Blink is built on the foundation of groups, which define what each user sees in the feed and what they have access to in the hub.
There are two types of groups on Blink - teams and communities. Grouping users ensures they only see content that is relevant to them and their role.
In this article:
Groups: a summary
Groups are the foundation of your Blink experience. There are two ways to group users together; in a team or in a community.
Read what is a group? for further information.
Teams
A team is a type of group that is defined by an administrator and usually reflects your organizational structure.
If I am an Operations Manager in Victoria, I should be included in the organizational teams relevant to me: Operations, Site Managers, Victoria Team etc.
Communities
A community is a type of group that’s discoverable and open for employees to join or leave as they please.
If I am a parent who loves beach walks, I might choose to join the following communities: Parents at Work, Walking Socials, Outdoor Photography.
By grouping your users into teams and allowing them to join communities, every Blink user has a bespoke experience defined by their professional role and their wider social interests.
The below details cover how to set up and manage your organization’s groups.
Managing groups in the admin panel
Only Organization Admins and Content Moderators can create and manage groups.
Go to the Admin panel
Select Groups menu
This page gives you a full view of all your groups in Blink.
You can filter by Type so that you can sort your groups by teams, communities or reporting teams.
Create a new group
From the Groups menu, select the blue Create button.
Choose the type of group you want to create: a team or a community.
Team: membership is managed by administrators and only members can see the team. Members are assigned to the team and cannot leave.
Community: anyone can discover and join the community. Perfect for social groups and shared interests.
Create a team
Important: we recommend that you create your team structure before importing your users so you can add teams to the import user template and help automate the process.
There are three key sections you must complete to create a team:
1. Details: Name and description
Give the team a clear name and short description so that members know the purpose of the team.
2. Feed post rules: choose who’s allowed to post to the team’s feed
Teams can be set up so that only admins can post to them; only admins and team members; or, anyone from the organization.
3. Add members: select the users that will be added to the team
Choose whether to manually or dynamically add members to that team. Read here for more information on dynamic team rules.
Once these details are completed, select Create.
Create a community
Exactly like teams, there are three key sections you must complete to create a community. The difference when creating a community is that you have fewer options for feed post rules and adding members:
Details: Name and description
Give the community a clear name and short description so that users know the purpose of the community.
2. Feed post rules: choose who’s allowed to post to the community’s feed
Communities can be set up so that only admins can post to them; or only admins and community members.
3. Add members: select the users that will be added to the community
Manually add a few starter members to help promote the community.
Once these details are completed, select Create.
Important:
Communities will have a default channel created for them
The Admin creating the group will be automatically assigned as group admin. Read more here about group admin rights.
There must always be one admin assigned to a group. If the only admin attempts to leave the group, they will be requested to add another group admin first.
Edit a group
Go to Groups in the Admin panel
Use the Type filter to help find your group
Select the group you'd like to edit
4. From here, you are able to edit who gets the Group Admin status (we recommend having more than one per group for better coverage) as well as add additional team members
Use the search bar at the top to find the user you are wanting to add.
Enter the name(s) as desired.
When you're ready to add them, click the blue "Add" button shown below.
Feed post rules
You can update a group’s feed post rules at any point.
You have three choices for a group’s feed post rules:
Admins only: only admins can post to the group.
Admins and group members: admins and group members can post to the group
Open group: anyone in the organization can post to the group (this is only available for teams and not for communities).
Setting these rules governs that group’s experience on the feed and shapes whether that group experiences admin-only content or user generated content.
Delete a group
Go to the desired group in the Admin panel
Click Delete group
You'll receive a warning pop-up as shown below.
If you wish to proceed after reading the warning, type in the name of the group and select Yes, Delete Group:
This will permanently remove the group from your organization. Once a group is deleted, it is unrecoverable.
FAQs
What’s the difference between a community and a team? | Communities and teams are both types of user groups on Blink. Read more about groups to understand their definition.
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How does the functionality differ between setting up and team and community? | I have more features available for setting up a team vs a community. When setting up a team I can choose to use dynamic team rules and I can choose to allow anyone to post to that team’s feed. |
💡 Helpful Hint 💡 Having an issue deleting the group? It could be a problem with the group name. Make sure the name doesn't have a space after it prior to clicking the delete team button. If you're still having any issues, please contact us. |