The different types of groups

The success of a collaborative platform is based on the success of each group within it. 

A group brings together a specific audience to achieve a common goal or need such as:

• inform themselves, 
• share knowledge, 
• solve a problem, 
• carry out a watch, 
• work on a project.
  

The group is often the online extension of an existing activity or of an activity that you wish to develop by taking advantage of the benefits of digital: 

• no space barrier, 
• time, 
• ability to be connected together...
  

There are different types of groups: 

• groups of advertisements, 
• project group, 
• business group 
• or thematic group. 
  

Find out more about their main features below.

Information/announcement groups

This is a great space for the dissemination of information and exchanges. 

This can be a general announcement group for the whole organization or announcement groups per geographical location of the company (places). 

They can also be information groups related to an important project or a topic of general interest to the organization.

We recommend the use of the following features:

• Define a message as important, 
• Pin a message to a group, 
• Schedule a publication, 
• The checklist, 
• The survey.
  

These groups are usually open and accessible to all and are led by communicators who prepare and disseminate the content.

There will be a general group, accessible by default to all members registered on your platform.

To identify these groups:

• What internal communication mechanisms have you deployed?
• What are the different geographical locations of your organization?
  

Would you like more information on ad groups? Find out more here: 

• Successful internal communication,
• Moderate an external community on Talkspirit. 

Project groups

This is a group whose purpose is to carry out and/or monitor a project over time and which brings together the associated team. 

The group plays an essential role in the sharing of information and documents on a daily basis and in communication in general—particularly in the context of multi-site teams or remote collaborators.

The features we recommend for project groups:

• The checklist, 
• The agenda, 
• Video conferencing, 
• The chat, 
• Assignments,
• Mentions,
• Labels. 

To identify these groups:

• On which new projects can Talkspirit be a good support and facilitate collaboration?
  

More information on project groups in the guide to collaborative working. 

Business/service or function group

This type of group encourages mutual support and the sharing of information/knowledge in a general way within a team, a service or a department sharing the same profession in the organization.

To identify these groups:

• What means of information and exchange exist? Are there any email lists that could be replaced by a group?

Group associated with a theme

This type of group facilitates the sharing of information and knowledge on a given topic across the organization. 

Examples of thematic groups are a Market Watch group or business plan working groups.

To identify these groups:

• What are the key areas of work in the organization? Is there a thematically organized corporate strategic plan? 

Group associated with a marketed product or service, a process

This type of group federates, across the organization, with the aim of sharing information, helping each other, and ensuring continuous innovation:

• the resources involved in marketing, 
• production, 
• the support of a product or service, 
• a process.

It promotes the circulation of information by breaking down the barriers between teams and facilitates synchronisation in the context of teams that do not share the same business applications.

To identify these groups:

• How do the different teams work together today? How can the organization be decompartmentalised by facilitating their collaboration? 

Define a group architecture

Launching your collaborative platform will lead you to question these groups. 

Which ones to launch first, who will create them, and then what?

To map these groups and help you organize your actions, download our tool to launch your collaborative platform

Create your groups on Talkspirit

On Talkspirit, groups can be created by the administrator and/or registered members according to the preferences set. 

A group is defined by a title, a short description, a visual, an audience you invite, and privacy settings. 

Open groups are accessible to all members. Restricted groups can be private or secret.

When a group is private, the user can request to join the group. A member of the group will then have to accept the user into the group.

A secret group is only visible to invited members. It is necessary to be invited to join a secret group to become a member. It is not possible to request access.

The manager(s) of a group access the administration functions of their group in a control panel. 

best practices

When defining your group architecture, prefer a more narrow division of your groups rather than "umbrella" groups mixing different types of content and for which your members will hesitate to follow.

Hosting dozens, hundreds of groups over time is not a problem if your groups are properly defined and organized. 

On the contrary, your users will prefer to be members of groups dealing with topics that really interest them rather than groups dealing with multiple topics.