Facebook Closed and Secret Group vs Private: What’s the Difference

You may have received a Facebook notification about changes to your group privacy settings. If you had a secret or closed group, you might be wondering why it’s now private. What does a private group mean? This post will answer all your questions about the new group privacy settings.

Facebook groups are gaining popularity. They function as mini social networks within Facebook. Each group is unique, attracting individuals with similar habits, locations, and preferences.

Privacy is a vital aspect of groups. It’s crucial to understand the differences between existing and new Facebook group privacy settings.

Let’s delve into it.

What Are New Group Privacy Settings

Facebook recently revamped its group privacy settings to streamline the options. Previously, users had three choices – public, closed, and secret. Now, there are only two – public and private. Alongside the renaming of these privacy settings, Facebook also introduced a new visibility option. This applies specifically to private groups, allowing users to select between visible and hidden.

What Happens When Facebook Changed the Privacy Settings

When the privacy changes apply to your group, Facebook will assign it to the appropriate privacy settings. For example, if your group was public, it will remain public. If your group was closed, it will become private, with the visibility setting set to visible. Secret groups will also become private, but their visibility setting will be hidden.

Old Public vs. New Public Group

Public groups’ privacy settings remain unchanged in the new group settings. Public groups can still be found through search or on the newsfeed. Their content is accessible to anyone, including those without a Facebook account. The member list of public groups is also public and visible to all Facebook users.

Closed and Secret vs. Private Group

Both the closed and secret groups have been changed to private groups. You might wonder how this affects their previous privacy settings, such as group visibility and post visibility.

Like before, only members of private groups can access and participate in group activities. This means that they are the only ones who can see and create posts within the group.

The difference between closed and secret groups used to be their search visibility. Closed groups could be found in search, while secret groups were not. However, now that both types are private, the hide group setting is what distinguishes them.

Difference Between Hidden and Visible Groups

If the visibility setting is active, the group will appear in search results for everyone, including non-members. If the visibility setting is hidden, only members can view the group via search. Others will not see the group, as if it doesn’t exist.

The group’s name and description will be visible to anyone for visible groups. For hidden groups, only current, invited, and former members can see it.

Who Can Join Hidden and Visible Groups

On Facebook, anyone can request to join a visible group, but not a hidden group. An existing member of the group must send an invite to other Facebook users to join. Former members of the group can also request to rejoin.

Who Can See Members and Admins of Group

It depends on the privacy and visibility of the group. For public groups, all members, admins, and moderators can be seen by everyone.

But if the group is private, only members can view other members. Everyone can see admins and moderators in visible groups. For hidden groups, invited members and current members can see group admins and moderators.

Can a Public Group Be Hidden from Search Results

The hide group settings do not apply to public groups. Everything about them is visible to people on Facebook. If you want to hide a public group, you need to convert it into a private group first and then change the visibility settings.

How to Check Privacy of a Group

To check the privacy level of a group, open the group on desktop or mobile apps. The group’s privacy level is indicated below the group name.

How to Check if Group Is Hidden or Visible

To check group visibility, follow these steps.

To review the provided text and eliminate redundant words or phrases:

Open the group. If you’re a group member, tap the group name. The group visibility can be seen in the About section.

If you are a non-member, open the group to see its visibility in the group description.

View Group Visibility on PC

If you’re a group member, click on About in the left panel of the group. The group’s visibility will be shown in the description.

Non-members can find the visibility under the group description.

Can Facebook Friends See Your Posts and Comments in Other Groups

If the group is public, your Facebook friends will be able to see your comments and posts in that group even if they haven’t joined it. However, your posts and comments aren’t visible to your Facebook friends in private groups (hidden or visible categories) unless they are group members.

Things to Keep in Mind While Changing Group Privacy

Before adjusting the privacy settings, consider these two points.

Time Limit for Changing Group Privacy

Changing the privacy of a group on Facebook is not something you can do every day or even every week. In fact, Facebook only allows you to change the privacy of a group once every 28 days. However, if you accidentally change the group privacy, you do have a 24-hour window to correct it. Once that time frame is up, you will have to wait another 28 days before you can make any further changes.

Member Limit for Changing Group Privacy

If your group has fewer than 5000 members, you can change the group privacy from private to public and vice versa anytime.

However, if your private group has over 5000 members, you cannot change it to public. You will need to create a new public group. But, you can change a public group to private anytime, as there are no member restrictions.

The group privacy settings are modifiable only by the admin. If you are an admin, you can change the privacy and visibility settings.

Change Group Privacy on Mobile Apps

Step 1: Open the group whose privacy settings you want to modify.

Step 2: Tap on the badge icon at the top-right corner and select Group Settings.

Step 3: Tap Privacy and Hide Group to modify them.

Change Group Privacy on Desktop

Step 1: Open the group.

Step 2: Click on More and select Edit group settings.

Step 3: Scroll down in settings. Find Privacy and Hide group setting. Customize them as needed.

Are People Notified When You Change the Group Privacy Settings

If you change from public to private or vice versa, all the group members will be notified. However, if you only change the visibility of the group to visible or hidden, then Facebook doesn’t notify the group members.

Manage Groups like a Wizard

You don’t have to change the privacy settings manually. Facebook will apply the applicable settings. You will be asked to set the privacy setting only when creating a new group. Sit back and enjoy the group features.

Next up: Wondering what happens when you block a user on Facebook?