You may have seen in the news lately that some gay students in Texas were outed in a Facebook group, totally without their consent. This outing was not done maliciously but, seeing as how Texas is quite backward, caused these students significant grief and pain. You might think that you have a choice when it comes to Facebook groups but, unfortunately, you don’t. Anyone who is a friend of yours on Facebook can freely add you to a group. There is no way to opt-out of this, you can’t stop any of your friends from adding you to any group they start. Here’s a perfect example of what we’re talking about:
Mark Zuckerberg quits NAMBLA (yes, you read that correctly.)
Seeing as how you can’t opt-out of groups, there are only two ways that you can prevent being added to Facebook groups. The first is simple, check your friend list. If you have some practical jokers there, get rid of them as friends. As we’ve shown you, they can add you to any group they want and, until you quit the group, you can’t do anything about it.
The second option is virtually impossible, but if you’ve got a lot of time, maybe you can do it. Simply put, Facebook has a maximum limit of 300 groups that any one person can join. Therefore, if you start 300 groups and add yourself to them, no one will be able to add you to any group they start. Yes, it is a waste of time, for sure.
Over the next few posts, we’re going to tell you everything you need to know about Facebook groups. Here’s a shot of the group privacy menu:
Stay tuned. We’ll show you everything you need to know about groups…except how to opt-out. You can’t. Remember that.
Thanks for reading!