Facebook Groups is quite simply: Facebook The Way It Should Be. Last Wednesday Facebook introduced a revamped version of their "groups" feature. If you are 100% new to groups take a look at the crazy short video below (it's only 2 minutes!). After that, and to really get you rolling in style we created a list of the top 10 tips to keep in mind so you can manage the new Facebook feature like a pro:
1. Choose Your Friends Wisely- Why? Quite simply, anyone who is currently your 'friend' on facebook can add you to whatever group they damn well please and you're automatically added to the group (as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg discovered the hard way).
2. No Reset Button- If you cross the line adding people to unwarranted groups or using the groups feature to spam people will be short lived for two reasons- 1.)People can easily unsubscribe and 2.) Once they remove themselves from one of your groups you no longer have the ability to add them to future groups. Period.
3. Get Personal- Want to share what really happened last night, what you ate for breakfast, or maybe even what you really think of your job but you don't want to tell ALL your Facebook 'friends'? Now you can. Set up groups with family, co-workers, and your closest friends and you are good to go.
4. Collaborate- Take things beyond the simple private wall posts with 2 amazing collaboration tools- 1.) Group chat- you are no longer limited to one on one conversations. and 2.) Documents! That's right, make lists, work on problems, and more from a simple text editor directly within Facebook. Bottom line- This might just be the complete virtual workspace that Google has been trying and TRYING to make for years.
5. Know Your Members- Extending on the 'Trust Your Friends' tip above- Any group member has the power to invite ANY of their friends into the group. Want to keep things private? You better know your members.
6. Turn Down the Volume- Getting bombarded by email updates? All you have to do is visit the specific group page, click the "Edit Settings button" in the upper-left-hand corner of the page, and select the radio button next to the option you prefer. It's that simple.
7. Know the Privacy Level- The privacy level can be set differently for each group. In total, there are three privacy settings:
- Open - Both the group members and their content is public.
- Closed - Group members are public, but their content is private.
- Secret - Both group members and their content is private.
8. Know What Groups You Are In- When you are logged into Facebook look at your navigation bar on the left hand side of the home screen, Click on the word 'More', You will see the "Groups" Tab. See a group you don't want to be a part of? Select the group and remove yourself from within the group page.
9. Your Profile's Privacy is (still) King- Worried that people from a group you did not want to join will be able to see all your personal info on Facebook? Here's the good news: If you've limited access to your profile in Facebook's privacy settings you're already safe. This means that if you've restricted your updates, photos, and personal data to "friends only," any and all group members won't be able to see anything about you except your publicly accessible profile info (which, again, you can customize in your privacy settings).
10. Make Your Own- Now that you know about 'Groups' why not start one for yourself? It's very simple:
- Go to Groups.
- Name your group.
- Edit your group to establish a unique email address.
- Set your Privacy Settings.