Community - Main

The Main tab of the community is the default landing page for the community and displays highlighted and curated content for users. A user can only view a community if the user is within the availability settings for the community.

To access a community, go to Connect > Communities. Then, click the community title.

Community Title

The title of the community is displayed in the upper-left corner of the community. This title is configured by the administrator when the community is created.

Join Community

If the user is not yet a member of the community, a Join Community button is available at the top of the page. Click this button to join the community. If enabled, the Joined Community email is triggered when a user becomes a member of a community.

Community Options

The following options are available in the Options drop-down:

  • Follow Community - This option is available to all users who are members of the community. When a user is following a community, the user may receive email notifications whenever a posting is created in any of the topics that are available to the user within the community. Also, the community appears in the Following section of the user's Universal Profile: Bio. When a user follows a community, the user implicitly follows all of the topics and subtopics within the community. Because of this, the user does not have the option to follow or unfollow any topic within the community while the user is following the community.
  • Unfollow Community - This option is only available when the user is currently following the community. When the user selects this option, the user is no longer following the community or any of the topics within the community. If the user had followed any individual topics within the community prior to following the community, then the user is still following those topics when the community is unfollowed.
  • Edit Community - Select this option to edit the community. This option is only available to community moderators and administrators. See Community - Create/Edit.
  • Delete Community - Select this option to delete the community. A confirmation pop-up is displayed. When a community is deleted, all topics and postings that are contained within the community are also deleted. This option is only available to administrators. Note: If a community contains a shared topic, then the community cannot be deleted.
  • Leave Community - When selected, a pop-up window prompts the user to confirm that they would like to leave the community. Click Yes in the pop-up. This removes the user, and the user is directed to the All Communities Page. Use Case: ClosedA user needs to leave a certain community in which he is no longer active. He navigates to the homepage of the community and clicks the Options drop-down. He clicks the Leave Community option, and then confirms his selection to leave the community in the confirmation pop-up. Upon confirmation, he is directed to the All Communities page.

Community Tabs

The following tabs are available for the community:

  • Main - This tab is the landing page for the community. It displays highlighted and curated content for users.
  • Topics - This tab provides access to all topics within the community.
  • Members - This tab provides access to all members within the community.

Search for Postings

To search for postings within a community, enter your search criteria in the Search within community field and either click the Search icon or press [Enter]. This opens the Posting Search Results page. See Posting Search Results.

HTML Widget

Depending on the community configuration, an HTML widget may appear at the top of the Main tab.

Community Feed

The Community Feed may display the latest activity for the specific community. In addition, community members may be able to create discussion postings directly from the Community Feed. All updates not posted directly to Community Feed, such as "received a reply" or "has created the discussion" updates, will not display if the update was made more than 365 days ago.

Community Feed - Activity Update Visibility

The Community Feed is only visible if it is enabled and if the user has joined the community. However, administrators who have the Manage Knowledge Bank/Communities Administration permission can always view the Community Feed.

An update is only visible in the Community Feed if the user has permission to view the corresponding posting.

If a posting or reply is deleted, then the activity update is removed from the Community Feed.

Community Feed - Create Discussion Posting

From the Community Feed, users may be able to create a new discussion posting and select the topic into which the posting will be added. If there are no topics for which the user has permission to create a posting, then this functionality is not available.

To create a discussion posting, select within the Create a discussion posting field. The panel expands to show the Select Topic drop-down and the Post and Cancel options.

See Community Feed - Create Posting.

Community Feed - Activity Updates

The following activities may appear in the Community Feed:

  • Posting Created - When a new posting is created in the community, this activity may be displayed in the feed. The first 300 characters of the posting body is displayed in the feed. No HTML is displayed in the feed.
  • Posting Reply - When a reply is added to the original posting from the Community Feed or the Posting Details page, the original posting is moved to the top of the feed. A posting is not moved to the top of the feed if a user replies to an existing reply.

