Group Content Structure

Every group has a resource library. The resource library is where all the content from your group is contained. Inside the resource library you have collections which contain channels. Channels hold all the posts in your group. Refer to the chart below which displays the content hierarchy of a group. We’ll start by looking at the lowest level of content and working our way up to collections and the resource library.

 

Posts

When creating a post you do so within a channel. Posts live inside channels. Posts are created by individuals, group members and group admins. A post can be a text post, photo, video, document, blog and more. Some posts are social in nature, like sharing text, photos and videos. Other posts are structural and will be used by a group admin to build a group dashboard, like with a Post Box or Link Tile. Another type of post are ones that enable mobilization of members towards action and commitments. These are the post types available on the app:

 

Basic Post Types

• Text
• Photo
• Link
• Video Link
• Document

Advanced Post Types

• Action Campaign
• Job Posting
• Post Box
• Vote Gallery
• Link Tile
• Blog
• Volunteer Posting

 

 Learn more about basic post types and advanced post types.

Channels

Channels are powerful and flexible. Channels always live inside a collection. They can behave like a website page or a content feed. They can be open so group members can post into them (like a social experience), or they can be closed so only admins of the group can post into them (like a publication or blog). You can use Advanced Post Types to link channels together in interesting ways to encourage specific types of engagement (like with a Vote Gallery or Post Box).

 

 Channel templates allow you to quickly create a channel that is already configured for a specific purpose.

 

Collections

Channels are organized into Collections. A collection holds channels and allows you to organize your group’s content. A collection usually has a specific purpose or sub-audience. There are two default collections in each group: “Dashboards” and “Channels”.

Default Collections

The default Dashboards collection contains your Member and Public dashboards. These channels are set up like pages. They are programmatically tied to your group.

 

 You can put any type of post in your group dashboards. We often see group admins create their dashboards with: about info, call to actions, links to other channels and more.

 

The default Channels collection is a starting point for building out your group content. This collection is tied to the Channels button in your group header for easy access. Each channel in this collection will be listed when you tap on the Channels button.

 

 If you have a lot of channels in this collection consider how you might use a new collection to organize some of the information. For example, if you have 10-20 channels here and a lot of them are related to Resources, you could create a new collection just for those resources. Channels can be moved from one collection to another.

 

 Default collections are tied to group functionality and should not be deleted.

Other Collections and Link Tiles

You are not limited to default collections. Create other collections to organize group content and engagement in a way that makes sense to you.

 

 Only default collections are automatically linked to the group. Your new collection will be difficult or impossible for your members to find unless you link to it. You can do this easily by adding a Link Tile on your group dashboard that links to a channel in your new collection.

Create New Collection

Create a new collection from the Resource Library. The process is different when you’re on a mobile device versus a desktop computer.

On Mobile

From the group header menu, choose View Resource Library. ap on the 3-dots menu just below the header to the right. In the menu tap + Create. Enter the name of the collection. Then, select a template or tap the button to Create Empty.

 

On Desktop

From the group header menu, choose View Resource Library. On the left side of the window enter the name of the collection in the field that says Create Collection then press enter. Alternatively, you can tap directly on the plus icon and enter the name on the next step. Then, select a template or tap the button to Create Empty.

 

Your new collection will be generated. If you choose to create an empty collection it will have one channel called Default. You can delete this channel or edit and change its name and configuration.

Edit Collection

From the resource library, on mobile or desktop, open the collection menu and tap edit.

Title

Add or change the name of the collection.

Info Tab

Headline

Enter a headline for this collection. Max 30 characters.

Thumbnail & Cover Image

Select a thumbnail or cover image. Wait for the upload to complete before saving.

Description

Enter a description for this collection. Max 470 characters.

Default Reference Header

The default reference header determines what “breadcrumb” navigation will appear above a post when the post is displayed outside the channel (on the group newsfeed or home newsfeed).

 

 The most commonly helpful selections are Group and Channel.

