The Follow card adds a configurable Follow button to a site or page. The Follow button adds a user to the site's followers group and allows them to follow your content. If the user is already part of the follower group, they can click the button to remove themselves from the followers group. You can add Follow buttons throughout the site and promote public sites through your organization's home page and social media..
To follow a site, a user must have a community account with the community organization. Those without an account can click No Account? Create a community account on the sign-up or sign-in prompt. If this option is not available, community account creation is disabled. Users with existing community accounts can still follow sites, but new followers cannot sign up. To add a sign-up or sign-in prompt for the community organization, a community administrator can configure community sign-in options.
Users can also follow a site with an ArcGIS Online account from another organization. An administrator must enable the Allow ArcGIS Online users from other organizations to sign in option in ArcGIS Online for external ArcGIS Online organization members to follow a site with their ArcGIS Online accounts.
Learn more about security settings and policies in ArcGIS Online
License:
The Follow card requires a subscription to ArcGIS Hub Premium.
Create a followers group
You must create a followers group before you can configure a follow button and manage follow settings. When someone follows the site, they are automatically added to the site's followers group. This allows site editors to view a list of their site's followers, add members (followers), and share content with group members for view access, without having to access the group in ArcGIS Online.
To create a followers group, complete the following steps:
- Follow the steps to open your workspace and manage a site if necessary.
- Click the Followers tab
. - Click Create followers group.
The New group window appears.
Note:
If a followers group is already created for the site, you can skip this section and proceed with the Add members to the followers group section below.
- For Title, provide a name for the group.
- Optionally, provide a summary.
- Click Next.
The Group membership settings appear.
- Select which users can join the group and which users can contribute content to it.
- Click Create.
The followers group is created. You can now configure a follow button and manage your group.
Add members to the followers group
To add members from your organization to a followers group, complete the following steps:
- Follow the steps to open your workspace and manage a site if necessary.
- Click the Followers tab.
Note:
If you haven't created a followers group for the site, create a followers group first.
- Click Add members.
- Check the check boxes to select organization members to add to the group.
Use the Search bar and sorting options to find users. You can add multiple members at the same time.
- Click Add.
The users are added as members of the followers group.
Remove members of the followers group
To remove members from the followers group, complete the following steps:
- Follow the steps to open your workspace and manage a site if necessary.
- Click the Followers tab.
- Check the check boxes to select users you want to remove as members.
You can remove multiple users at the same time.
A pop-up appears with selection information and actions.
- In the pop-up, click the Remove button
.
The users are removed from the followers group.
Change member permissions
You can change the roles of members in the followers group. The Member role allows users to add and see content within the group. The Manager role allows members to add and remove content in the group, as well as invite or remove other members.
To change member permissions, complete the following steps:
- Follow the steps to open your workspace and manage a site if necessary.
- Check the check boxes to select organization members for whom you want to change permissions.
You can select multiple users at the same time.
A pop-up appears with selection information and actions.
- In the pop-up, click the Change role button
.A pop-up appears with role options.
- Choose one of the following roles:
- Manager—Allows the user to add or remove content, and invite or remove members.
- Member—Allows the user to add and view content within the group.
The roles of the users are changed.
Manage the group settings
Site editors in Hub Premium organizations can manage a site's followers group. They can configure visibility settings.
To manage group settings, complete the following steps:
- Follow the steps to open your workspace and manage a site if necessary.
Note:
If you haven't created a followers group for the site, create a group first.
- In the Followers pane, click the Settings tab.
- For Set visibility, choose which users can view the follow buttons on your site and pages.
This includes both the follow button on the action menu and any follow button you add to the layout.
- To add the follow button to the action menu, turn on the Follow action toggle button.
- For Can this group participate in discussions, choose whether the followers group can be added to channels for discussion.
- Click Save to save any changes to your settings.
Configure a Follow button
Site editors can use a Follow card to add a Follow button to a site or page.
To configure a Follow button, complete the following steps:
- Edit a site or page layout.
- In the Customize panel, click Layout.
Tip:
If the Customize panel isn't visible, turn on the toggle button
to open it. - Drag a Follow card onto a
row in the layout.
Note:
If a followers group has not been configured for the site, a warning will appear. Create a group to use a Follow card.
- For the Call-to-action text field, customize the text that appears above the Follow button, and choose an alignment (left, center, or right).
If you don't want text to appear above the button, leave this field blank.
- Under Follow button, for Opt-in button text, customize the text that appears in the Follow button for users who are not yet part of your followers group.
- For Opt-out button text, customize the text that appears in the Follow button for users who are part of your followers group.
- For Alignment, choose whether the Follow button is left, center, or right justified within the card.
- For Button style, choose whether the Follow button appears with a solid background or outline.
Note:
The Follow button uses the Body link color and Body background color values of the site theme.
- Click Save layout.
The Follow button is now configured for the site or page.
Related links
For additional information, see the following: