Community Groups | Bit Connect Feature Page Draft
Community Groups
Keep one community. Give every audience its own space.
Your customers, partners, beta testers, product councils, and internal teams do not all need the same conversation. Bit Connect Groups lets you create focused public or private spaces inside the same community, then decide who can see them, how people join, and who can start discussions.
Different audiences need different conversations
Not everyone comes to your community for the same reason. Groups gives each audience a focused place to talk while keeping everyone inside the same Bit Connect community.
Give every conversation the right space
Customer questions, partner discussions, beta feedback, and internal conversations do not all belong in the same stream.
Move every audience to a different platform and the opposite problem appears: your community stops feeling like one connected place.
Customers
Give customers a clear place to ask questions, get help, and discuss the products they use.
Beta testers
Keep unreleased features, testing notes, and early feedback in a focused space for the people involved.
Product councils
Bring selected members together for roadmap discussions, research, and higher-signal product feedback.
Internal teams
Give staff a private place for conversations that should stay away from the wider community.
Groups gives you the middle ground: separate the conversations without separating the community.
A Group is a focused space inside your existing community
Groups are not separate forums or mini-sites. Each one lives inside the same Bit Connect portal, with the same familiar community experience.
Give it a clear identity
Add a Group name, image, and description so members immediately know who the space is for and what belongs there.
Keep its people together
Show the members and Group moderators who belong to the space, without turning those moderators into full WordPress administrators.
Keep its discussions focused
Members browse a Group-specific topic feed, search inside that Group, and move through its stages without losing access to the wider community.
Three decisions shape every Group
You do not need a complicated permission system to understand Groups. Set three things for each space and you already know how it will work.
1. Who can see it?
Public Group
People who can access your community can read the Group and its discussions. Use this for spaces you want members to discover and follow openly.
Private Group
The space stays restricted to the people who belong there. Its discussions are protected for Group members, moderators, and administrators.
Example: keep your customer community public while running a private beta program in the same portal.
2. How do people join?
Open
A signed-in member can join immediately. Use it when the Group should be easy to enter.
Approval required
Members request access first. A Group moderator or administrator reviews the request and decides who gets in.
Invite only
There is no normal open-join flow. Add members yourself or share a private Group invite link with the people you want inside.
Example: let customers join an interest Group instantly, require approval for a product council, and keep agency partners invite only.
3. Who can start topics?
Being able to read a Group does not automatically mean being able to post in it. Choose the posting rule separately.
- Anyone signed in: useful for an open public discussion space.
- Members only: everyone may be able to read, while only Group members start new discussions.
- Group moderators only: ideal for announcements, curated programs, or tightly controlled discussions.
Example: create a public announcements Group that everyone can read while only moderators can publish new topics.
Manage membership without turning it into admin work
Different Groups grow in different ways. Bit Connect gives you several ways to put the right people in the right space.
Add members manually
Search existing WordPress users and add selected people directly when you already know who belongs in the Group.
Review join requests
For approval-based Groups, moderators and administrators can review requests and approve or reject access from the Group controls.
Join automatically by WordPress role
Map selected WordPress roles to a Group so the audience you already maintain can become members automatically.
Assign Group moderators
Give trusted Group members responsibility for their space without handing them full WordPress administrator access.
Invite a private audience with one link
When you are onboarding partners, testers, or a private cohort, you should not have to add every account by hand. Generate a Group invite link and send it directly to the people who should join.
- Copy the active link and share it privately.
- Create a new link when the old invitation should stop working.
- Turn invitations off when enrollment is finished.
The member signs in, follows the invitation, and lands in the right Group.
For members, Groups still feel like one community
The best organization is the kind members do not have to think about. Groups stay inside the main Bit Connect experience, so people get more relevant conversations without learning another interface.
- Browse Groups from the community navigation.
- Open a dedicated Group page with its description, members, and moderators.
- Join or leave Groups when the Group rules allow it.
- Search inside the current Group instead of searching the entire portal.
- Move through the Group’s stages to narrow the discussion.
- Browse only topics that belong to that Group.
- Create a topic in the right Group from the same community experience.
- Return to the wider community whenever needed.
The result: members see more of what matters to them, while your community still feels like one connected place.
Use the same controls to build completely different spaces
You do not need a different tool for every audience. Change the visibility, joining rule, and posting rule to match the job.
Customer community
Public · Open · Anyone signed in
Make it easy for customers to discover the space, join, ask questions, and help each other.
Beta lab
Private · Approval required · Members only
Keep unreleased features and testing discussions limited to approved participants.
Partner hub
Private · Invite only · Members only
Bring agencies, resellers, or implementation partners into a controlled space that customers cannot read.
Product council
Private · Approval required · Members only
Invite a smaller group of customers into higher-signal roadmap and research conversations.
Announcements
Public · Open · Moderators only
Let everyone read important updates without turning the Group into an open posting feed.
Internal team
Private · WordPress role membership · Members only
Automatically keep staff in a private discussion space based on the WordPress role they already have.
Everything Groups gives you, at a glance
Create focused spaces
- Dedicated Group pages
- Group name, image, and description
- Group-specific topics
- Members and Group moderators
- Group discovery inside the portal
Choose visibility
- Public Groups
- Private Groups
- Private Group discussions protected for permitted members
Control membership
- Open joining
- Approval-based joining
- Invite-only joining
- Manual member management
- Automatic membership by WordPress role
- Join-request review
Control posting
- Anyone signed in
- Members only
- Group moderators only
Manage the space
- Assign Group moderators
- Search Group members
- Group-specific search
- Group-specific stage navigation
- Scoped topic feed
Invite privately
- Shareable Group invite links
- Replace an active invite link
- Disable invitations when needed
Common questions
Can I have public and private Groups in the same community?
Yes. Visibility is configured separately for each Group, so one Bit Connect portal can contain open spaces and restricted spaces at the same time.
Can a public Group limit posting to members?
Yes. Visibility and posting are separate controls. A Group can be public to read while new topics are limited to Group members or moderators.
Can members request access to a private Group?
Yes. Set the joining rule to Approval required. Group moderators or administrators can then approve or reject each request.
Can I make a Group invite only?
Yes. Add members directly or use a private Group invite link instead of an open joining flow.
Can membership follow WordPress roles automatically?
Yes. Select WordPress roles for the Group and use the roles you already maintain to keep the right audience inside it.
Can every Group have its own moderators?
Yes. Assign trusted Group members as moderators so they can help manage their space without becoming full WordPress administrators.
Are Groups separate from the main community?
No. They are focused spaces inside the same Bit Connect portal. Members can move between their Groups and the wider community without switching platforms.
Stop forcing every conversation into the same feed
Keep your community together while giving customers, partners, testers, teams, and selected members the space they actually need. Create the right Group, set three simple rules, and let every audience focus on the conversations that matter to them.