Facebook Community City Guide: discover Rotterdam through the eyes of local Facebook Groups

Today, Facebook launches the first Community City Guide in the Netherlands. Worldwide, it is the sixteenth edition of the Community City Guide. This edition features Rotterdam. Now that everyone can enjoy going out again – in accordance with the government rules – the guide provides a unique opportunity to (re)discover the city thanks to tips from thirteen Facebook communities from Rotterdam.

The goal of the Facebook Community City Guides is to create a city guide with unique and inspiring content, in collaboration with local Facebook Groups. Each guide compiles a collection of best tips and recommendations for the city’s most exhilarating experiences, which provides a unique view of the city for the reader.

The first Dutch Community City Guide not only offers typical Rotterdam tips for, for example, seal spotting in the world-famous harbour, but also for enjoying the green outdoors or sustainable shopping. Visit the STEK city garden to brighten up your balcony or garden for example, or find special items made from reused waste in Buurman’s workshop.

Eight million people in the Netherlands are member of a Facebook Group

In the Netherlands, more than eight million Dutch citizens are member of at least one active Facebook Group. Groups are a place to connect with neighbours, colleagues and people around the world who share common interests and experiences. Through these connections, people can learn, explore and do more together. For community leaders, managing their group is often a day job. But all this volunteer work is often unnoticed – which is why Facebook now wants to give them a face and tell their stories. Facebook wants to empower these leaders to grow and sustain their meaningful communities that positively impact people’s lives, as we saw during the corona crisis, when many people found each other in Facebook (self)help groups.

Facebook groups from the guide

A selection of the communities from Rotterdam that participated in the guide said the following:

“Rotterdam offers a canvas of interesting old and modern architecture, inspiring us during our monthly sketch crawls. We share our artwork and feedback online in our Facebook group, as well as offline. Sketch after sketch – this is how even friendships sprouted from our community.”

Jeffrey de Bruin - Founder, Facebook Group Urban Sketchers Rotterdam

“In our Facebook group, we have a very close-knit positive community of over 7,000 members who love plants. The local aspect makes the connection really strong. You wouldn’t drive all the way to the other side of the country for a plant.”

Raymond Landegent - Plantenasiel Rotterdam

“We meet with pug owners to walk our dogs in Rotterdam and surrounding areas. Our favourite places are the beaches and the city parks. I can’t wait to host the next pug walk.”

Eva Blom - Mopsenwandelingen Rotterdam

“At the time, I was working for the Port of Rotterdam and as a skipper on the water taxis. I took loads of photos and created a Facebook group to share these beautiful images with other fans of the harbour area.”

Gerrit van Katwijk - Havenvrienden Rotterdam

In addition to creating a platform for Facebook Groups and their administrators, Facebook also created this edition of the Community City Guide to support local SMBs. As the summer holiday season is coming up and the Dutch mainly spend it in their own country, now is the perfect time to do, eat, walk, and shop in Rotterdam to support local entrepreneurs. Many of them will be dealing with the consequences of the corona measures for a long time.

“With regulations slowly getting less strict, we hope to be able to welcome our guests again and provide them with a good time, like we used to. It will take some time to get back on our feet as an industry. Therefore, we welcome every initiative that supports us, such as this Facebook initiative. Especially so because all input for this guide is provided by locals: people who know and love the city and are very happy to share their knowledge.”

René Keehnen, owner of the famous Rotterdam restaurant De Ballentent

Available from today

As of today, 15,000 print editions of the Facebook Community City Guide Rotterdam in both Dutch and English can be found all over town, for example at the Rotterdam Tourist Information points. There is also an online version available in Dutch and in English. In addition, participating community leaders are portrayed throughout the city. Facebook developed the Community City Guide Rotterdam in partnership with Rotterdam Tourist Information. Previous editions of the Community City Guides are available at cityguides.fb.com.

Hires images can be found here