Communities and group chats are a great way to bring people together and make connections based on the things we have in common, from family groups, to big communities of people who are all interested in the same thing.

When it comes to choosing the right type of chat to open for your group, you need to consider some important questions:

Size really does matter

Group chats are usually smaller and are perfect for private connections. A group chat on Viber is best for chatting with up to 250 members – usually family or close friends. Members are invited to join, or can join by a direct link.

Communities are much larger, public-facing groups, usually made up of people who don’t know each other. A community can have unlimited members, and admins can allow all members to invite their friends to join.

Inclusiveness is the name of the game

If someone joins a group chat in the middle of a conversation, they will miss all the earlier conversation, and it can take some time to catch up. Not really a great way to welcome a new member!

In a community, the entire chat history is available to everyone, no matter when they joined the community. New members can read back through earlier messages, or focus on the current chat and jump right in. The choice is theirs.

Your privacy matters whatever the chat

Group chats work best when everyone knows each other, and feels safe with the other members of the chat. The phone numbers of everyone in the chat are visible, so anyone can message or call another group member privately.

Communities are different. As anyone can easily join a community, phone numbers of members of the community are hidden. This is important to us at Viber – a way to ensure that communities are a safe space for members to meet new people and bond over their shared passions – all without exposing their private phone number.

Everyone in a community (admins included) can choose whether to let other community members message them in a Hidden-number chat. Even if you have enabled incoming chats from people you don’t know, you still have the choice to accept or decline a message from a new person.

You have the power

In group chats, admins can remove or members or add other members.

Communities come with special powers for admins to oversee the conversation. Admins can add and remove members, invite admins who can write in the community’s chat, remove people from the community, ban people from joining or rejoining the community, and appoint other admins or superadmins to help manage the community.

It’s time to take a snooze

In group chats, members receive a notification every time there is a new message. If there is a busy chat taking place, members receive smart notifications (several notifications in one) so that their phones don’t beep too much!

In communities, members can take a break from the community by “snoozing” it for 30 days. Snoozing gives the member a break from the community, but they are still a member. When the 30 days are up, the community will unsnooze, and the community will reappear at the top of the chat list the next time there is a new message.

When it comes to chatting in a big group of people, communities create great connections for more people.

Start making those connections and create your community today. Remember, your community can be based on anything at all, from candle lovers to Kendall lovers.

Read our other blogs in the communities series:

Get Started with Your Very Own Viber Community!

Your time to shine: Manage, grow and engage a Viber Community!

Community Insights: Measure The Success of Your Community

Master your Community: New ways to add members & more

Community Masters: Viber’s tools for outstanding content

Many of you have asked us for the option to create polls in group chats and Communities. We are now delighted to announce that Polls are available globally on Viber.

Be democratic!

There are times in a group chat when you want to know what everyone thinks about a topic without losing the point with answers, comments and options from literally EVERYONE in the group.

In a Community this problem is even bigger. You could have literally millions of members who all want their say, and you can get lost in a sea of replies.

When you are in this situation, simply create a poll in your chat!

So, how do you create a poll?

Tap the polls icon at the chat menu, type your poll question and add a set of up to 10 choices to choose from.

Everyone in the chat can vote by tapping on the heart button next to each one. Watch the live results in the chat as the vote count goes up every time someone taps on their choice. In a group chat you can also see who voted for what by tapping on an option.

Polls may be just for fun, used to decide on a discussion topic, a gift for friends, a night out and more.

Make your Community voices heard

Adding a poll is a great way to get members of your Community to contribute to the discussion – letting them have their say, and encouraging more people to engage in your Community more frequently.

Ask Community members anything you want – you set it up with the questions you want to know about. Do you want to know what content people like to see in the Community? Set up a poll. How about who was the man of the match in last night’s game? Create a poll. The options are individual to the group or Community, and they are endless.

Privacy always comes first on Viber, so Community members’ poll votes are anonymous. Whatever a Community member votes for, their choice isn’t visible. Superadmins and admins can only see how other superadmins or admins voted. If you are a regular Community member, there is no way of knowing who you are and what you voted for.

Add a poll to your group or Community today, and get your members involved in the conversation in new ways.

Try adding a poll to your chat now: https://vb.me/1fb4b3