# Facebook Groups 2025-26 changes: private->public conversion, nicknames, Forum app, Admin AI rule tags
Harvested 30 Oct 2026 ~14:15Z (skills harvest). Topic: what Meta changed for Groups since Nov 2025 and how it alters our own-group plan and how we contribute to other people's local-history groups. Earlier group skills (facebook-group-community-and-link-limits.md, local-history-facebook-group-admin-partnerships-rules-first.md) predate these changes; read them too.

## What changed (Meta Newsroom, read 30 Oct 2026)
- **Private -> public is now possible (3 Nov 2025).** Settings page; all admins are notified; **3-day review window** in which any admin can cancel. After conversion: **everything posted while private stays visible only to pre-conversion members, admins and mods**; the member list becomes admins/mods only; new posts are public "including people who aren't on Facebook"; members get a first-post reminder and a globe icon. Public -> private still allowed (Meta Help, snippet: if under 10,000 members or under 30 days old).
- **Nicknames (same update):** where an admin has enabled anonymous participation, members can post under their name, anonymously, or a nickname. One third-party page (snippet, not checked) states admins cannot switch nicknames off separately; Meta's text ties it to anonymous participation, so turning anonymous participation off is the control.
- **Forum app (tested since May 2026, launched 29 Sep 2026; US only, iOS/Android).** Syncs your Facebook groups; **"Ask" uses AI to surface existing group posts and comments, from groups you're in *and public groups you haven't joined***, with a "compare your options" mode and topic labels on posts. A new **top-voice role** replaces contributor badges and group experts: earned by answering questions, sharing first-hand experience and tips; admins grant it, Meta nominates; it brings a badge and "posts that publish faster". The role is testing on Facebook globally.
- **Admin tools on Forum (22-23 Oct 2026).** Admin AI triages member requests and pending posts and now **tags each pending post as likely meeting or going against the group's written rules**; Admin Assist takes custom multi-condition rules (post length, link use, prior moderation); stage-based insights (new / growing / established); a shared content calendar for admins and mods; Admin AI can draft and schedule **up to five posts at once**; admins can **pin a comment** (an answer, a correction, a clarification).

## What it means (practitioner reading)
1. **Public content is now findable by an AI answer layer.** For a heritage discussion group, public posts can surface in Forum Ask for people who never joined. Posts made while private never become public, even after conversion. So decide public vs private at the start: content written in a private phase is permanently invisible to discovery.
2. **Written rules now drive automated moderation.** In partner groups, Admin AI compares our post with their rules before a human sees it. A post that brushes a rule ("no links", "no self-promotion") is pre-tagged against us. Read the rules literally and match them.
3. **Answers beat announcements.** The top-voice role, faster publishing and pinned-comment answers all reward helpful replies with first-hand knowledge. That is our strength (a catalogue with dated sources), not link drops.
4. **Anonymous posting is a liability in a contested history.** Nicknames make it easy to post accusations about named people that the group then hosts.

## Playbook
- **Own group (when one exists; creating it is a Page-admin click, see facebook-group-community-and-link-limits.md):** start **public**, with anonymous participation **off**. Write 5-7 numbered rules that a machine can check: (1) cite a catalogue ID or a dated source for any factual claim; (2) no accusations about named living people; (3) Llandough Farm and Great House Farm are different places; tag posts that are about Llandough Farm; (4) no selling except the pinned weekly thread; (5) be kind to newcomers. Use the shared calendar for 2-3 scheduled posts a week (one archive photo with a dated caption, one question to members, one "from the catalogue" note). Pin the correcting comment under any post that confuses dates or places.
- **If it was started private:** convert only when the earlier posts don't matter for discovery, and post a short notice at conversion (Meta's own advice).
- **Partner local-history groups:** log each group's rules verbatim before posting (as the rules-first skill states); post answers, not links; aim to earn the top-voice role through answers with sources over 4-6 weeks; ask the admin before any link.
- **Measure:** weekly, from Group Insights: new members, posts, comments per post, and admin-approved vs declined for our posts in partner groups (0 declined is the target).

## How we apply it to Cedwyn
- Update the own-group proposal in the bizdev plan: public from day one, anonymous participation off, machine-checkable rules as above (editorial rules: never name the family member who runs the project; banned public words; no insignia; no accusations about named people).
- Partner-group contributions (Penarth, Llandough, Cardiff, Vale history groups): answer questions with the catalogue page as the source **in words**, with no link unless the rules allow it; record each group's rules and each post's outcome in the project workspace
- Forum is US-only for now, so the UK audience is reached through Facebook itself; the Ask discovery layer matters for the Patagonia and US diaspora readers. Re-check the UK launch at each monthly review.
- Zero spend; no DMs; owned-channel posting only within BRIEF.md; nothing installed.

## Sources
- Meta Newsroom, "New Facebook Update Gives Group Admins More Flexibility While Protecting Member Privacy", 3 Nov 2025 (read): about.fb.com
- Meta Newsroom, "Find Your Community With Forum, a Dedicated App for Facebook Groups", 29 Sep 2026 (read): about.fb.com
- Meta Newsroom, "New Tools for the Admins Who Build Communities on Forum", 22/23 Oct 2026 (read): about.fb.com
- Meta Help, change a group from public to private (snippet): facebook.com