Understanding Your Privacy Settings In Facebook Groups

Understanding the privacy settings of Facebook Groups helps make sure you are sharing (or not sharing) information with those you intend to share with.

Facebook Groups are an online space where a group of people can discuss a particular interest. The settings we’re discussing here are different than those for your personal profile or your Facebook business page.

Facebook Groups have three privacy settings – Open, Closed and Secret.

Open Group.

Anyone with a Facebook account can see everything about your group, including all posts, comments, membership list, group description and any files uploaded. Your comments to the group can be seen in the news feed and can be found using Facebook’s search function. Only members of the group may post or comment within the group.

Closed Group.

Anyone with a Facebook account can see the group name, membership, and group description. Your posts and comments are only visible to other members of the group. Anyone can request membership, but that membership must be approved by a member of group. Any member can add new members to the group (if desired, a group administrator can modify the group’s settings so that an admin must approve the new member).

Secret Group.

The group name, description, membership, and files are visible only to members of the group. The group can only be found using Facebook search function by current group members. New members can be invited or added by current group members.

Honoring Privacy.

Social media etiquette dictates that members of the group respect the privacy level of the group. However, just as in face-to-face interactions, breaches of privacy occur, either due to misunderstanding (I didn’t realize what you were telling me was private) or violations of trust (I know you asked me to keep that secret, but I chose not to). Just as you gauge the trustworthiness of people in face-to-face interactions before you share highly personal or confidential information, you may want to exercise good judgement online as well.

Keep Up With Facebook Changes.

Also, Facebook privacy settings change as well. Here’s a link to Facebook’s current privacy settings in Groups. If you participate in Facebook Groups, or especially if you administer groups, please watch for changes to settings and communicate them to the members of your online community.