Facebook Group Invites – Everything You Need to Know (Updated for New Facebook)

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Whether you run a Facebook group or are a member of one, understanding the invites process is an important one.  You may need to know how to find group invites on Facebook, add someone to a group or even what it means when you have to interact with content after being invited.

Whatever the query around Facebook invites, let’s dive in and cover it.

How to see group invites on Facebook

The main place to see group notifications is amongst the other notifications you receive on your Facebook account or on the app.  You can open the invite to take a look and decide if you want to be a part of the group or not.

Once you have accepted the group invitation, then you can go to the ‘groups’ section on your left-hand menu, and here is more information about your groups.  In this section you will find a few areas:

• Suggested for you – groups you aren’t a part of, but Facebook thinks you might be interested in
• Categories – effectively groups of groups to help look for one in a specific area
• Friends groups – groups that your friends are members of but that you aren’t
• Popular near you – location-based groups
• More suggestions – a range of other groups based on your existing ones (this one just seems to keep going if you scroll!)

On the left-hand menu, there are a couple of other features.  There are groups you manage (if you have any) and groups you’re in.  There’s also the option to create a group here as well as discover more.

New Facebook version

On the new Facebook layout, there are two places to see group invites. The first is similar to the old place where there’s a side menu with the group’s option in it. You’ll probably need to click the arrow to open it up far enough to see it.

The other place is along the top menu. Shows how important groups now are! There are a series of icons there and the end one takes you to the new group section.

Once you are in the section, there are a few options! For starters, on the side menu, you can see any groups you run. Below this are groups you are a member of and if you have pinned any, these show at the top. I think you can still pin around 10 things and these show on your main page under the menu.

The middle of the screen covers some suggested groups based on what you already interact with. Then there’s a feed of content from your groups. This doesn’t seem to be chronological so I think the algorithm is at work somewhere here.

If you select the ‘Discover’ option above, there are also more suggested groups. These include local groups, group categories, and friend groups. Because we all need more groups!

Not sure if you want to start your own Facebook Group? Read 7 reasons why it can be a good idea!

How to invite someone to a Facebook group

When it comes to inviting someone to a Facebook group, you can invite anyone you are friends with, whether the group is public or private.  When you do this, they can preview the group to see if they want to join it.  If you aren’t one of the group admins, then the admin is likely to need to authorise the person to join before they are accepted.

As a group admin, you can do the same to invite people to the group and there’s no need for anyone else to okay them if they accept the invite.  You can invite them by their name if you are friends with them.  Or you can invite by their email address if you have this.

On the new Facebook layout, this is much the same. There’s an ‘invite’ button beside the member’s pictures on the main screen. Or you can go into the member’s tab and follow the same process from there.

Can you send a Facebook group invite message?

Unlike LinkedIn for example, you can’t send someone a message along with the invite.  It would be great if you could tell your friend why you sent them the invite but there’s no facility right now.  Of course, you could simply message them and tell them why you invited them to the group.

Group preview mode

Once you invite someone to a group and they are accepted by the admin, they will be in ‘preview mode’.  This means they won’t be able to post in the group or comment on any posts.  They won’t be able to invite anyone else to the group.  Members of the group that you are previewing can see you are previewing it but anyone who isn’t a member won’t see this.

If you are happy with the group, you can accept the invitation and then you will have full access to the group.  Or you can decline, and the preview will vanish.

How to see who invited someone to a Facebook group

If someone invites a friend to your group, this now shows on the page where you accept members. It can be handy, especially as the person being invited doesn’t seem to get the option to answer the questions. So by seeing if another member has invited them, you can decide if to let them in or not.

Joining Facebook groups as a page

One of the more recent additions is the ability to join a group as you or as your Page.  Not all groups allow this, there’s a setting to toggle to allow this.  But if the group does, when you go to join there will be a box pops up that asks whether you want to join as you or your page.

Pages can request to join a group but cannot be invited by someone.  However, if you join as you or a Page and want to switch to the other if the group allows Pages you can change who you are interacting as.

How to add an admin to your Facebook group

There are lots of reasons why you might want someone as a Facebook group admin.  Whatever the reason, go to the members’ section of the group settings and click the three dots beside the person’s name.  select either ‘make admin’ or ‘make moderator’ depending on how much access you want to give them.

This will send them an invite to become the admin.  You can hit the three dots to remove this invite if you change your mind.  Admins can remove members, add them, and edit settings and group descriptions.  However only people, not Pages can be an admin.

Missing Group invites

Facebook group invites are a little complicated as if you miss the notification, it can be tricky to find it again.  But if you search for the group with the search bar and find it, your invitation will appear along the top for you to accept.

You might also like Why Facebook Page Reach Matters (And How to Expand It) from Skylark Virtual Services.