Intermediate 201 Navigating chat features | Facebook Community | Facebook Community

Community chat features help encourage members to express themselves authentically and form closer connections. We could go on and on about the available features, and by the time you’re reading this we might even have more available. Crazy, we know.

But before we get ahead of ourselves, we want to highlight some key features that are highly recommended from real group admins. You can use them right now to help you kick off chats and keep the conversation going, all while fostering a safe environment.

Let’s dive into those features.

Check out our pre-suggested chat topics . You can also use member suggested chats to make your community feel heard, or you can create your own. More on that here !)

Edit your chat icon , description , theme , nickname , and emoji to give members the info they need to decide if the chat is of interest to them.

SHOWING EDIT CHAT DESCRIPTION/THEME/NAME SCREEN

Send bulk invites to specific categories of members, or send individual invites to members and non-members. More on that here !

Create custom categories in your group’s inbox to organize chats, helping members easily navigate the different conversations. More on that here !
If it applies, link your chat to a scheduled event so that members can discuss and plan in real-time.
You and your members can also set your own nicknames , and when people click your profile picture they’ll see your real profile.

Use member suggested chats to let your community feel heard. More on that here !

Who doesn’t love a poll ? Post one (or twenty) to keep your chat engaging and active.
For those of you already familiar with Messenger, you can continue to send GIFs , post emojis , and react to messages .

Meet your new bestie to help moderate your chats: Admin Assist . You might already be familiar with this feature from your group, and now you can also use it for chats. Set up custom criteria and it will do the work for you to automatically suspend users, remove reported messages, stop messages from being sent, and so much more.
You can also manage your chats through a suite of moderation tools that let you ban, delete, or suspend members and remove messages.

Adjust your settings for group and thread notifications so that you can stay up-to-date with your chats however works best for you.
While you’re at it, how about you start an admin only chat to discuss group management and collaborate with your moderation team? Create one through your admin home on the Facebook app and it will automatically add all admins and moderators.