Run a directory for your group
Set up a shared circle for a class, team, church, or neighbourhood so the roster maintains itself.
What this is
Every group has one person who keeps the list. They chase people every autumn, retype what comes back, send around a PDF that is wrong within a month, and do it again next year.
A shared circle removes the job rather than making it easier. There is no roster to maintain, because everyone in the group keeps their own details current and the whole group reads them live.
Before you start
- Decide who is in the group. You can add more people later.
- You do not need everyone to be on Tether first — you can invite them as you go.
Steps
- Open Circles and create a new circle.
- Turn on sharing for it, so it becomes a shared circle rather than a private one.
- Invite people. They get a request and choose whether to join; nobody is added silently.
- Decide what the circle sees about you — a shared circle is still a circle, and it grants exactly what you have given it, nothing more.
- Promote a co-organiser if you want one, so the group does not depend on you alone.
What to expect afterward
When someone in the group moves or changes their number, the directory is right the same day. No announcement, no reply-all, no new PDF.
People who never join Tether can still be in the circle as ordinary contacts you maintain — the group just does not get the self-updating benefit for them.
Troubleshooting
Someone is in the circle but I cannot see their address. They have not granted it to that circle. That is the design: circles grant, they never deny, so a field you cannot see was never shared rather than hidden from you.
Can I hand the circle over? Yes — promote another member to admin. The directory does not belong to whoever happened to create it.
How many shared circles can I have? Ten on the free plan, twenty-five on Tether+.