To not understand WhatsApp group chats?

[reallifeboogie]

I've just read a thread where it seems the OP is in a WhatsApp group for the road she lives on. I don't understand why that would ever be needed?

What group chats are you a part of?
I've very reluctantly been added to one for my job which is very rarely used for work related stuff and most days every one writes good morning have a good shift. Wtf. I don't want 15 people messaging every single day. But I can't not be in the group because I will miss the very occasional important stuff.

I’m in a book club one, one with the staff of my hairdresser because I manage their social media - people post photos of hair they’ve done so I can write copy and schedule posts - and one which is me, the salon owner, and the salon manager. We don’t have a street one but I do have specific neighbours who are friends and we have individual chats.

Work is all Teams, but my best work friend and I stick to WA for fear of getting sacked for our bad language and general insubordination!

Childhood friends
In-laws
Family
Friends from playgroup
School year ds
Me and dds
Dh friends and partners
Zumba
Yoga
Dog walker
Book club
Mumsnet friends
Work

Our road WhatsApp was set up at the start of Covid, when it was used to support one another / help those who were isolating / to share things that were in short supply / etc and has grown into a lovely community of friendly neighbours. All sorts go on there, from the standard checking about the bins, to offering people spare tomato plants or plums off a tree, to the odd fundraiser (sponsorship or a coffee morning), to sharing footage from CCTV or ring doorbells when someone's car gets broken in to, to people asking for recommendations for trades, to borrowing things occasionally. It's great. If I moved to a road where there wasn't one, then I'd offer to set it up.

I'm in literally dozens of WhatsApp groups though. I was quite surprised in the thread last week about how few some people are in.

Our street WhatsApp is great. People borrow and lend things, do each other favours, get rid of things they don’t need, recommend services or tradesmen, make each other aware of anything dodgy (we had a broken man hole cover, a fallen tree and a dodgy guy trying car door handles one night).

Other than that, I’m in a family chat and one with my old school friends.

I'm only in
Official work one
Work one with no managers
Netball

None. Never used it, and no plans to start.

I’m in one for my main group of friends, DH’s siblings and my cousins.

i find it moderately intrusive. Sometimes the friends one is a bit ott. For example, when one person was getting overly sentimental about Andy Murray.

DHs sibling one is a minefield. I’m on it because he didn’t initially have WhatsApp. I remain on it because he switched it off because of no filter babble and an open row between some siblings. I remain on to let him know of any important news of elderly relative

We have one for our road. It’s handy for the people who have a rare condition that means they’re incapable of checking the council website to see what day the bins go out. Very occasionally it’s useful for letting each other know about roadworks and stuff.

The neighbourhood one is great for missing parcels, issues with entrance gates etc. it's not misused.

The issues with WhatsApp groups is when people start publishing irrelevant stuff. I'm not in any of those

I'm in none 😂 feeling left out now

I’m in loads of what’s app chats. This is how people communicate now. Some people don’t want to join them, that’s fine

I'm in:
Close family.
Small group of people connected to my self employment work.
Half a dozen neighbours.

The neighbours one is friendly and supportive without being intrusive. Parcels taken in, surplus courgettes, that sort of thing.

I like that they are easy to use, set up, leave and free to share photos.

I'm not in a street one but have groups for pretty much everything else.

Work group
Work group for everyone except the boss
Uni friends group
Ex work colleagues group
2 school class groups
School governors group
Scouts group
About a dozen groups related to various political things I'm involved with.

To add to the good work done by post-Covid neighbourhood/street whatsapp groups - one of our neighbours recently had a very serious accident. His DW is able to keep us all abreast of his progress without having to answer dozens of individual enquiries from concerned neighbours. We also use it for sharing info. about lost cats, missing parcels, power outages, pothole complaints procedures and local road closures. Invaluable - don't know how we coped before!

I have several:

• a few for work (essential - rotas are posted there. The place wouldn't run without it
• a group chat for arranging Saturday morning coffee with friends
• one with my DCs - mainly for sharing funny stuff and arranging meet ups
• one for my health condition with others with the same condition