Facebook launched a new tool for Group administrations that allows them to create custom questionnaires for the purposes of screening new applicants that have expressed interest in joining their online communities, a spokesperson for the Menlo Park-based social media giant confirmed on Friday. The short survey can consist of up to three questions that Group admins can send to applicants as a prerequisite for joining their digital forum. The wording of Facebook’s announcement on the matter suggests that the feature has been in testing for a while now as the company previously made it available to a limited number of Group admins. However, as of Friday, the functionality is now available to administrators in all parts of the world.
As admins already have a large degree of control over the content users post in their Groups, Facebook is trying to help them moderate their online communities by providing them with a new set of tools that will allow them to do so more efficiently. The newly introduced support for custom questionnaires fulfills two main purposes, as it enables admins to quickly determine whether new applicants fit the profile of people that they’re seeking to include into their Groups while simultaneously providing them with an efficient method of identifying and blocking bots and spammers, a Facebook representative suggested. Ultimately, the Internet giant is looking to save time its admins often spend on extensively screening users who are seeking to join their online communities. The digital surveys that administrators can now send to all people who express interest in joining their Groups are completely customizable and can contain open-ended questions that users will be able to answer in up to 250 characters, the California-based social media company said. Answers submitted by users will only be visible to Group administrators and moderators, while the questions themselves won’t be sent through Messenger where users might not see them among numerous unsolicited message requests, but will instead be delivered via traditional notifications.
It remains to be seen how Facebook will attempt to improve its Group administrator tools in the future, but an update on the company’s efforts to do so will likely follow later this year.