Group Chat Advice

 

Group Chat Services (such as WhatsApp or Messenger) are an effective way of communicating with members of your club, society, group or network. They enable everyone to stay connected, even when you can’t all be together, and you can easily share information to multiple people in one go. However, they require fair and consistent moderation from the committee for them to run successfully.

Please read and use our guidance below when setting up and running your student group chats.

 

1. Consent to being in groups

• It’s important not to add people to a chat if they haven't consented to it.  For example, adding a member to a WhatsApp group without asking could make their contact information available to other users, including their phone number, which they may not want.  Instead, send them a link with the details on how to sign up, so they can make their own choice or encourage individuals to create a Username to allow them to protect their personal information.
• Group chats should be deleted and recreated annually, to ensure active and recent consent from all participants. If this is not feasible, groups should ask all group chat members to re-consent to their inclusion at least once per year.

 

2. Appropriate Use and Moderating

• All members should be treated with respect and kindness. Discrimination, harassment, or derogatory comments based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or any other protected characteristics should be challenged by moderators and, if required, reported to the Students’ Association.
• Be mindful of cultural and individual differences.
• Group chats should not be used as a platform to express a dislike about anybody as this could be considered bullying.
• It is possible that people may wish to express opinions that are controversial and may cause offence. Although we all have a freedom of expression to do this, there are some ways of expressing opinions that are not ok, for example if it is causing harassment or intimidation.

 

3. Relevant Content

• Share information that is relevant to your group’s activities and avoid sharing content that is unrelated to the group’s purpose.
• Personal messages should be directed to the relevant individual rather than posting them in the chat.
• Avoid posting spam or irrelevant links. This includes repeated messages, promotional content, or links that are not related to the group’s activities.

 

4. Participation

• Members should be encouraged to participate actively in discussions, but participation is voluntary. If they prefer to remain silent, that's okay too.
• Be supportive and help foster a positive and collaborative environment. Using polls is a good way to get engagement.

• Welcome constructive feedback, including the digital spaces you occupy, and suggestions should be discussed by the committee.
• All committee members are responsible for ensuring any chats are used correctly.
• Moderators should intervene and remind users of the rules if required, and mute or remove people temporarily if that's necessary to diffuse a situation.

 

5. User Guidelines

Add User Guidelines into your chat description can help to set expectations.  Here’s an example you could use below and adapt to your specific needs.

• All members have a responsibility to behave appropriately, and treat everyone with kindness and respect, and avoid bullying, hate speech, and abusive language and embarrassing others.
• Keep posts relevant to this group and avoid sending excessive messages.
• Protect privacy and don't share sensitive or personal information without consent.
• Welcome newcomers to make sure everyone feels welcome and answer their questions.
• Avoid harassment, unwanted targeting of messages or comments at an individual may be harassment.
• Only individuals who have bought a membership of the club, society, group or network are permitted to use this chat.
• Other members may be able to see your contact information, including your phone number.
• All current elected committee members will act as moderators for this chat.
• Assume anything put on our group chat will not remain private and could be put  in the public domain.
• Along with using the guidelines laid out above, all students must abide by GCU Student Code of Conduct and Students’ Association policies and procedures.