Unlike Channels which are meant for your internal content organizational structure, Groups are used to categorize your content for your public facing audience. A group is like a super hashtag with additional business rules that you can leverage. Content can exist in multiple groups, and Groups are also searchable, filterable, support custom metadata, can be moderated, can be nested, and you can manually order them for display on your website. A simple example is using groups to categorize content for your audience such as: Nature, Sports, Breaking News, Politics, Celebrities etc.

Creating Groups

You can add new groups or view and edit pre-existing groups.

Note: You can hide or display child groups by clicking Collapsed or Expanded.

To create a new group:

1. In Media Factory, from the drop-down list in the left-hand corner under the Media Factory logo, select the project to which you would like to add the group.
2. In the Navigation bar, select Community>Groups.
3. On the Groups page, click New.
4. Specify the name, description, note and a URL for the group.
5. If you want to nest the group you are creating under an existing group, from the Parent group drop-down list, select an existing group.
6. Click Create.

7. On the details page for the group, in the Logo field, specify the identifier for the media you want to use as the logo for the group.

Note: The media that you specify as a logo does not have to be approved. It can be approved after the group has been created; however, it will not appear on your website until it has been approved. If you decide you want to remove the logo from the group, in the Logo field, delete the media identifier and click Save.

8. In the fields provided, specify the address, city, postal code, state/province, and country that are specific to the group you are creating.
9. In the Longitude and Latitude fields, specify the exact location of the group.

Note: You can fill in these fields manually or they can be filled in automatically using Google Maps.

10. From the Email drop-down list, select the email template to use when new media is uploaded to the group.
11. In the Custom 1, specify a new sorting category for this group.

Note: Usually, there are only standard fields you can sort by; however, you can create a custom field for sorting that is visible on your website using templates. For example, you could create a new sort category for “Year created”.

12. Click Add Data to add a Metadata field.

13. Click Save.

Reordering Groups

After you have created a group, you can change the order in which the groups will appear on the website.

To reorder groups:

1. In Media Factory, from the drop-down list in the left-hand corner under the Media Factory logo, select a project.
2. In the Navigation bar, select Community>Groups.
3. On the Groups page, click the lines to the left of the group you want to move.

4. Drag the group to where you want it to appear in the list.

Adding Media to Groups

After you create a group in Media Factory, you can add media like images and video to it. Once approved the media appears on the website.

Note: Website users can also add media such as images and videos to a group. When they do, the media they add appears in Media Factory on the Groups page.

To add media to a group:

1. In Media Factory, from the drop-down list in the left-hand corner under the Media Factory logo, select a project.
2. In the Navigation bar, select Media>Media.
3. Locate and click the media item you want to add to the group.
4. In the Actions section, from the Add to group drop-down list, select a group.

Note: To select multiple media items, change the display to List view by clicking . In this view, you can select check boxes beside each item you want to add to the group.

The media appears on the Groups page.

Adding Members to Groups

When website users join a group they are automatically added as members for that group and appear in the Members section of the Groups page in Media Factory.

As well, you can manually add a user to a group using Media Factory.

To add a member to a group:

1. In Media Factory, from the drop-down list in the left-hand corner under the Media Factory logo, select a project.
2. In the Navigation bar, select Community>Members.
3. On the Members page, click the check box beside the member you want to add to the group.
4. In the Actions section, from the Add to group drop-down list, select a group.

The members appear on the Groups page.

Moderating Groups

Like with media, you can moderate a group by approving/denying it after it has been created.

Note: To perform moderation tasks you require Moderation rights. If you cannot moderate groups, you should ask the system administrator for the appropriate permissions.

You can tell whether a group has been approved or denied by the colour of line that appears beside it on the Groups page. A red line means the group has been denied, a green line means it has been approved, and no line means it has not yet been moderated.

Note: To delete a group, click the  icon.

To moderate a group:

1. In Media Factory, from the drop-down list in the left-hand corner under the Media Factory logo, select a project.
2. In the Navigation bar, select Community>Groups.
3. On the Groups page, click the group you want to moderate.

Note: To search for a group, in the Search field, enter a keyword, and then click Search.

4. On the details page for the group, click the Approve or Deny button.

Specifying Email Templates for Approved/Denied Groups

You can set up an email template that indicates who to notify when a group has been approved or denied.

To specify an email template for an approved/denied group:

1. In Media Factory, from the drop-down list in the left-hand corner under the Media Factory logo, select the project you would like to modify.
2. In the Navigation bar, select Settings>Project Settings.
3. On the Project Settings page, click the Settings tab.
4. From the Group moderation email – Approved drop-down list, select the email template to use when groups are approved.
5. From the Group moderation email – Denied drop-down list, select the email template to use when groups are denied.

6. Click Save.