anwser that questions they make) but I took the chance to reinforce this issue. Eventually someone will read.

image 1

Text on image:

The feature "Group Type: Social Learning" is a very good one, but is hard on mobile version, and broken on free.facebook.com, and my friend from Africa are unable to use Facebook via Internet Zero / Free Basics.

I already submitted a feedback on 2019-02-17.

More information can be found on this GitHub issue. https://github.com/EticaAI/forum/issues/67. If need, me (I'm from Brazil, no Free Basics here) and a group of people from Africa could test changes.

image 2

My personal experience is Good. But Facebook should care a bit more about users who access via Internet Zero / Free Basics.

By "care" I mean, for example, do more user testing on features added and tested more on Desktop or the Full Facebook App to also include who access via Phones common on places like Africa. Tell developers, QA team, etc to understand that people from different places can use a "same app" in different ways. My Brazilian friends could be use just to "get in contact" with friends, post memes, etc, but there is a growth community on Africa from people who are using Facebook as a means to lean how to be software developers, so things like "Group Type: Social Learning" should get maybe even more attention on mobile and mobile via free.facebook.com, because is very likely that is there where exist a huge need.

My email is rocha @ ieee.org, and I would love to give additional feedback on these types of issues.

[fititnt]

At 27 February (10 days after the report) Facebook team give one answer. In short, they said are working on a fix, but cannot update everyone individual. To me, seems reasonable response.

Screnshot

Textual description of the Screnshot

Thanks for reporting: > Use of Group Type: Social Learning does not work on free.facebook.com (free basics) We're testing the Group Type: Social Learning on a group. It works fine on Desktop web View. It works "Ok" on mobile view (m.facebook.com) but under free.facebook.com, when clicking on the link that should show the "Units", it simply go to a blank screen. The screenshots are from someone who was able to test. At https://github.com/EticaAI/forum/issues/67 I have the full description of this issue. CLOSED

ACTIVITY

Your Report 17 Feb Use of Group Type: Social Learning does not work on free.facebook.com (free basics) We're testing the Group Type: Social Learning on a group. It works fine on Desktop web View. It works "Ok" on mobile view (m.facebook.com) but under free.facebook.com, when clicking on the link that should show the "Units", it simply go to a blank screen. The screenshots are from someone who was able to test. At https://github.com/EticaAI/forum/issues/67 I have the full description of this issue.

Our reply 27 Feb We've received your report and appreciate your patience as we work to fix technical problems on Facebook. Although we can't update everyone who submits a report, we're using your feedback to improve the Facebook experience for everyone. To contact us about non-technical issues, please visit the Help Centre.

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Edit: added a better screenshot

[fititnt]

This is not a report specific to our case, but Facebook is chanting the way group types work. The next image point to this link https://www.facebook.com/community/education/blog/changes-group-types.

We did not extra changes on this type of group, but seems that Facebook is not only changing for mobile, but the entire way Group Types works.

We're a bit overloaded with other things, but I'm just updating this issue here.