Community Feed - Activity Update Options

Users may have the option to like and reply to an activity update. However, the ability to vote for or against a suggestion type posting is not available from the Community Feed.

Any replies or likes that are added to activity updates in the Community Feed will also appear for the activity update in the Live Feed and the Posting Details page.

Community Feed - Show More

When viewing the Community Feed, up to 10 items are displayed. If there are more than 10 items available, then a Show More button is available at the bottom of the feed. Select this button to view 10 more items within the feed.

Community Description

At the top of the furthest right column, the community description is displayed, up to 300 characters. If the description exceeds 300 characters, a more link appears. Click this link to view the full description in a pop-up. The description is configured by the administrator when creating or editing the community.

Featured Panel

The Featured panel displays postings that have been marked as featured postings by the administrator. Only postings that are available to the user are displayed.

The posting that was marked as featured most recently is displayed at the top of the Featured panel.

If a link is attached to the posting, then the URL preview image is displayed. If a user clicks the posting image, they are directed to the posting page.

If a posting that has an embedded image or video file is Featured, then a thumbnail will display for that posting in the Featured and Trending widgets. Postings with embedded image files will use the top-most-position uploaded image file as the image used for the widget. Postings with embedded video files will use the top-most-position uploaded video file as the image used for the widget. However, if a posting includes both an uploaded image and a file, then the top-most eligible file will be used for the widget. This means that after creation, if a new eligible file replaces the top-most file, then the posting's thumbnail on these widgets will be updated to reflect this.

The posting title is displayed as a link. If a user clicks the posting title, they are directed to the posting page.

For the top featured posting, the first line from the posting is displayed below the posting title.

At the bottom of the posting, the Like button or icon is displayed with the date on which the posting was created. Click the Like button or icon to like the posting. Note: If a user clicks the Like button for a posting, this does not affect the trending score until the page is refreshed. See Posting Action - Like a Posting or a Reply.

Popular Tags Panel

The Popular Tags panel displays the most popular tags that are being used within the community. The system determines tag popularity by the number of times any posting that contains the tag is viewed within the community. System-defined tags are not included in the panel. This panel is updated every three hours. This panel is only available when tags are enabled, and this panel is not displayed if there are no tags within a community.

Below each tag, the total number of times a posting that contains the tag has been viewed across the entire community. This calculation includes all postings in the community, even if the user is not able to view the posting.

Click a tag to initiate a search within Global Search for all postings that contain the selected tag. Users can only view postings which they can access. Note: The ability to click a posting tag to initiate a search is only available if the ability to search for Connect postings by tag is enabled via Search Preferences.

Trending Panel

The Trending panel displays postings that are trending within the community. Which topics are trending is determined by the number of times a posting has been viewed, liked, voted for, and replied to. Only postings that are available to the user are displayed.

The posting that is trending the most is featured at the top of the Trending panel.

If a link is attached to the posting, then the URL preview image is displayed. If a user clicks the posting image, they are directed to the posting page.

If a posting that has an embedded image or video file is Trending, then a thumbnail will display for that posting in the Featured and Trending widgets. Postings with embedded image files will use the top-most-position uploaded image file as the image used for the widget. Postings with embedded video files will use the top-most-position uploaded video file as the image used for the widget. However, if a posting includes both an uploaded image and a file, then the top-most eligible file will be used for the widget. This means that after creation, if a new eligible file replaces the top-most file, then the posting's thumbnail on these widgets will be updated to reflect this.

The posting title is displayed as a link. If a user clicks the posting title, they are directed to the posting page.

For the top trending posting, the first line from the posting is displayed below the posting title.

At the bottom of the posting, the Like functionality or Vote functionality is displayed with the date on which the posting was created.

Leaderboard Grid

The Leaderboard grid displays the users who post the most topics, up to 21. User can hover over a member's photo to view the member's name and the number of postings the user has created. Click a member's photo to view the member's Universal Profile - Bio page.