Patheos has constant opportunities for public discussion and expression.

Another feature is your ability to interact directly with those you have met at Patheos and create friends.

On your Patheos profile's homepage, you will see a section dedicated to listing the friends you currently have and any incoming requests for friendship.

 

Creating a friendship

Anywhere in the Patheos site that you see a user's profile picture or default silhouette image (if the member hasn't uploaded a picture yet) you instantly have an opportunity to reach out to that member. Just click on their image and you will have an opportunity to invite that person to add you as their friend. As friends, you can leave public and private messages to each other, and comment on each other's blog.

 

Member Groups

Another powerful, yet simple way to communicate and make friends is through groups. Patheos groups are similar to discussion forums in that they are commonly created to encourage conversations on certain topics, but add the ability to function as an online organization.

Groups can host discussions, pool a collection of videos and images, schedule events and even provide links to external sites that are important to the group's purpose. Groups have the ability to be created as public or private. Membership to private groups must be requested and approved by the group's administrator. You can easily tell if a group is private by the lock icon next to the group's title.

 

To join a public group or request admittance to a private group, click the appropriate button after clicking on the group's title.

Public:

 

Private:

 

Every public group's list of members is visible from within the group's area:

 

Creating a group of your own

If there isn't a group already created to suit you purpose, why not just create your own! The "Start Your Own Group" button is enabled throughout all Group pages.

 

Starting a group requires little more than a decision on a name for the group, some key words to enter on the "tag" field that relate to the group's purpose and specifying if the group is public or private.

If you are creating a private group, keep in mind that you are also the administrator for that group. Any request to join the group will be approved you. As an administrator you can also manage group links, members and video/photo collections.