X is introducing a feature that takes a page out of the playbook of many Facebook Groups to screen potential members: mandatory questions. The platform, formerly known as Twitter, has announced that administrators of private X Communities can now request users to answer a question as part of their membership request, in addition to agreeing to the group’s rules. These answers will assist admins and moderators in deciding who should be allowed to join while offering a basic defense against spammers and bots that could disrupt the group with unwanted posts.
This feature also has the potential to elevate Communities on X to a more exclusive status, where only select individuals are granted entry based on their responses. On the other hand, it could also enable groups to maintain adherence to X’s terms and policies by preventing those who might flag or report the group’s content from joining.
Facebook Groups offers a similar questions feature, though it is more comprehensive. On Facebook, administrators can require users to answer multiple questions and confirm their agreement to the group’s specific rules before gaining membership. Some groups even quiz potential members to ensure they have read the rules.
Notably, while anyone can create a Facebook Group, forming and managing Communities on X is a feature exclusive to X Premium subscribers, as only “verified” users can establish a Community. Verification is a key element of X’s paid subscription. However, joining Communities is open to all X users, resulting in some larger groups boasting substantial memberships. For example, the Apple Community has 52,500 members, Tech Twitter has 29,500 members, The Design Sphere has 117,000 members, and Movie Twitter has 119,600 members, to name a few. Nevertheless, broader adoption of this feature may be restricted by the fact that not everyone can create their own Community.
It’s worth noting that Communities have not been among the numerous features that have been removed under Elon Musk’s ownership. Since the takeover of Twitter/X by the Tesla and SpaceX executive, various features and services have been discontinued, including the newsletter platform Revue, support for ad-free news articles, support for third-party clients, and the private Circle feature for sharing with friends. Additionally, TweetDeck (now known as XPro) was placed behind a paywall, and the prices for accessing its developer API were raised.
Communities currently feel like an underdeveloped feature that doesn’t seamlessly integrate into the fast-paced X timeline, providing a quieter and more isolated space for discussing specific topics or themes. It remains unclear what grander vision X has in mind for its groups feature and whether they will become a more prominent part of X’s service or not.
Disclaimer: The views, suggestions, and opinions expressed here are the sole responsibility of the experts. No Indiana Sphere journalist was involved in the writing and production of this article.
