- What does it mean to follow an initiative?
- Who can follow an initiative?
- How do you add a follow button to a site or page?
- Can staff members follow an initiative?
- Can people follow an initiative with an ArcGIS Online account from their own or another organization?
- What is the purpose of the initiative's followers group?
- What privileges are required to follow an initiative?
- When someone follows an initiative, do they automatically receive a notification or email?
- Can followers contact each other?
- Can community members follow a private initiative?
- How can core team members share content with followers?
When someone clicks a follow button, they are prompted to sign in with credentials for a community account or ArcGIS Online account. Those without an account can select 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. People with existing community accounts can still follow an initiative, but new followers cannot sign up. To add community accounts to the sign-up or sign-in prompt, a Hub administrator can enable community account creation in Hub settings.
Initiative managers and core team members can use the Follow Initiative card (requires an ArcGIS Hub Premium license) to add a follow button anywhere on a site or page layout. This button can have optional text to explain what it means to follow the initiative. You can include a custom call to action and ask visitors to Learn More, Subscribe, or Receive Updates. Core team members can also communicate with followers through email and share private content.
Yes, members of your employee organization can follow initiatives using the ArcGIS Online account provided by the employer or organization. They can follow public initiatives, as well as initiatives that have been shared privately with the organization or a specific group. To find internal initiatives to which they have (view) access, staff members can sign in to ArcGIS Hub, go to the Hub Overview, and select Manage on the Initiatives card (filter by Shared with Me). You can also message staff groups with a link to a specific initiative or add someone directly to the initiative's followers group.
Can people follow an initiative with an ArcGIS Online account from their own or another organization?
Yes, people who belong to your ArcGIS Online organization can follow initiatives by signing in with their ArcGIS Online account credentials. They should not use your organization's community accounts. A Hub administrator must enable the Allow ArcGIS Online users from other organizations to sign in option in Hub settings for external ArcGIS Online organization members to follow an initiative with their ArcGIS Online accounts.
When you create a new initiative, an ArcGIS Online group named <initiative-name followers> is added to the primary ArcGIS Online organization in which the initiative was created. When someone follows the initiative, they are automatically added to the initiative's followers group. This group allows initiative core team members to view a list of their initiative's followers, send emails, and share content with group members (followers) for view access, without having to access the group in ArcGIS Online.
When someone follows an initiative, they are added to the initiative's followers group. This group belongs to the ArcGIS Online organization where the initiative is managed, so community members (people with community accounts) and external ArcGIS Online members must have the Join external groups privilege assigned to their account. This privilege is included with the Publisher role, the default recommended role for all ArcGIS Online community accounts, and is required to follow initiatives, join teams, or sign up to attend events.
No, but initiative core team members can filter the list of initiative followers by joined date and send new followers an email. Initiative core team members can also create private content, such as an informational page or interest form, to include in the email. This content must be shared with the followers group.
Yes, you can invite people to follow your initiative by adding them to the followers group, or by inviting followers and event attendees from other initiatives. Share the initiative site with new followers by sending an ArcGIS Hub welcome email with the initiative URL.
Note:
To invite someone who doesn't have a community account yet, a community administrator can set up an account for them using their email address. For more information, see Add or Invite new community members.
To share content with followers, core team members can send them an email with links to content that has been shared with the followers group. They can share an external link through an ArcGIS Hub email by registering the link. Another way to share content is to display multiple items, including events, web maps, and galleries, on a site or page. First, share these items with the followers group. When opening a link to view content shared with them, a follower will be prompted to sign in with their account credentials. You can also add followers to your initiative's supporting teams to give them view or edit access to specific content.
Tip:
You can also add a menu link to a private item (site, page, app, and so on) on the public initiative site. Only followers signed in with their community account can see and open the menu link.