# Social friends and messages

Use Nock Social's profiles to follow people and **Chats** to return to conversations. These are Social connections, not [Team](/nock/team) invitations or shared agent chats.

## Follow someone

1. Open their profile from a post or from a followers/following list.
2. Check that it is the person you intend to connect with. Anonymous profiles may hide their name and avatar.
3. Choose **Follow**. The button changes to **Unfollow** when you follow them.
4. Open **Profile → Following** to find people you follow, or **Followers** to see who follows you.

Following someone and being followed back are separate choices. Some friend features, including stories, use mutual following. There is no need to create a Nock Team invitation to follow a Social profile.

To invite someone who is not yet using Social, choose **Profile → Invite friends**. The sharing sheet can open your device's share options or copy a website invitation for you to send. Copying the invitation does not send it, create an account for the recipient, or sign them in.

## Start a private conversation

Open the intended person's profile and choose **Message**. If you already have a conversation, Social opens it.

For a new conversation, choosing **Message** currently sends an initial **👋** greeting to create the chat. Treat that button as a sending action, not a preview of an unsent draft. Check the recipient before selecting it.

In the conversation:

1. Check the name in the header.
2. Type in **Type a message…**.
3. Choose the send arrow or press **Enter** to send.
4. Confirm that the message appears in the thread. Read any error before retrying.

## Return to a conversation

Choose **Chats** in the bottom navigation. The page heading is **Messages**. Use **Search conversations…** to filter your existing conversations, then open the one you want. The list shows the latest message, its time, and an unread count when present.

A visible message in your thread is not proof that the other person has read it or will reply. Social messages are not delivered to a Nock agent through Team, and closing the page does not leave Nock monitoring Social for you.

## Message safety and deletion

The conversation's three-dot menu includes **View Profile**, **Block User**, and **Delete Chat** where available. You can also block someone from their profile. Review blocked accounts under **Settings → Blocked Users**.

**Delete Chat** deletes the shared server conversation and its messages for **both participants**, not just your own history or a shortcut in your list. It does not remove anything the other person has already seen, copied, or saved elsewhere, and it is not a promise that every backup is erased. Use it only when you intend to remove that shared conversation; do not use it as a troubleshooting reset.

“Private message” describes the conversation's audience. It does not mean local-only storage or an end-to-end encrypted vault. Social stores direct messages on its servers; see the [Social privacy policy](https://social.heynock.com/privacy) before sharing sensitive information.

## Share a story with mutual friends

Stories sit above the feed and are separate from public posts.

1. Choose **Add story** in the story strip.
2. Choose an image or GIF and, optionally, add a caption.
3. Review the preview and choose **Share to friends**.
4. Open **Your story** to view it afterward. Use the story viewer's delete control if you want to remove your own story early.

Stories are visible to people you follow who also follow you back. They expire after 24 hours. That time limit is not protection against a viewer making a copy. Sample tiles can appear when there are no friend stories; they do not establish that those people follow you or have sent you anything.

## Talk with an AI friend

AI characters are a separate choice inside Social's **Chats**, not human users and not your desktop Nock agent. The four characters are **Nock Bear**, **Sassy Nock**, **Sunny Nock**, and **Wise Nock**.

1. Open **Chats → Meet your AI friends**, or **Profile → Talk to AI friends**.
2. Read the first-use disclosure. Your messages and recent conversation context are sent to a third-party AI provider to generate replies.
3. Choose **Not now** to leave without proceeding, or **I understand** if you want to continue.
4. Select a character to add or open its conversation. AI conversations display an **AI** badge and explain that replies are written by AI.

AI characters are for conversation, not professional advice. Their replies can be wrong. They do not inherit your Nock desktop provider choice, Team access, local project context, or agent permissions.

### Review what a character remembers

In an AI conversation, select the character's avatar or **what they remember** in the header. The memory sheet lists remembered details for that character. Use **Forget this** to remove an individual detail, or **Make \[character] forget everything** to clear its remembered details after confirmation.

Remembered details are stored on Social's servers. Clearing this memory list and deleting chat history are different actions: use the memory controls for remembered details and the conversation menu for the conversation. Do not assume one automatically clears the other.

## If a conversation is missing or a send fails

Check which Social account you are signed into, clear the conversation search, and return to **Chats**. On another browser or device, sign into that same Social account. For a failed send, check the thread before retrying; do not repeatedly press send while delivery is uncertain. If an AI reply fails or a usage-limit message appears, follow the displayed message rather than assuming the human recipient is unavailable.

See [Nock Social](/nock/social) for account setup and public-feed privacy, or [Social on your phone](/nock/social-install) to add a home-screen entry.