Simply go to your settings page and click the 'Groups' tab to create a new group. Fill in the details and hit 'Create Group' and you're done. See the screenshot below.
Once you have created a group you will be the administrator for that group. Go back to the 'Groups' tab in your settings page and you will see a link to your new company. Send this link to those you wish to join your group. When they visit the group's profile page they will be given the option to join your group.
Once someone has applied to join your group you will see an 'Applications' tab appear on your member settings page. This will provide access to the list of members who have applied for your group. Simply set their status (accepted, rejected etc) and authority level and hit 'Update' and you are done.
Members who have joined a group can have the following permission levels:
- Administrator
- Has full control of the group and can control membership to the group.
- Manager
- Can manage material (and make purchases) on behalf of the group, and can change the settings on a group account.
- Author
- Can post material on behalf of the group.
- Member
- Can read internal material within the group. This is the 'general' group member and provides members with the ability to view material posted on behalf of the group that general members can't view, such as pending articles, unpaid job postings, and messages on private message boards (coming soon!)
A group account can be of the following types
- Organisation
- A business, professional or non-profit group.
- Collaborative Group
- a group structure for those who want to work on stuff together
- Social Group
- a general 'we want to be associated together' group
You can change your standard member account into a group account on the 'My Settings' page under 'Basic Settings'. Once you have done this other members will see a button on your profile page that will allow them to apply to be a member of your group. You can accept/reject requests by logging in to the group account and visiting the 'Applications' tab.