Once you have created your Community, you can start posting and commenting! In this article, you will learn how to effectively manage your Community to keep your students engaged.
In this article:
Email and Web-App Notifications
Getting Started
This article is tailored towards managing your existing community, so if you haven't already, you'll want to begin by Creating a Community. Once you've created your community, you'll be ready to jump into the steps below.
If you've already got a Community created and are looking to convert it into a paid access only Learning Community, check out our article Converting and Selling Your Existing Thinkific Communities!
Best Practices
When you create a new Community, one of the first steps we recommend taking is to write a welcome post to introduce yourself, and start engaging with your students! It's also a great idea to pin your welcome post (more on this later in the article), as this will ensure it is always displayed at the top of your Community's latest posts.
On Site Builder theme version 1.12.12 or higher, communities available to students will automatically appear in their Student Dashboard. If you want to prepare your welcome post before your students see your Community, temporarily set your Publish Setting to Draft, and update it once you have written your initial post!
Member Count
As students begin to join your community, you'll notice the member count on the main page (on the bottom right of the community banner) increasing.
This is a default setting - meaning that the member count is added to your community automatically. The displayed member count will be visible to both you and your students, and will reflect the total number of members within the community.
Create Posts
Before you begin posting in your Community, you'll want to read through our article on Spaces. A Community can have multiple spaces - spaces are sections that you can create within the Community, where specific topics or courses can be discussed.
Users can post to existing spaces within the community, however, only the Site Owner or Site Admin can create, edit, or delete spaces.
When you create a new post, it will be displayed on the main Community page under Latest Posts. The Space that the post was added to will be displayed in the bottom right hand corner of the post.
You can click on the heart icon at the bottom of the post to like the post, or select the comment icon to view or add comments.
If a post creates enough buzz, it may be displayed in the Trending Posts side panel!
How to Create a Post From the Home Page
- Go to Manage Learning Products
- Select Communities
- Locate the Community you want to start posting in
- Click the ellipses (3 dot icon) and select Go to Community
- Once in your Community, you will see the option to create a post directly on the home page by clicking the text box with your profile picture that says 'What's on your mind?'
- Once you have clicked on the text box, a pop up will appear containing the settings you can use for your post. From here, you can:
- Select the space you want to post to
- Add the title of your post
- Add the text of your post
- (Optional) Include an emoji in your post (click the smiley face located in the bottom left hand corner of the post text box)
- (Optional) Upload an image, video, or file to your post (max 5MB)
- Once you have added your desired content to your post, click Create Post
How to Create a Post From Within a Space
- Go to Manage Learning Products
- Select Communities
- Locate the Community you want to start posting in
- Click the ellipses (3 dot icon) and select Go to Community
- Once in your Community, use the left hand navigation menu to either:
- Select an existing space from the list; or
- Create a new space by clicking the plus sign to the right of the word spaces to write a comment in.
- In your space, you will see a text box at the top of the page with your profile picture. Click this to create a post:
- Once you have clicked on the text box, a pop up will appear containing the settings you want to use for your post. From here, you can:
- Select the Space you want to post to
- Add the title of your post
- Add the text of your post
- (Optional) Include an emoji in your post (click the smiley face located in the bottom left hand corner of the post text box)
- (Optional) Upload an image, video, or file to your post (max 5MB)
- Once you have added your desired content to your post, click Create Post
How to Edit a Post
Want to make a change to your post? No problem!
Once a post has been created, select the ellipses (3 dot icon) on the top right hand corner of that post to Edit.
If your post is currently showing on the Trending Posts panel, making an edit to it will not affect your post's position on the panel.
Site Owners, and Site Admins also have the ability to edit other user's posts within the Community.
Uploading a File to Your Post
Communities allows creators and students to upload a variety of different file types when creating a post, or commenting on another community member’s post. For security reasons, certain types of files may not be allowed.
To learn more, check out What type of files can I add to a Community post?
Add Comments
Once your community has a few posts, you can begin adding customizable comments on those posts!
The most recent posts in your community that have the most engagement (in the form of likes and comments) will show up on your Trending Posts panel (visible on the right hand side of your Community main page).
How to Comment on a Post
- Within your Community, locate your desired post
- Click on Comments, located at the bottom of the post
- Either scroll down to the bottom of the post, or select the Comment button to the right of the post
- In the comment field, input your desired text
- (Optional) Include an emoji, image, video link or file attachment (Max 5MB)
- Select Post comment
How to Customize Your Comment
You have the option to use one of the 4 icons on the bottom left of the comment box to add emojis, upload an image, include a video link or upload a file (max 5 MB).
When you click on one of these options, you'll see a prompt for next actions.
