# Social groups and profiles

Groups organize Social conversations around a community or topic. Your Social profile controls how you appear to others. Neither a group membership nor a profile follow grants access to your Nock agent chats or local files.

## Find and join a group

1. Open **Feed**, then the **Groups** menu in its header.
2. Browse **Your groups**, **Trending**, or **All groups**, or enter a name in **Search groups…**.
3. Select a group to open its feed, or press and hold its row to preview its description, activity, and member/post counts.
4. Open the group's three-dot menu and choose **Join group**, or use the join action in its preview. Read and accept any group rules shown before confirming.
5. Open the group and check that its name is in the page header before posting.

Joining is separate from previewing a group. If groups fail to load, the drawer shows **Could not load groups** with **Try again**. Retry that read rather than repeatedly submitting a join action.

Groups are public communities: every active group appears in **All groups**, and group posts and previews are not restricted to members. The website normally asks you to sign in before browsing, but its group content is publicly readable; joining is not an audience or confidentiality control. The current group interface has no private-group or members-only switch. Treat a group post as public community content, not a confidential message. See Social's [privacy policy](https://social.heynock.com/privacy) for its data practices.

## Read and post in a group

Use **Hot**, **New**, and **Top** to change the group feed order. Open a post for its discussion.

To add a group post, open that group first, then choose **Post** in the bottom navigation. Review the composer, write your message, choose any mood/category or supported attachment, and submit. Wait for **Posted** or for the new post to appear.

Choosing **Post** from the general feed creates a community-feed post instead. The page you are on matters. The **Post privately** identity option hides the author's name and avatar; it does not make a group post a direct message. See [posting and audiences](/nock/social#share-a-thought).

## Keep your group list useful

Open the group's three-dot menu for membership controls:

- **Pin in list** keeps a group pinned in your list; use **Unpin in list** to reverse it.
- **Mute / Unmute** saves the group's mute preference without leaving it. It does not currently hide the group's posts or silence notifications.
- **Leave group** removes your membership and returns you to the feed.

Leaving a group is not the same as deleting posts you previously published there. Delete your own posts separately if that is what you intend. Muting is not an access-control or privacy setting.

## Create or moderate a group

The Groups drawer shows **Create a Group** when your account meets the displayed karma requirement. If it is locked, the same area shows your progress and explains how community participation earns karma.

1. Choose **Create a Group**.
2. Enter a group name and optionally a description and emoji.
3. Choose **Create** and wait for confirmation. The creator becomes the first moderator.

Moderators have **Manage group** in the group's menu. It contains the group name, description, emoji, cover image, and rules. Choose **Save changes** after editing. The member list includes moderator controls for promoting a trusted member; demotion is restricted to the creator.

Moderators can remove group posts from a post's three-dot menu using **Remove (mod)**. Removing a post is a consequential moderation action, not a way to hide it only for yourself. Use ordinary reporting, blocking, or muting for the corresponding personal safety action.

## Set up your profile

Choose **Profile** in the bottom navigation, then **Edit Profile** to change your display name and bio. Choose **Save** to apply changes or **Cancel** to leave them unchanged. The camera button on your own avatar lets you choose a profile image; wait for the upload confirmation before treating it as saved.

Your profile includes followers, following, support activity, Nocks sent, and your own remaining balance. It can also show earned badges, community karma progress, your groups, recent posts, and your own mood history. Choose the follower/following counts to open those lists.

The bell on your own profile opens **Notifications**. The Settings control opens profile, appearance, account, and safety options. Themes change Social's appearance; they are not Nock desktop theme settings.

## Anonymous Mode and individual private posts

**Anonymous Mode** hides your display name and avatar from other users. You can switch it from your own profile, or change it in **Settings → Privacy & Safety** and save your settings.

This is an identity-display control. It does not remove the account, hide the content from its audience, erase what you wrote, or prevent someone recognizing details in a post. Your bio and the information you choose to write still deserve care.

An individual post's **Post privately** choice is different: it preserves hidden identity for that post even if you later change your profile mode. Social keeps the underlying account association for moderation and safety. Neither control replaces a private conversation.

## Review your activity and safety settings

Choose **Profile → My Diary** for your own timeline of posts and responses. This is a personal view of things you have shared, not a separate unpublished diary composer. A post appearing in My Diary has not become private or disappeared from the place it was shared.

In Settings, **Hide Sensitive Content** controls filtering of flagged posts. **Blocked Users** lets you review blocked accounts and unblock one if you choose. You can find **Privacy Policy**, **Terms of Service**, **Support**, and **Support & safety** without changing your profile.

Use **Sign Out** in Social's Settings to end that Social session. It is separate from signing out of Nock. Account deletion is a separate permanent action in **Danger Zone**; read the product's confirmation and retention policy before choosing it.

Continue with [friends and messages](/nock/social-friends-messages), [phone setup](/nock/social-install), or [the Social overview](/nock/social).