private group

From IndieWeb


A private group is a group where the posts, members, and any other content in the group is only viewable by members of the group, a common social silo feature (like on Facebook).

Why

To have discussions with a set of people that is not otherwise public.

How

TBD.

IndieWeb Examples

None. See group for where examples are likely to happen first.

Perspective and Itches

  • Tantek Γ‡elik I have found some use for private groups on Facebook and I have captured my thoughts about that and how I might try to start implementing them in my own software and on my own site here: Falcon#Private_Groups
  • Greg McVerry My town is small (8k) and while a new weekly paper has started up facebook is the only way to get many updates and engage in local events.

Silo Examples

Facebook

Facebook has support for private groups of various levels, including "secret" where the very existence of the group is hidden from searches etc.

If you mention a non-member (via link) in a group-only post/message, Facebook will display a grey circle and slash icon next to the person's name, as well as showing their name in grey, to indicate that person was not notified of that reference, can't be notified because the reference is on a post that they do not have access to. E.g.:

The same thing happens in private events, which are essentially one-off private groups.

See Also

  • group
  • private messaging
  • Before you go building this, please be aware of the hazards of group dynamics and group psychology, as described in this article: 2020-07-02 The Guardian: What's wrong with WhatsApp (applies to much more than WhatsApp)