Once you select a file, you'll see it added to your post. Optionally, add some alternative text to describe your image for screen readers, and post your comment!
How to Edit a Comment
If you need to make any updates to an existing comment, you can select the ellipses (3 dot icon) to Edit your comment.
Editing a comment will not change a post's position on the Trending Posts panel, however, deleting a comment will remove that post from the Trending Posts panel.
Add Likes (to Comments and Posts)
If you'd like to show appreciation for a community contribution, you can add a like to a post or comment!
To add a like to a post or a comment, simply locate the post or comment within your Community, and click the heart emoji located at the bottom of the post or comment. Click once to like a post, and click an existing like again to remove it.
Manage Posts
In this section, we will outline a few basic management tools that are available to all community members - things like sorting posts and following or unfollowing posts - however, certain tools in this section are only available to Site Owners, Site Admins
How to Pin a Post
Once you have created a post, you have the option to always display it at the top of your community by pinning it. Pinning a post is a great option for your welcome posts, and posts introducing students to your community. It is possible to pin multiple posts - the most recently pinned post will always appear at the top of your community.
Only Site Owner, Site Admins can pin posts in a community.
- Locate your desired post
- Click on the ellipses (3 dot icon) on the top right
- Select Pin
- Once pinned, your post will appear at the top of your Community with a Pin icon
How to Sort Posts
If your Community has a lot of posts, you have the option to sort posts by three categories, including:
- Most Recent
- Most Comments
- New Comments
Posts will be sorted by most recent by default.
How to Follow Posts
You and your students can follow posts to receive email notifications for comment activity on posts! When a new post is created, the Site Owner, Site Admins, and the creator of the post will automatically be added as followers.
You can always unfollow a post if you no longer want to receive email notifications, or see how to manage your notification settings globally here.
To follow a post:
- Locate your desired post
- Click on the ellipses (3 dot icon) on the top right
- Select Follow
How to Unfollow a Post
- Locate your desired post
- Click on the ellipses (3 dot icon) on the top right
- Select Unfollow
Delete Posts and Comments
Posts and comments can be deleted if you no longer want them displayed in your community. You can delete entire posts, or individual comments within a post.
Once a post or comment has been deleted, there is no record of that post or comment history. Make sure to take a screenshot before deleting if you want to keep a personal record.
How to Delete a Post
There are a few permissions to be aware of in regard to deleting posts and comments:
- The Site Owner, Site Admins can delete posts and comments.
- Course Admins and Students can delete their own comments, but cannot delete posts.
To delete a post:
- Locate your desired post
- Click on the ellipses (3 dot icon) on the top right
- Select Delete post
How to Delete a Comment
- Locate your desired post
- Click on the post to view the comments
- Locate your desired comment
- Click on the ellipses (3 dot icon) on the top right
- Select Delete comment
Email and Web-App Notifications
You and your students can follow posts to receive email notifications for comment activity on posts. You can always unfollow a post if you no longer want to receive email notifications for that post, or turn off all community notifications entirely.
When a new post is created, the Site Owner, Site Admins, and the creator of the post will automatically be added as followers. If you prefer that the Site Owner and Site Admins do not automatically follow new posts, this can be customized in your site settings.
Alongside email notifications, you will also receive Web-App notifications within your Thinkific site. Web-App Notifications allow learners to quickly see when others have responded to their posts and comments with threaded replies, or when they’ve been invited to join another conversation through @ mentions of their profile.
Web-App notifications will only be available to creators who have already created one or more communities. If you have not yet created a community, you will not see the bell icon or notification panel.
Summary of Permissions
Site Owner and Site Admins
The Site Owner and Site Admins have the following permissions within Communities:
- Can create Communities
- Can edit and/or delete any user's posts or comments
- Automatically added as followers to new posts (can disable this in site notification settings)
- Can turn off community notifications entirely
- Can post and comment
- Can edit their own posts and comments
- Can follow a post to receive email notifications for activity on that post
- Can unfollow a post if they no longer want to receive email notifications for that post
- Can pin a post
Course Admins
Course Admins have the following permissions within a community:
- Can post and comment
- Can edit their own posts and comments
- Automatically added as followers of new posts (only if they are the author - can disable this in site notification settings)
- Can follow a post to receive email notifications for activity on that post
- Can unfollow a post if they no longer want to receive email notifications for that post
All Users
All Users (Site Owner, Site Admins, Course Admins, and Students) have the following permissions within a community:
- Can post and comment
- Can edit their own posts and comments
- Can follow a post to receive email notifications for activity on that post
- Automatically added as followers of new posts (only if they are the author - can disable this in site notification settings)
- Can unfollow a post if they no longer want to receive email notifications for that post
More About Learning Communities
Drive Revenue with New Thinkific Communities