Groups is a thoughtful system that supports the many reasons why a network would want to further organize members and content.
Below is a general overview of the groups system, along with basic rules, common use cases, and links to related articles.
Groups System: Basic Rules
Groups can only be created by network admins. Community members can not create groups. This is to give network owners more control over the organization of the network.
Groups consist of a content feed, real-time chat, and a members directory along with member settings and group name, description, and art.
There is no limit to the number of groups a network can create.
Groups are defined by access rules called group "type": read & write rules relative to the group type and a member's subscription to the group.
Once a group is created, you can not change the group type or group url.
Groups, their content, and member subscriptions can be deleted by a network admin at any point. Group deletion can not be undone.
"Premium" groups require members to have a paid subscription to be a member of the group. Note that members can carry more than one paid subscription at one time.
Posts can be published and belong to a group. A post can only be published to one group at a time.
Only posts from groups a community member is a member of will be shown in their Home Feed, other than featured posts from an open or gated group they're not a member of.
Common Use-cases
Groups can be used to organize a network based on all kinds of factors. Using the group name, description, color, artwork, and type will allow network admins to create a naming and visual system to further "organize" the groups in the network. The name alone creates good context for what the group is about.
The application word "Group" (singular) and "Groups" (plural) can be translated into other words in using Honeycommb Language Customizations settings. This can help frame a network's use of groups. For example, if groups are created to create organization around a company's office location, changing the word "Group" to "Office" and "Groups" to "Offices" will help set good context for what groups are and which ones a member should join and participate in.
Groups can last forever or live a short life, for an event as an example. Groups can be
Organization by geography
Team organization
Topic-based groups
Educational-based experiences
Cohorts
Interest-based groups
How-to information
Content type groups (ex. Livestreams)
Group Administration
Groups are a great way to add further value by creating more depth in your network. It also creates an opportunity for more management of the network. Because of this, Honeycommb gives networks the ability to apply group administrators to any particular group. Learn more about creating a group administrator here.