Content Channels organize content for users. Channels help users discover relevant content and form their own personalized feed (Latest content) by following their channels of interest.

Content in channels is ordered by publish date. The most recently published content will appear at the top of the channel. 

The experience of following channels is consistent across all devices. When a user follows or unfollows a channel on the web or mobile app, the same channel will be followed or unfollowed in the user's mobile app or web experience.

You can also automatically add users to channels that they may not discover on their own with Auto Follow. 

To open the Channels page, select the menu in the top left and navigate to Publish > Channels.

The Channels page displays three tabs of channels by state: active, hidden, and archived. The Channels page shows all your channels, the number of Channel Contributors assigned to each channel, users following each channel, the audience, the recommended status, and a background image. 

Create a Channel 

1. While on the Channels page, select Create Channel in the top right. This opens the Create Channel dialogue:
   
   
   
   
2. Set at least a Channel Name and Description before clicking Save. For details on all of the fields, see below.

Edit a Channel

1. While on the Channels page and under the Active tab or Hidden tab, click on the three dots to the right of the channel's name and select Edit.
   
   
2. Modify any channel settings, including the name.
3. Select Save to save changes.

Note: My Feed edit options are limited and My Feed cannot be archived because My Feed provides content for the default starting point for all users in the mobile and web experience, the Latest feed.

What Do the Channel Settings Mean?

Channel Name

Use up to 30 characters to name the channel. The Channel Name and Description will be displayed under Discover. The Channel Name should be descriptive enough for both Studio users and members to understand what content belongs in the channel.

Channels are ordered alphabetically by name. You can push channels to the top of the Discover tab by using special characters (e.g. @ or #) at the beginning of your Channel Name. Alternatively, you can push channels to the bottom of Discover by using an emoji at the beginning of your Channel Name. 

Channel Names can be edited at any time without any impact to the already published content or number of followers.

Renaming a channel

If you decide to change the name of a channel entirely, we recommend publishing an update (via content card) about the upcoming channel name change in your program. The post should include why you're changing the name and when the change will be made, so your users know to look for it and understand where to go for this channel's content moving forward. 

Description

Use up to 150 characters to describe the content in greater detail than the Channel Name. Channel Descriptions are visible to members in the web experience and mobile app 3.3.0 and newer. 

Background Image

The background image displays next to the channel name on the Channels page in Studio, behind the channel title under Discover on mobile, and next to the channel name in the web experience. Upload a background image to customize the preview image that is associated with the channel. 

Upload an image file (JPG or PNG) into the box following the recommended ratio of 1:1.1 (200px x 220px) to reduce unwanted cropping. If the image does not fit, it will be cropped as needed. 

If no image has been directly uploaded, we will display the existing auto-generated image (pulled from the most recently published post in the channel). 

Note: if you do not see the background image when creating or editing a channel, the feature has not yet been enabled for your program. Please email support@socialchorus.com for more information.   

Target Channels to a Group(s) or Snapshot(s)

If no groups are selected, the channel would be visible to all users. To target the channel, start typing in the name of a group or snapshot and select the group from the dropdown. For more details about targeting channels to groups, refer to How to Target a Channel. 

Channel Contributors

Channel Contributors can publish and manage content only in specific, assigned channels. They can only target campaigns to users following or targeted by their assigned channels (depending on your program configuration).

If you have already assigned a user the Channel Contributor role, you can add Channel Contributors directly to channels from the Channels page. 

In the Channel Contributor section of the channel editor, type in the name of the user. Select their name and click save. This assigns the user to the channel they will have access to. Repeat this step to grant access to more than one Channel Contirbutor. Each channel can be assigned up to 100 Channel Contributors. 

Publish Status (Visible/Hidden)

Most of the time, you will probably set publish status to visible. However, when you create a new channel, you do not have to immediately make the channel visible to members in the web and mobile app experience. Hidden is useful if you are still editing the content that will appear in the channel. You can also use the hidden status to remove an existing channel from visibility (rather than archive the channel).

The channel publish status can be configured while creating or editing a channel.

• Visible - the channel and all content in the channel will be visible both to members in the web and mobile experience and in Studio.
• Hidden - the channel remains hidden from all users in the employee experience but is visible in Studio for users who can access the Channels page. Content tied to a hidden channel can be seen on the Planner page. The hidden channel setting is a separate and distinct setting from the hidden post setting.

Auto Follow

Automatically add new and existing users to specific channels. When set to Enabled, existing users in the targeted group(s) will immediately be opted into following the channel. New users will begin following the channel upon registering in the program. Users will receive notifications via Assistant when channels are automatically followed. Users can unfollow channel(s) at any time by visiting the Discover tab and selecting Unfollow. 

Issue Note: users that move directly from Created to Registered may experience a slight delay in seeing their auto-follow channels. To avoid this issue, be sure to invite all new users via the platform. Users that move from Invited to Registered experience no delay in auto-follow.

Once the toggle has been enabled, disabling the toggle does not unfollow users who have already been opted into the channel. Disabling Auto Follow will stop future users from being automatically opted into following the channel. 

If you update the targeting of a channel that had Auto Follow on at any point, users will only continue to be followers if they are included in the new targeting.

User Submissions

Use this toggle to simplify the list of channels that Members see when submitting content from both the web and mobile experience.

Disable user submissions to hide the channel from the list of channels Members can see when submitting a post. Studio users with access to the Planner page in Studio will still see the channel when submitting content through the employee experience.

Enable user submissions to make the channel available to Members when they are submitting content. Depending on the Auto-Publish Submitted Content setting, the content may need to be reviewed before publishing.

Note: This feature is only enabled for programs that have mobile app version 3.7+. If you do not have this feature and are on the newest mobile app version, please email support@socialchorus.com.

Auto-Publish Submitted Content

When Auto-Publish is enabled, content submitted to the channel by Members will be published automatically. This means that other Members with access to the channel will be able to see the content in the employee experience almost immediately.

If Auto-Publish is disabled, content submitted to the channel by Members will be set to Needs Review so that a Studio user can review the content and then manually publish the post. This can cause Members some concern when there is a delay in publishing, but allows for a review and approve process.

For details about what will happen if a user submits content to more than one channel, please refer to User-Submitted Overview: Auto-Publish vs Needs Review.

Studio Users Note: Depending on your program configuration and your Studio user's exact role and channel assignments, your Studio users will either have the same auto-publish experience as Members or they will experience direct publishing.

Recommended

Only available with non-targeted channels, this setting will create a call to action for your users. More details in the Promote Channels article.