A client recently approached us about archiving Facebook chats in order to further engage their audience. Many companies find Facebook chats are an excellent way to maintain contact with their consumer base. Providing archives of these conversations is a helpful way to allow continued viewing of, and participation with these conversations.
We did a little investigating about Facebook archiving, and here is what we found out:
Archiving applications
- Firefox provides the extension “Archive Facebook,” which essentially converts your conversation to a PDF, available for print or savable on your hard drive. While these PDFs cannot be directly displayed under a tab on your Facebook page, potential uses include uploading them to your website or blog for further viewing (and commentary).
- Facebook hosts a “post archive” app directly on the website that offers a fundamentally similar service to Firefox’s “Archive Facebook.” This tool may be easier to use, since it is on the website itself.
Alternative solution
As your company continues to host live discussions, consider using the “discussions” application available on Facebook to host live chats. This application allows the administrator to post a discussion topic on which other Facebook users are able to respond in the same fashion as a wall post. Each topic is separate and easily searchable. Administrators are also able to monitor and edit content, which prevents issues of spam.
Bath and Body Works is an example of a company actively using the discussion feature; view their postings here for a better idea of what “discussions” look like.
To install Facebook’s discussion application,
- Go to “edit page” on the upper right hand corner of your Facebook page.
- Click on “apps” in the left hand list of options.
- “Discussion boards” should be the last option in the list of apps.
- Click “edit settings.” A box will pop up; click “add,” then “okay.”
- Return to your home page; the discussion app should be in the left hand side under “wall,” “photos,” etc.
- Click on the discussions app and start a topic!
Please note that Facebook uses the term “discussion boards” and “discussions” interchangeably, however, they are the same feature.
Hosting discussions connects with your audience in a fun and interactive way. Try using Facebook’s discussion app to facilitate easier search-ability and interaction with conversation topics. If you find that the live chat feature remains your preference, use either the Firefox Archive Facebook or the Facebook post archive tools to maintain records and post them elsewhere.
We hope you find this post useful as you continue exploring Facebook. Please let us know if you have discovered any similar solutions to archiving Facebook chats in the comment section below.