On October 7, 2010, Facebook Groups changed and users have not been happy with the new features, which allow anyone with a Facebook account to randomly add any other Facebook user that the person is already Facebook friends with to any group he or she chooses without asking first.
In other words, beware of your Facebook friends adding you to random groups that you've never heard of or have no interest in. They might not really be your friends at all.
Unfortunately, there is no way to turn this new feature off. You can follow the link to learn more about the new Facebook Groups feature and what you can do to reduce the inherent problems of being added to groups without giving permission first.
What do you think of the new Facebook groups feature? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on the latest Facebook controversy.
I am new to in facebook so but obvious I have no vast knowledge about this so provided information is really helpful for me and I like it very much .
You are right but some good features have also been added like Group Chat or Notifications. How hard is it to check the Groups app once in a day to check if you have been added to a random Group or not?
I was horrified by this new feature. I was suddenly added to a group which I had no desire to be a part of – some distant friends created a group in support of a student that had been kicked out of a university sponsored organization for his drunken and violent behavior. Having my name linked to that group, without my permission, was embarrassing. I am hoping that facebook corrects this intrusive feature soon, or I may have to consider leaving facebook.
This is an incredible giant step backwards by Facebook in taking away privacy rights! When a friend told me a while ago that he was added to a group that he did not want to be part of I simply didn’t believe him. I thought he must have inadvertently accepted a group invitation. But then I did a test group and was shocked to find that I can add anybody who is on my Facebook Friends list without their knowledge or permission. Wow! I can’t even begin to imagine what the thinking was behind such a change!
This is going to result in a lot of people dropping Facebook due to privacy concerns. I can’t believe what a stupid move it was to allow this, for so many reasons and on so many levels. I guess this blows the lid off any pretense that Facebook has made of purportedly trying to improve the privacy of its members over the past couple of years.
I am astounded that, given all the press Facebook has recently received about lack of privacy and security, that Facebook allows Friends to add others to Groups WITHOUT APPROVAL. It is absolutely incredible that Facebook somehow has rationalized that this is a good idea. If I want to join a Group shouldn’t I be the one to determine it? I am extremely frustrated. They need to change the Group settings and/or Privacy-Security settings so that an individual can make their own determination of what Groups to join.
The new feature that allows you to be “drafted” into groups without your knowing about it is an insult, bordering on being an outrage.
Take this system “off the air”!
Am very annoyed with the new Groups feature whereby my friends can add me to any group. Now am gonna have to go around and remove myself manually every time and probably piss my friends off because I don’t want to be part of their group choices and I don’t want to join groups as a rule, it’s not my purpose on Facebook ! This is completely OUT OF ORDER and insane
I HATE IT….totally hate it
It’s just not right and not fair-sometimes being a member of a group associates you with the “statement” that group is making ,very often just by creating the group.So it’s not fair to give a permition to people on your friends list to add you as a member without asking first.They should change this and make it possible to ban this if you do not like it.
To protest being added to groups without your permission, please paste this this link to your wall. Go to the following help page. Click “Answer wasn’t helpful” and then “I don’t like the answer.” https://www.facebook.com/help/?search=stop+people+adding+me+to+groups
Being deluged with six or seven emails that were forwarded posts from a Facebook group I had no desire to belong to set off four alarms in my head. I’m seriously considering resigning from Facebook. It is SCARY.
So basically the needs of users merits less respect than the wants of a faceless company. I expect this from a Chinese company, but when I returned to the West I found out that Facebook, MSN, google- all these companies show a contempt for people’s personal space.
Argh! This is so annoying! I don’t even have any interest in that stupid site and yet I have a profile there! And my pics are in there too! Can someone tell me how to delete it?
An absolutely horrible feature, just another means to get spammed as the default setting when being added to groups is you’re sent an email every time something is posted, responded to, Etc.
I’m very glad I have been able to try out google+, when enough of my friends make the transition over, I will be happy to move on from Facebook.
I’ve said that least 1805609 times. The problem this like that is they are just too compilcated for the average bird, if you know what I mean
This is shocking. I just found out I was part of 5 groups I never heard of. It pisses me off and still dont understand the genius that created this feature and thought it would be a great idea, probably was drunk when he figured this one out.