Snap Groups is new service that allows anyone to create private or public message groups. In Snap Groups you can create your own group in which to share short messages with other group members. Groups take just a few seconds to create and are given their own unique urls. Of most value to educators is that Snap Groups can be made completely private and hidden from public view. When you create a group you’re given the option to make your group public or private, the option to moderate messages, restrict who can join your group, and restrict who can see your group and its messages.

Thanks to Read Write Web for the lead on Snap Groups.

Applications for Education
Snap Groups could be a good option for hosting a back-channel in your classroom. The advantages of using Snap Groups over some other chat services include being able to make your students’ messages completely hidden from public search, no distracting advertising, and your group doesn’t ever expire therefore you can keep a record of messages.

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Try TodaysMeet for Back-channel Chat Without Distraction
Neat Chat – Quickly Create an Ad-free Chatroom