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Members… this is where you can learn how to opt out of Facebook Community Chats for FanGrrrl Romance Recs groups 💜

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Before we detail how to turn off Community Chat notifications and invites, let’s first explain how & why FanGrrrl Romance Recs is using Community Chats, and the limitations of Facebook Community Chats for Group Admins.

What are Facebook Community Chats?

Community Chats are a newer feature from Facebook where a Group Admin can create a chat where any group member in a Facebook group can join. If you have your settings configured to receive group notifications, you will likely receive a notification whenever a new community chat is created. In addition, Group Admins can invite group members to these chats. Inviting the member does not automatically add the member to the chat. Inviting them gives them direct access to the chat and they can choose to accept or deny the invite. Invitations are limited for larger groups; not every member can receive an invitation or access the Community Chat once it is “full.” However, Facebook group members can change their settings- by Facebook group- so they no longer receive invites.

Why & how is FanGrrrl Romance Recs using Community Chats?

FanGrrrl Romance Recs recognizes the frustrations of Facebook Group members in regards to group chat notifications. Essentially, it’s not the original notification from the Group Admin that is the issue for members who do not care for Community Chats- it’s the notifications when members are messaging within the chat. This is why FanGrrrl Romance Recs limits the amount of time a chat is open. Also, many members do not realize that if they accept an invite to a chat, they can archive or mute it so the notifications are not an issue.

However, because of these type of concerns from members, FanGrrrl Romance Recs limits the number of Community Chats and therefore, limits the frequency of sending out invites to a chat. The only recurring chat in the FanGrrrl Romance Recs readers groups is the ARC sign-up chat. The ARC sign-up chat (Advanced Reader Copy) is for authors to drop their sign-up forms in order to recruit ARC readers.

The ARC sign-up chat is once a week, around lunchtime Eastern Standard time on Wednesdays. The chat is first created by Founder/Admin Rebecca Dixon and then members are invited. Inviting members is important because it is a surefire way to alert members the chat is created and they are able to join it. In a large Facebook group, many members appreciate the invitation for chats they may wish to join.

Our ARC related chat- in particular- is very popular due to the high number of our members that wish to receive ARCs. In addition, ARC sign-up chats are very helpful for authors. Rebecca has received countless number of messages from authors thanking her for hosting these chats. Authors have reported receiving up to 50 new ARC readers from one single Community Chat alone! And here’s why… in the FanGrrrl Romance Recs larger group- when the chat is first opened- about 150 members join. It’s opened for just 30 minutes (to limit notifications) and only authors can comment with their ARC sign-up forms. After 30 mins, the chat is paused for 48 hours where no one can comment & then it is deleted. By the time the chat is deleted, it’s capacity is maxed out with about 2000 members who have joined. It’s no wonder authors are receiving tons of ARC readers!

Here’s the thing though- only members who were invited can join the chat after it’s paused! That’s right, if you did not receive an invite- you can’t join it after it’s paused. So invitations to group members are even more essential, since the chats are only open for 30 minutes. What a lot of members don’t realize: FB limits the way Group Admins can invite members. Group Admins can either cherry pick a group member (this is impossible for large Facebook groups) or they can invite members by one of the following categories: Active Members, Conversation Starters, and/or New Members. So if you are deemed a “Conversation Starter” by Facebook, for example, you will always receive an invite… unless you change your notifications settings for that group. There is NO way for a Group Admin to “take you off the list.”

Turning off Notifications for Community Chats

If you read this far and have still chosen to turn of notifications, no worries at all! The capacity limit is less than the number of members for the FanGrrrl Romance Recs readers groups and trust us… someone will want that spot! This is why we do ask that once someone is done in a chat, to please leave so that way someone else can have that spot!

Leaving/Deleting a Chat

Each Facebook chat has its own settings to handle on a one-by-one basis. To Leave or Delete a Facebook Chat, simply go to the chat, select it’s name and scroll-down to where you see the options to Leave or Delete. Please note: Facebook may change it’s settings at any time and for updated steps, please visit Facebook Help online.

Muting a Chat

Each Facebook chat has its own settings to handle on a one-by-one basis. To Mute a Facebook Chat, simply go to the chat, select it’s name and scroll-down to where you see the options to Mute. Please note: Facebook may change it’s settings at any time and for updated steps, please visit Facebook Help online.

Turning off Notifications for a Group’s Community Chats

Each Facebook Group has its own settings to handle on a one-by-one basis. To Turn Notifications Off for Facebook Chats (this means you will not receive invites,) simply go to the Group Notification Settings and adjust as needed. Screenshots below are from Facebook Help. Please note: Facebook may change it’s settings at any time and for updated steps, please visit Facebook Help online.