According to reports by Tech Crunch, social media giants, Facebook Inc. has rolled out a feature that allows them to ensure that the right persons are added to a group – this will be done by admins setting up three test questions for people requesting to join the group. This allows admins to screen the potential member and make sure the added member does not troll or spam the Group.
“Screening new membership requests requires time and legwork for admins – particularly for groups built around focused passions or purpose. For these groups, admins typically have specific criteria they require before admitting new members.”
“Establishing these open-ended questions enables them to more quickly review and approve member requests; in turn, people seeking communities of support or shared interest can more quickly connect with others,” the report quoted a Facebook spokesperson as saying.
Potential members can answer the questions in up to 250 characters each that can be seen by admins and moderators only, and will not be posted on the Group.
“Users who hit ‘Join’ on a Group with a questionnaire will be asked to fill it out immediately, while those invited to join will get a notification linked to the form. Applicants can edit their answers until they’re reviewed,” the report noted.[related-posts]
The new update gives more control to the Group admins, who can select the questions and decide whom to add in the Group – something that can lead to productive discussions.
“One of the things that we’ve seen in online communities, also including offline communities, is that having an engaged and talented leader is one of the key things for making a strong community … but right now our Groups product hasn’t really been built to facilitate the leaders,” Mark Zuckerberg, CEO Facebook had said in February.
