Meta announced an update to Facebook Groups on Monday. This update allows group administrators to change their previously private groups to public. This change is designed to protect the privacy of existing members during the conversion. Past content will remain private, and member lists will stay protected.
Many administrators begin their groups as private, expecting them to remain small. Over time, they may realize a public group could help them reach a wider audience. This new feature allows these groups to expand their reach without having to start a new public group from the beginning. It also prevents the exposure of members’ past posts and activities.
The change to a group’s privacy setting can be made from the settings page on Facebook. When an administrator initiates this change, all other administrators in the group are notified. They then have a three-day period to review the decision. Any administrator can cancel the conversion during this window if there is not full agreement.
After the update, all historical group content such as posts, comments, and reactions will remain visible only to members who were in the group before it became public. Administrators and moderators will also retain access to this past content. Member lists will continue to be protected and visible only to admins and moderators.
Group members are notified when their group becomes public. They receive another reminder the first time they post or comment in the newly public group.
Once a group is public, all new posts, comments, and reactions will be visible to anyone, including people who are not on Facebook. This is consistent with all other public groups on the platform. This change may also help Facebook group content be indexed more easily by search engines like Google. This could make these groups appear in search results for relevant queries.
If administrators decide that a public group is not the right fit, they have the option to revert the group back to a private setting.