I am looking to allow all the members of the group/page to communicate with each-other via messaging (it should be sent to the members of the group/page even if they aren't friends/following, is this possible with pages or do I have to create a group?

Are you referring to conversations? If yes, it can be done in the conversation window but you have to manually add the conversation participants(group/page members in your case) into the conversation(http://take.ms/OZRQ6).
If you are not using conversations, you can just use the story form in the group to post, which will be visible to all members(http://take.ms/Uh8BN). Pages and groups works similarly in this aspect. Difference is in pages you can actually post as the page(http://take.ms/SGmj4).

Yes, I am referring to using conversations; is it at all possible to message the entire group (without having to manually add them), or will I have to use another extension such as conversekit or Jbolo from TechJoomla?

Can I set certain group/page categories to require admin approval before publishing the page/group but allow users to create other groups?

Unfortunately this is not possible. Group/page moderation is only determined in the profile type(http://take.ms/TlYHL). If you enable this, the users under this profile type will have all groups/pages moderated first before it can be published.

Are there any plans on adding category moderation?

is it possible to mass import groups/pages?

Unfortunately, there is no importer for groups/pages currently. Are there any plans for this, is it possible to import via sql?

Thanks in advance,
Chaim

Hey Chaim,

Yes, I am referring to using conversations; is it at all possible to message the entire group (without having to manually add them), or will I have to use another extension such as conversekit or Jbolo from TechJoomla?

Currently it is not possible to chat with the whole group/page without adding the participants manually in the chat. I'm not familiar with 3rd party chat plugins that are integrated with EasySocial but from what I know you would need to manually add the participants in a group chat too. Still, you can definitely try them out if you want to.

Are there any plans on adding category moderation? Are there any plans for this, is it possible to import via sql?

Currently we do not have any plans on adding these features. If you want, you can submit a feature request in the feature request forum category of EasySocial to expose other users to the idea. If it is a widely requested feature, our devs will definitely consider adding it into the ES 2.1.
Importing cluster data via SQL is too tricky to be attempted as there are a number of tables involves that links numerous data set, not to mention the custom fields associated with the cluster items differs and may not exist in another system.

Going back to the original question, what other differences are there between groups and pages?

Hello Chaim,

The main difference between a group and a page is the terminology being used. For instance, you would like a page but you don't necessarily join a page as opposed to groups

Groups are geared towards collaboration while pages are geared towards a portfolio or some sort of fan art page. Some would take it as a business entity.

By the way, are you the Chaim which I met at New York some time back?

@mark are there any other stand-out differences (in functionality) between the two?

yes I did meet-up with you in NY, I believe it was close to a year ago (cant believe how much time flies).

Hello Chaim,

Ah I see! Yes time flies pretty fast! To be honest, the functionality is pretty much the same but it's mostly the terminology used between pages and groups.

For instance, in a group, you would want users in the group to collaborate with one another while pages is something where you would want full control over because if you are setting up a company or business page, you don't want anyone to post on your business page