You probably started to notice it a while back: you started recieving more emails from Facebook. Conversations you never got involved with were suddenly filling your inbox, cluttering your smartphone  and generally obstructing your regularly-scheduled messages. Suddenly, groups you joined years ago are clamoring obnoxiously for your attention and some you never even opted-in for. How did this happen?


In October, Facebook restructured its famous "groups." They added a ton of new features including group-only, as well as an offline email address so members can stay in touch. However, along with these additions came the annoying email messaging and the removal of the opt-in feature. Now, anyone you have as a Facebook friend can add you to their group, with or without your permission. Then, whenever someone posts to this group, you'll get a message. (Read about how this caused Matt Zuckerberg some personal issues he didn't foresee.)


You may not have noticed these changes in October. But now Facebook is only allowing this new style of groups to exist. Old groups are required to make the switch to the new format or be deleted (archived is the word Facebook likes to use). The archiving process started sometime in the last month and group admins are now getting emails alerting them to upgrade. And your inbox might start reflecting those changes.


Many people have complained about the changes to groups (specifically the constant emails). So let's quickly go through the ways to stop the stream-of-consciousness filling your inbox.


There are three options to shut-up your groups. We will go through each one:

1. Silence a particular group (you can still read messages on Facebook, but won't get alerts).
2. Leaving a group.
3. Changing your settings for all groups.

You must, unfortunately, be logged in to Facebook to access any of these changes (aka, no unsubscribing from your email). Log-in and let's begin. We'll start with muting a group.


Look at your home page (the news feed). See the list of groups to your left?





Mouse over the most bothersome of the groups and select it. Then click on the "Edit Settings" link.





Or, for quicker service, just click the x that appears when you mouse over the group.





This will not delete the group, it will bring up the "Edit Settings" box.





The most important section here is "notify me when". You can pick what you are notified for (for the least amount of interruption, select "only posts I am subscribed to"  without emails you are only notified in Facebook). But also make sure to uncheck the email alert box.


From here you can also edit how this group shows up on your page and if you receive group chat messages. (You can also use this to access ALL of your group notifications but we'll get there later.)


Leaving a group permanently is even easier. Select the offending group. On the right sidebar, under the member list and a few other options you'll see "Leave Group" with a cute picture of an open door.





Click it! Facebook will give you a final sales pitch and ask if you aresure, so make sure to verify your escape route.





Note: if someone added you to this group without your permission and you leave the group, they can never add you to another group. The same does not hold true for groups you joined before they upgraded.


Finally, how to change all your settings at once. You can reach you notification settings by editing a single group's settings (see #1) and selecting the "edit your notifications notifications" link in he edit pop-up box,





or select "Account" from the top right corner of any Facebook page.





Click "Account settings".





This will take you to your basic settings. There will be a horizontal navigation bar with different tabs. The third one will be "Notifications".





Be prepared, this page is long.





To the right there is a list of where you can "view settings", click the third section labeled "Groups".

Here you have some limited options to stop unnecessary emails. But notice there is a link "change email settings for individual groups" giving you the option to edit all your groups at once.





This will let you stop postings by checking or unchecking all of the groups you've joined or been added to.





When you're done, make sure to select SAVE at the bottom of your screen!





It should be noted there is not option to stop all group messages. In other words, you will need to update your setting for every group you are added to. (Unfortunately.)


I hope this helps control some of the madness and give you a little hyperspace peace!

Tags: deleting groups, edit, emails, Facebook, Groups, leaving groups, Notifications

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 21st, 2011 at 1:54 pm and is filed under Social Media, Tools, Veribatim. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.