Facebook communities were created to be friendly, informative, and safe spaces for users who share similar interests. But that’s far from what happens in online groups when moderation lacks.
That’s why Facebook is offering new moderation features to ensure a better experience for online communities. Their goal is to keep discussion quality high and prevent spam by assigning reliable group experts and moderators.
Both roles has the duty to make sure everything within the community works as it should, but still it’s important to understand the difference between Facebook group experts and moderators if you want to make the most of your online community.
In this post, we explore:
- Difference between a Facebook group expert and a moderator
- What’s a Facebook group expert?
- How to add a group expert on Facebook?
- What does a Facebook moderator do?
- How to add a moderator to a Facebook group
- Choosing the perfect role
Difference Between a Facebook Group Expert and Moderator
Moderators assure that other members follow the group’s rules. They also make sure that the community keeps being a friendly and safe space. On Facebook, users who manage groups can have two roles: administrators or moderators. While the two roles can carry out similar tasks, moderators can only:
- 📌 Pin or unpin publications.
- ❌ Delete members and block their access to the group.
- 📝 Approve or reject membership applications.
- 🧐 Remove posts and comments from posts.
- 🚩 Approve or reject publications in the group.
- In addition to these, administrators can carry out other tasks such as:
- ☝️ Appointing another member as an administrator or moderator.
- ❌ Remove an administrator or moderator.
- ⚙️ Manage group settings (e.g., change the group name, cover photo, or privacy settings).
🎖️ On Facebook, a badge can be displayed next to the administrator’s or moderator’s name on your posts in the group, in your comments, and in the group profile.
On the other hand, Facebook group experts are users who know a lot about the community’s niche. Their role is to keep resources, data, and information updated.
What’s A Facebook Group Expert?
Facebook is testing the ability of administrators to recognize those trusted members of their communities as group experts. Therefore, group experts are knowledgeable users who are highlighted with a badge next to their names.
This is how the badge looks like:
Facebook group experts are designed by administrators and must be people who foster quality conversations. And make it easier for other members to find trusted and important content. Also, they’re users who are informed about the topics that are usually discussed in the group, becoming reliable sources of information for others.
How to Add Group Experts on Facebook?
In order to assign a group member as a group expert, administrators should navigate the member list, search for the person they would like to give the badge to, and choose “Make Group Expert” from the member menu.
🎖️ Such as with administrators and moderators, group experts will receive a badge. This will make it easier for other members to spot important posts or comments.
What Does a Facebook Moderator Do?
One of the main responsibilities of moderators is to make sure every member follows the rules for Facebook groups.
However, moderators will need the community creators or founders to build a clear and precise set of rules. And while the moderator will need to know them perfectly, members will also need to have them in mind.
This will avoid further issues both among the community members and between the members and the Facebook moderator. On the other hand, an unclear and ambiguous set of rules will generate problems in the community.
Moderators are also responsible for assuring that the Facebook group stays chaos-free. That’s why having a well-chosen moderator will help your community be more ordered. In addition, this will attract new members to your community.
Related 👉 Community Moderation: Best Practices, Tools, and Guidelines for Moderators
In short, moderators are role models for other members.
How to Add a Moderator to a Facebook Group
When you’re searching for a Facebook moderator it’s fundamental to choose someone who has the right mindset, availability, and knowledge to moderate a community. However, it’s also essential to offer moderators an adjusting period to adapt to the community’s expectations.
These expectations will include how users behave and communicate with one another in a group. What actions are considered disruptive or harmful to the community and its members. And other guidelines for appropriate behavior.
Choosing the Perfect Role
Both group experts and moderators are users whose ultimate goal is to keep community members engaged. And as the world has become more community-focused over the years, the work of passionate members is required by community builders, who need a strong and active community.
However, one role does not detract from the other.
If you’re managing a Facebook group, it’s important to have both moderators and group experts as each one of them also have their individual goals. Which, in the case of moderators is to keep the community an organized and friendly space. And in the case of experts is to be an authorized voice within the community, providing members quality content and reliable information. On the other hand, if your community is growing and you need to implement more features, then it might be the time to move off of Facebook.
