New Facebook Group Features Update: November 2020

Hey everyone! 👋🏻

In this month’s edition of Convosight’s ‘Facebook Group Features: Sneak Peek’, I’m going to take you through some amazing features released by Facebook for communities (Facebook groups).💃🏻

In case you missed our last month’s edition, please feel free to check out New Facebook Group Features Update: October 2020.  

Our list of new Facebook group features for November 2020 comprises: 

• 2 super cool features for more group engagement 
• 2 amazing feature additions for public groups (one available specifically for the beta version under the new public groups experience) 
• 1 feature to support admins whenever they feel clueless
• 2 awesome features to help admins moderate better

So, without further ado, let’s dive right into them!

List of New Facebook Group Features for November 2020

ENGAGE your members better🎊

1. ‘Ask Me’ feature

In a bid to make group discussions all the more interactive and encourage more members to participate in them, Facebook released an awesome question and answer format. 

With stackable cards and a swipe option, Facebook has revamped the way in which admins may encourage members to ask questions to them in the group(s), going forward. 

Admins can now connect with group members and answer their questions in real-time.

To access this feature, you just need to click on the ‘ask me’ icon present in the create post section. 

Tell members about a topic you’d love to answer questions for, encourage them to ask any question, and start answering. Check out their questions by swiping left/right. 

Important Note: Currently, this feature can only be accessed through a laptop/desktop for most groups. Facebook will be releasing it for the mobile app too sooner or later. 

Key observations of this feature: 

a. Only Facebook group admins and moderators can use this feature to host question and answer sessions in the group currently. 

b. Admins and moderators can swipe for members’ questions only through the mobile app and not laptop.

c. The number of comments that appear in the post are actually the number of questions. They are not the total number of comments received, unlike other posts.

d. ‘(Admin name) is answering questions’ appears on the day you post this. However, on the next day, the text changes to ‘(Admin name) was answering questions’. 

Things to keep in mind when using this feature: 

– You need to turn off commenting for this particular post after a certain point else the questions will keep coming in. That said, you can choose to announce in your Facebook group about the time duration for which members will be able to ask questions.  

2. Write a Prompt feature 

Along similar lines to the Ask me feature, the ‘write a prompt’ is yet another mind-blowing feature released by Facebook for some groups. 

It is also available as part of ‘create a post’. 

This collaborative post type drives engagement in Facebook groups by encouraging members to share photos. And, also see what other members have posted by swiping left and right (to go back to the previous photo).  

It capitalizes on the ongoing trend where admins prompt a discussion in their Facebook groups by asking members to share the last picture they clicked, the last meme they shared, and others such. 

Key observations of this feature: 

a. Admins, moderators, or members, anyone can start a prompt in the group. 

b. This feature is available on both desktop and the mobile app.

c. The swipe option works only in the mobile app as of now and not laptop.

d. Members can react and comment on each others’ photos as they swipe. 

Feature additions for PUBLIC Facebook groups🔓

1. The much-awaited ‘Admin Assist’ feature

Finally, Facebook has started to roll out the ‘Admin Assist’ feature for a number of public groups as part of the new public groups experience (beta). 

Facebook tells, 

“When you gain access, you’ll see a message appear in your group to get started with Admin Assist.
Once you have onboarded, you can access Admin Assist from a computer browser. In the left panel that says ‘Manage Group’, you’ll see a section called Admin Assist.”

As part of this feature, you can choose between managing incoming posts or published posts, and set rules so that Facebook can moderate posts in the group on your behalf. 

Under ‘manage incoming posts’, you can automatically decline posts from members who do not meet the set requirements. For the same, click on add and you’ll be able to see all the requirements. 

Here is the list of requirements that you can set. Post this, you can take a backseat and let Facebook moderate your group for you. 

On the other hand, under ‘manage published posts’, you can auto-remove and turn off commenting for posts that meet your set requirements. 

As told by Facebook, 

“In the coming months, we’re excited to expand the control you have as an admin with Admin Assist to maintain high quality, authentic conversations, and build healthy, safe communities — all while saving time that you can otherwise spend engaging with your community.”

2. Welcome post option now available on phone for public groups

Yes, the welcome post option (where Facebook tags all new members of your group) is now available on the mobile app as opposed to just the laptop previously. 

However, please note that admins of only public groups get to enjoy this benefit. 

While for the admins of private Facebook groups, I’d say wait until the end. Facebook might surprise you sooner or later!🤞🏻

Support for GROUP ADMINS🙌🏻

1. Group support option 

When admins find themselves in a problem or are clueless about a question, they can now seek help from Facebook directly, via the group support feature. 

This option is available under Admin tools with the same name.

(Admin tools is a single place on mobile for group admins to access all tools available to them like grup insights, member requests, pending posts, and others such.)

As per Facebook, 

“Admin Support can help you to resolve an issue that you may be facing in your community. This could be bugs you experience in your group or other issues you come across.

This tool provides you with 1:1 support through in-product chat with responses in 24 hours or less.”

Important Note: Only certain groups have access to this support channel and due to privacy concerns, Facebook does not disclose that specific criteria. Nevertheless, if a Facebook group is highly engaged and growing well, it’s just a matter of time for it to have access to this feature. 

Help Admins MODERATE their groups tightly💪🏻

1. View posts by similarity feature

In order to help admins filter unwanted posts easily, Facebook released the ‘view posts by similarity’ option under the pending posts section. 

It tells how the pending posts are similar or different from the past posts of the group. 

As you can see above, Facebook automatically categorises pending posts under these 3 sections:

1. Similar to approved posts: It tells you the number of posts that are similar to the posts you usually approve for your Facebook group.
2. Similar to declined posts: It tells you the number of posts that are similar to the posts you decline.
3. Nearly identical to other pending posts: It tells you about the number of pending posts that share nearly the same content

2. Decline post and start report option

This is the latest addition when taking an action on pending posts. 

With the decline post and start report option, you can not only decline a member post but also report to Facebook about the reason for declining amongst spam, false news, nudity, harassment, violence, gross content etc.  

Furthermore, you can block that member from your group and choose to stop seeing all the posts done by them. 

Facebook is indeed taking steps to encourage more meaningful conversations in groups, leaving no room for anything else. 

That’s all for this month’s edition.

Stay tuned for information about another set of new Facebook group features.⚡

Meanwhile, if you wish to know more about any of these, feel free to drop in your queries in the comments section below. 

Or you can also post your thoughts in our Facebook group, Growth and Monetisation for Facebook Group Admins and get some wonderful insights from hundreds of power admins who are constantly discussing this and so much more on community building.😊

Simran Grover

Creating value in the lives of others with my content, little by little.

Working at Convosight, a SaaS tool for growing, engaging, and monetising Facebook groups, I’m currently passionate about providing the most useful information, to community admins, by community admins.

Out of office, you can either find me lettering or reading! 😇