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Nope. They will get an e-mail or SMS or gtalk message, and they would reply simply by replying to that e-mail/SMS/gtalk bot. Your friends don't have to sign up. But as the group creator, you need to add your friends' contact information to add them to the group.

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"... Nope. They will get an e-mail or SMS or gtalk message, and they would reply simply by replying to that e-mail/SMS/gtalk bot. Your friends don't have to sign up. ..."

Ok, that solves the signup problem.

So you still need to get the contact details. Not as hard as getting friends to sign up. What is the advantage of non group creators (non-admins) signing up then?

You get the ability to direct your messages to what you prefer. Say a friend added your e-mail to the group. By signing up, you can route the messages to your gtalk or sms or web instead.

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