Settings Tab

Visibility

Public

Public visibility for a collection means it will defer to the visibility setting of the resource library. If the resource library visibility is set to public then this collection will be public as well. If the resource library is private for group members then this collection will also be private and for members of the group.

 

Private: Admin

Private visibility whitelisted for admin means that only group admins can view the collection. Others will be redirected to the resource library and they will not see this collection.

 

Private: Member

Private visibility whitelisted for members means that only group members can view the collection. Others will be redirected to the resource library and they will not see this collection.

 

Secret: Admin

Secret visibility whitelisted for admin means that only group admins can view the collection. Others will be redirected to the resource library and they will not see this collection.

 

Secret: Member

Secret visibility whitelisted for members means that only group members can view the collection. Others will be redirected to the resource library and they will not see this collection.

 

 Collection visibility will not supersede resource library visibility. For example, if the resource library is set to Private: Members, setting collection visibility to Public will not expose the collection to anyone on the internet. The collection will remain private to members of the group per the resource library setting. Conversely, if your resource library visibility is set to public, and your collection is set to Private: Members, the resource library will be visible to anyone on the internet but the collection will only be seen by members of the group. This could be useful if you want a specific collection to be public but all others to be private.

Vertical Scrolling

Vertical scrolling means all the channels in this collection can be scrolled through without navigating to another channel. When the user reaches the bottom of a channel it will reveal the next channel in the list and display that content as you scroll.

Admin Tab

Admins

Manually add a user to manage this collection by searching for their account and tapping the plus button next to their name. When you manually add an admin to the collection it gives that user the ability to manage the collection and all it’s channels. The user does not have to be a group admin to become an admin of a collection.

Resource Library

 

The resource library contains all your collections. From the resource library you can:

• Access or edit existing collections
• Create new collections
• Edit the resource library itself

 

Access the resource library from your group header by opening the 3-dots menu and tapping View Resource Library.

 

Edit Resource Library

From the group dashboard, tap the 3-dots menu in the group header and select View Resource Library. On the resource library tap the 3-dots menu and select edit.

Title

Add or change the name of the resource library.

Info Tab

Headline

Enter a headline for this resource library. Max 30 characters.

Thumbnail & Cover Image

Select a thumbnail or cover image. Wait for the upload to complete before saving.

Description

Enter a description for this resource library. Max 470 characters.

 

Default Reference Header

The default reference header determines what “breadcrumb” navigation will appear above a post when the post is displayed outside the channel (like on the group newsfeed or home newsfeed). 

 

 The most commonly helpful selections are Group and Channel.

Settings Tab

Visibility

Public

Public visibility means content in your resource library will be accessible to anyone on the app and on the internet.

 

Private: Admin

Private visibility whitelisted for admin means that only group admins can view the resource library, collections, channels and content. Others will see the resource library but will not see the collections or content.

 

Private: Member

Private visibility whitelisted for members means that any member of the group can view the resource library, collections, channels and content. Others will see the resource library but will not see the collections, channels or content.

 

Secret: Admin

Secret visibility whitelisted for admin means only admins of the group can see the content. Others will not see the resource library, collections, channels or content. Others won’t know anything about the origin, the group. Others will see this message: “You do not have permission to view this group’s content.”

 

Secret: Member

Secret visibility whitelisted for members means only members of the group can see the content. Others will not see the resource library, collections, channels or content. Others won’t know anything about the origin, the group. Others will see this message: “You do not have permission to view this group’s content.”

Admin Tab

This Resource Library is managed by a group

This indicates which group, and the admins of that group, have the ability to manage the resource library. This is informational only.

Send Admin Announcement

Send an announcement to members of the group. Enter your statement, tap the megaphone button to send and confirm that you want to send. All members of the group will receive the announcement notification. Users with the iOS or Android app installed will also receive a push notification on their device (if they have notifications enabled).

Admins

Manually add a user to manage this resource library by searching for their account and tapping the plus button next to their name. When you manually add an admin to the resource library it gives that user the ability to manage the resource library, collections, channels and posts (all content). The user does not have to be a group admin to be an admin of a resource library.