A circle is a group for the people you already know: family scattered between Minnesota and the rest of the world, friends from a year abroad, the people you traveled with, a book club or a language class. It’s the simplest way to make Global Twin Cities your own, and to stay in touch without Facebook.
How a circle works
- Anyone who is signed in can see your circle: its name, its description and who belongs to it. That’s how friends of friends discover it.
- Only members can see and write posts. Visitors who aren’t signed in see just the name and description.
- People ask to join, and you approve them. As the circle’s owner, you decide who’s in.
Step by step
- Go to Spaces and click Create a space. (You’ll need to be signed in.)
- Give your circle a name. For Type, choose Private: request to join. For Category, choose Circles.
- Add a short description, up to 160 characters, so people know what the circle is for.
- Invite your people. Open your circle and click Invite. People who are already members can be invited by name. For everyone else, create an invite link (see below) and send it by email, text or WhatsApp.
- Get it started. Post a photo, ask a question or run a quick poll. A circle with something in it is much more inviting than an empty one.
Inviting people with a link
An invite link is the easiest way to bring friends and family who aren’t on Global Twin Cities yet. When they open your link and sign up, they go straight into your circle. There’s no waiting for approval.
- In your circle, click Invite and create a shareable link.
- Set a limit. Choose how many people can use it (1, 10 or 100) and when it expires (1, 7 or 30 days). For a family or a group of friends, 10 uses and 7 days is usually right.
- Send it privately, by email or a message to the people you mean to invite. Please don’t post it on public websites or social media.
- Your circle has one link at a time. Creating a new one cancels the old one, so if a link ends up somewhere it shouldn’t, just make a new one. You can also remove anyone from your circle at any time.
A few tips
- Choose the name with care. It’s the one thing everyone can see. “Friends from Shiraz” says less than a full family name plus a city.
- Want everyone to be able to read your circle? Choose Open as the type, then open your circle’s Settings → Permissions and turn on Require approval to join. Anyone can read your posts, but only people you approve (or invite) can post and comment. Members can still mark a post Members only when they want it kept inside the circle.
- Need more privacy? Choose Secret instead of Private. A Secret circle doesn’t appear in the directory at all, and only the people you invite know it exists.
- Friends abroad are welcome. Circles are a good way to bring people from other countries onto Global Twin Cities. Anyone can use a first name and initial, or a pseudonym, if they prefer.
- You can start as many circles as you like, and our community guidelines apply in circles too.
Questions, or ideas for making circles more useful? Let me know.