Monitoring Facebook groups with a Chrome extension: what it can and can't do

How it works

1. You add GroupSignal to Chrome on your computer and connect it to your Sosaly account.
2. In the extension, you choose Check Facebook access. GroupSignal uses the Facebook account already signed in to that Chrome; you don't give anyone your Facebook password.
3. On Sosaly, you describe what you're looking for and choose groups from your Facebook groups list.
4. The extension reads new posts in those groups and sends a short excerpt of each to AI, which checks it against your monitors.
5. Matches go to your online inbox on Sosaly. Posts that don't match are discarded.

What it can do

• Read the groups you're in, private ones included. It sees what your Facebook account can see, so it can watch private groups you're a member of.
• Keep your Facebook login on your computer. Your Facebook cookies and password never reach Sosaly.
• Match by meaning. AI reads each post against what you described, in any language, rather than looking for keywords (why that matters).
• Alert you, and keep matches online. A new AI match raises a browser alert in the Chrome that found it. Every match waits in your Sosaly inbox, which works on any signed-in device, including your phone.
• Send matches to Zapier or Make. Sosaly sends them from its servers, so delivery doesn't depend on your browser being open (Zapier, Make).
• Watch with more than one Facebook account. Connect each account in the Chrome where it's signed in. Each one checks its own groups, side by side.

What it can't do

• Watch while Chrome is closed. Nothing is checked while Chrome is closed, the computer is asleep or Facebook has signed you out. When Chrome opens again, GroupSignal catches up on posts from up to the last 24 hours, and Sosaly shows when your groups were last checked and any gap it couldn't cover.
• Read groups you haven't joined. Only groups in your Facebook groups list can be added, and only the groups you select are read.
• Watch from a phone. Checking groups needs Chrome on a computer. Your phone is for reviewing matches.
• Read comments, Pages, profiles or Marketplace. It reads posts in the groups you choose, nothing else.
• Be made to check faster. It reads at a steady pace you can't change, and slows down when Facebook asks it to. How soon a match appears varies.
• Bring in older posts. A new monitor starts with posts from the time monitoring starts. There's no import of past posts.
• Reply for you. It never posts, comments, reacts or sends messages on Facebook. What you do with a match is up to you.

What leaves your browser

Stays in your browser: your Facebook login, cookies and session, and the full responses Facebook sends back. Only what's listed below leaves it.

Goes to Sosaly:

• a short excerpt of each new post in your selected groups, for the AI check. For a post that's only a photo, that's the text read from the photo on your computer, never the photo itself;
• the matches, with their link, group, author name and why they matched;
• your monitors and chosen groups;
• the name and group list of each Facebook account you connect, so you can search your groups from any device;
• collection status, such as when each group was last checked.

Matches you don't save are deleted 30 days after they arrive; saved ones stay until you delete them. Posts that don't match aren't kept. The GroupSignal privacy overview has the details.

Is a browser extension the right fit?

It suits you if:

• you spend your working hours at a computer, with Chrome open;
• the groups you need are ones you've joined, including private ones;
• you'd rather not hand your Facebook login to a service.

It's a poor fit if you need groups watched around the clock while your computer is off, or groups you can't join. Leaving the computer awake with Chrome open keeps it watching outside working hours.