Late last year, Facebook began testing a new keyword alerts feature for groups, which would provide another way for Facebook group admins to stay on top of relevant discussions within group interactions.

As you can see in this example (shared by social media expert Matt Navarra), the new format has been improved from the original format (spotted by code hacker Jane Manchun Wong). In the above listing, admins will be able to add in all the relevant discussion terms they want to monitor within their group, then get alerted, in a separate tab, to any posts which include those chosen terms. Admins will then have the immediate option (below the post) to delete it or let it go through to the community.

The feature could be particularly handy for businesses who are looking to use groups to stay in touch with potential customers and opportunities, especially those within larger groups. By setting up specific alerts for product or intent-related keywords, admins would be able to ensure they never miss a relevant discussion, while businesses could also, theoretically, work with admins from large, popular groups to set up an alert system to let them know of relevant mentions, which they can tap into.

But that's not necessarily the intention of the feature. The option more designed to catch out content which doesn't align with your established group rules, and quickly remove it before they even get posted. But there are various ways in which it could be applied, opening up new group engagement and management potential.

There's no word as yet on a full roll out of the option, but given the progress in its development, it looks set to be launched sometime soon.