ARThis week, Meta has announced that it is expanding communication features across Facebook and Messenger, by introducing Community Chats. This new feature will now let users in Facebook Groups connect via text, audio, and video across Facebook and Messenger in real-time. Community Chats provides admins with the ability to organise chats across categories and topics so it can ‘let people connect more deeply with communities in real time around the topics they care about’. Find out below how this new feature will work.
Community Chats
Within Facebook Groups, users can communicate via comments on posts as well as liking and reacting to what people have to say. Community Chats is looking to bring a quicker, more responsive format to how audiences engage with one another, in the same way that Messenger allows communication in real time with friends and family members.
With Community Chats, admins can start conversations with a chosen group, which could include all the members or could be limited to admins or moderators only. Admins can also specify what topic they want the group to talk about, use it to specifically give an update that can only be viewed, or use it to share audio with the group. If audio is being utilised, members can also use their video if they wish. Audio and video features can be useful if groups are looking to share information or create discussion about a particular topic. If you are interested in how to set up a Community Chat, you can take a look at this blog by Meta.
Staying Safe When Using Community Chats
Due to the more flexible nature of community chats and the freedom that it can provide users in terms of how they communicate with one another, there are tools to support admins in how they manage online spaces.
Much like other reporting tools across Meta, Community Chats offers reporting, blocking and muting features that can be used on members who are potentially being offensive or harmful. Admins are also able to remove specific messages as well as members from the group if they wish. There is also a feature called Admin Assist which gives admins the option to set custom criteria which when set up, will automatically suspend users who violate as well as remove messages that have been reported. Admin Assist can also work towards stopping messages from ‘ineligible authors’ as well as messages that contain violating content.
As well as admins, users within the Community Chat can also report messages to admins as well as Meta. They are also able to block other users if they wish and get notified if a blocked person appears in a future Community Chat. If an audio communication is happening, then users will still have options to block, remove or report the channel or user to admins as well as Meta. If you want to find out more about privacy and safety controls, take a look at this blog here.
Further Considerations
The inclusion of Community Chats appears to offer Facebook users more ways to engage with one another, especially in groups where there may be more similar interests shared. In comparison to Messenger where chats can be limited to known friends and family members, Community Chats will look to expand the reach and be able to connect people across a much wider scale.
Due to the wider reach, it is important that users familiarise themselves with what privacy features are available so they can respond to any potential harm with confidence. Reporting, blocking and muting can reduce the amount of harm seen across online platforms, and in wider spaces it is an essential practice in keeping groups safe and accommodating to others. For Community Chats, it is important for users to familiarise themselves with Meta’s community standards so they are aware of what content will be seen as violating.
If you are unsure or want to learn more about reporting harmful content, you can visit Report Harmful Content to get advice and see what support is available. You can also explore our Facebook Checklist to find out more about other reporting tools that are available.
