WAGs - Hints and Tips for WhatsApp Groups

 This blog post will keep increasing in length as I post new hints and tips.  I will use the LIFO principle so the new posts will come up at the top!  And the title WAGs is from the sports world where the sportsmen (always men) are accompanied by their Wives and Girlfriends - though I would imagine that would be pretty explosive!  Should be Wives OR Girlfriends (WOGs? Doesn't sound right!)

But, boringly, here it translates to WhatsApp Groups!   Have fun!  Leslie

#3 WAG Tip - Sharing Essays

There's a simple piece of advice about sharing long pieces of text in WAGs. 

Don't.

Very few people click the "Read more ..." unless the opening para is gripping, or you identify the piece as written by you, or you state a universal problem on which you have an opinion. 

The best way to deal with large text is to share a link with an opening paragraph that explains why you are sharing the link.

This means you may have to create the large text in an online repository like Google Drive and get a link to share.

If you are sharing someone else's material then say so. It's better to Copy and Paste than to click the Forward button. You can add a personal message too. Growing numbers of people are now ignoring anything which says 'Forwarded'. 

#2 WAG Tip - Identification Marks

One of the features of WAGs is that they tend to attract various kinds of members.  Some are attracted, of course, and some are commandeered by the admins and added to the group forcefully. This creates various types of WAG users.  Some of these types are recognizable in the vignettes that follow.  Which one are you?  Do you switch from one to another during the course of your engagement? Whom do you like most?

LURKERS 

There are many shades of lurkers but all lurkers like to hang around in the shade. They are there, you can see them in the Group Info, but they never utter a word online. Not even a 👍 to indicate their approval.

HITCHHIKERS 

Their thumbs shoot up for every passing post! No matter what. Good news, achievements, a baby born or even a sad demise elicits the same response - a thumbs up.  The sub-category, of course, is the smiley-weepy types. Always laughing till they cry, no matter what the post is. They need you to know they were there.

THE FORWARD TYPES

You guessed it.  Their only contribution is to forward some secondhand stuff that other people sent to them. Originality is threatened here.

WISHING WELLS

We all know these. Good Morning to Happy Anniversary with an occasional Happy Sunday on every single day of the week.  Sometimes they let fly a googly like "Happy Good Friday" but that's okay. They are a wellspring of good intentions! But so, so delete-able.

THE SHYSTERS 

You see them 'typing' ... you wait with baited breath. Nothing happens. They are too shy to click the Post button.  They think, they type, they delete ... 

AUDITORS

I must confess that the teaching community falls squarely in the middle of this group.  They must correct every bit of information shared, including the auto-correct-induced typos! This category has a subgroup I've named as UNDERLINERS.  Every time someone posts something, they will follow it up with an affirmation and add their own - not to rob the author of the limelight but to tell everyone, "been there, done that".

HIJACKERS

Every WAG must have its fair share of hijackers. No matter what the conversation, they will have their say and move it towards their own experiences.  Of course, this results in more Lurkers and a few brave Auditors, while the Hitchhikers have their thumbs up for all the conversations either which way!

#1 WhatsApp Group Tip - Managing Traffic

WA groups tend to have a lot of traffic. You can do your bit by (a) reducing posts where possible and (b) capturing important information for use later.

Reducing posts

Facebook, Linked In, Instagram all have a button for 👍. But WA doesn't.  It's a good idea to avoid "reactions" in a Group Chat. If you want the author to know you approve or you have an opinion that can be personal, use the Reply Privately option - this will quote the text and send a personal message without pushing it across to everyone else.

Capturing Important posts 

WA has a feature of Star Message which you can apply to any specific message. Then when you want to remove all the other distracting forwards and 👍👌, you can go to "Clear Messages". You will get a pop up asking if you want to keep Starred messages. Say Yes and clear!  🤷‍♂️