Facebook groups are a great place to connect with others with similar interests. If you’re new to Facebook Groups, they can be a little overwhelming. These tips will have you networking and collaborating with fellow group members in no time at all!
By: Eden Hensley; Photos by Brooke Dennis and Justin Hackworth for Alt Summit
Facebook groups are a great place to connect with others with similar interests. Many conferences, including Alt Winter 2016, have private Facebook groups for their attendees. Attendees can arrange pre-conference meet ups, shared hotel accommodations, and more.
If you’re new to Facebook Groups, they can be a little overwhelming. These tips will have you networking and collaborating with fellow group members in no time at all!
- Before diving in, look for a Pinned Post or a Community Guidelines File. Here you’ll find etiquette information and answers to commonly asked questions. If you’re unsure whether you can or can’t post something to the group, reach out to the admin for the group. (Click Members to open the members tab and then click Admins to see who the admins for your group are.)
- Check the privacy setting of the Facebook Group. Groups can be public—anyone can see what you share; closed—only people in the group can see what you share, but anyone can see you’re a member of the group; and secret—only members can see who else is a member and what you share. If a group is closed or secret, before sharing any information outside your Facebook Group ask permission. Not everything shared is meant for wider audiences.
- Easily find posts with information you want to come back to; click the downward arrow in its upper right corner and click Save post. To find the post later go to Saved. No longer need the information? Click the downward arrow in the upper right corner and click Unsave post.
- Got important information you want to make sure your group is seeing? Create a file or post and use URL shorteners to direct members to specific files or posts. Be aware that if you edit the title of a file in your Facebook Group its URL changes too. This will break any URL shorteners you’ve created.
- Quickly find everything a person has shared in the group—their posts and comments—using the Search functionality.
- Reduce how many notifications you receive. You can choose to follow specific files, individual statuses, or everything.
- On the cover image for the group, click Notifications and then select All Posts (you’ll see likes, comments, and updates for everything that gets added to the group), Highlights (you’ll see popular posts—those with a lot of likes and comments—and anything your friends are sharing or commenting on), Friends’ Posts (you’ll only see what your friends are sharing or commenting on; if you’re not friends with the group’s administrator you’ll miss a lot), or Off (the only way you’ll hear news is if you check).
- For any post that’s not interesting to you, click the downward arrow in its upper right corner and click Turn off notifications for this post.
If You’re Using a Smartphone or Tablet
Facebook groups are a little different if you’re using a smartphone or tablet. There will be some things you won’t be able to do:
- You can’t edit documents.
- You can’t tag members or Facebook pages using “@.” On a computer, after you enter @ and start typing a member’s name or Facebook page you’ll see a drop down list.
- You can’t remove a link preview associated with a URL.
