By Ime Archibong, VP of Product Partnerships
There are millions of communities on Facebook representing thousands of interests. They all have one thing in common: a leader who brings people together. To support these leaders and the communities they’ve built, we’re opening applications for the Facebook Communities Summit, which is happening February 7 – 8 at our headquarters in Menlo Park, California.
For the first time, we’re inviting leaders of local business and nonprofit communities to the event, in addition to people leading communities on Facebook Groups, Pages and Fundraisers. People from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, and the US are invited to apply at facebookcommunitiessummit.com.
Attendees will learn from each other and hear announcements from Facebook about the latest tools and programs we’re building to support them. Workshops and small group sessions will offer new skills to help leaders define and fulfill the purpose and vision of their communities.
Through programs like the Facebook Communities Summit, we’ve had the honor to meet thousands of community leaders from around the world. And we’re inspired by the connections they make with each other, which can lead to innovative ideas, partnerships and more. This includes people like Janet Sanchez, group admin and founder of Esposas(os) Militares Hispanas(os) US Armed Forces.
“I started the group with 10 members to help spouses with language barriers be included in the military community,” Janet says. Since participating in the event last year, “the group has evolved in all aspects. We provide the guidance, support, advice, friendship, employment readiness, financial readiness, acknowledgement of benefits and military customs to spouses all over the world. We’re now offering a scholarship for spouses and children in our group — something we decided at the Facebook Communities Summit.”
Since our first Facebook Communities Summit last June, we’ve continued to invest in community leaders, and there’s more that Facebook can do to support people like Janet. We can’t wait to see how leaders from so many different types of communities come together in February.