In this article
When a group reaches the two hundred thousand member ceiling, it can be converted into a broadcast group: no upper limit on members, and only admins able to post.
That description should sound familiar, because a channel does the same thing without the ceiling in the first place. The conversion is permanent, so it is worth being clear about what it is actually for before anybody taps it.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Say what a broadcast group is and how it differs from a channel.
- check_circle Recognise the one situation the conversion is designed for.
- check_circle Keep a discussion going after the members stop being able to post.
- check_circle Avoid a one-way door you did not need to walk through.
The option only appears once a group is near the member limit. Below that, it is not offered at all.
cell_tower A group that stopped being a conversation
After conversion, members can still read, still join without limit, and still take part in voice chats — an admin can bring any listener up to speak. What they can no longer do is post messages. The text feed belongs to the admins.
The reason this exists rather than simply telling people to make a channel is history. A community of two hundred thousand people has years of conversation, a name people know, and links pointing at it from everywhere. Converting keeps all of that. Starting a channel means asking two hundred thousand people to move, and many of them will not.
So the honest summary is that a broadcast group is a rescue for a group that outgrew itself, not a design anybody would choose from the beginning. If you are building something new and you know it will be one-way, make a channel.
Four ways to run something very large
Broadcast group is one of them, and rarely the first one to try.
cell_tower When conversion is right
campaign The usual answer
view_stream Splitting the room instead
speed Before anything drastic
Convert when you have run out of room, not when you have run out of patience.
settings If you are converting
- Confirm the group is actually at the limit The option appears only when it is close; below that, the answer is one of the alternatives above.
- Tell the members first They are losing the ability to post, and finding out by trying is a bad way to learn it.
- Set up somewhere for them to talk A discussion group or a second community, announced before the change.
- Open group settings, group type, convert From the creator's account.
- Appoint the admins who will post A one-way feed with one person allowed to write it goes quiet quickly.
- Use voice chats deliberately They are the remaining place where members still have a voice.
This page is the one-way conversion. The curriculum step is the structure most large communities should use instead: a channel for posts, a discussion group for comments, and how to moderate the second without losing the first.
At a glance
- 1Broadcast group
Only admins post; members can read and react.
- 2For huge groups
It is meant for groups at the member limit.
- 3One-way change
The conversion cannot be undone.
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