The timeline is a digital pinboard on which users can interact and provide each other with information. Timelines are available to you globally on homepages, on your profile and as an app within pages, events and communities.
Application
The app supports you in two ways:
- Communicating:
Users can create posts, comment on them, and like them. This promotes a communicative exchange between users. - Collating:
Like a kind of octopus that collects and makes available all current and new posts.
It functions the same way in all of the stated elements and yet there are a few differences:
Homepage
The homepage is how every user enters your Digital Home. The information is compiled here for every user and yet no two users’ homepage timelines will look the same. The timeline only contains the information that corresponds to your interests. This information is compiled from
- pages that you have subscribed to,
- communities in which you are a member,
- events that interest you,
- posts that are posted to your timeline.
Pages, communities & events
In pages, communities, and events, the timeline supports communication between users and summarizes what is currently happening for the members and participants.
Personal Timeline
The personal profile also uses the timeline. You are only shown here what concerns you personally or what you have posted in the dialog field:
In general the following postings are shown:
- posts from others that you have shared
- posts that others have posted on your timeline
- posts that you have created
Visibility
The visibility of a timeline post depends on where this is published, and can’t be determined in the post itself. Here are two examples to make this behavior clearer:
- If you’re publishing a post in a public place, the post can also be seen by everyone
- If you’re publishing a post in a protected/private place (e.g. community), the post can only be seen by a limited group of users
Places in which timeline posts can be created
The timeline is available both as an app (for pages and communities) and as a widget (e.g. for homepages). Every event also has a timeline.
As a result, a post can be created or shared in the following places:
- Page
- Community
- Event
- User profile
User profiles are generally public, i.e. visible to everyone. The visibility settings for pages, communities, and events can be seen in the respective articles.
Special case: Timeline widget
The timeline widget (on the homepage) is a personal widget. The content is based on the user and is taken from different elements:
-
Pages, communities, and events that the user has subscribed to
-
The user’s user profile timeline
-
User profiles that they follow
Strictly speaking, it’s therefore not a place where new timeline posts are created. If the user posts something here, the post is actually created on the person’s own user profile timeline.
Markdown
It’s possible for you to format and structure your posts in Haiilo. You can do this, for instance, for comments or timelineposts. This is referred to as the "markdown format".
Formatting allows you to improve clarity or make sure your posts attract more attention. This gives you the option of highlighting or particularly emphasizing what’s important to you.
You can add emphasis, for instance, using bold, italic or struck-through text. How to do that and what other markdown formats are available can be found in our overview. Simply click on the question mark symbol below the text field.
Notifications
Users do not generally receive notifications in Haiilo when a timeline post is created in a community or page. For subscribed pages and communities, the new post appears in the global timeline.
Only when you comment on a post do you subscribe automatically to the post and then receive notifications about the actions of other users (e.g. new comments from other users). If you are the author of the post, you receive notifications about new comments and when you are mentioned.
If you do not want to comment on a post but still want to follow the discussion about it, you can subscribe to the post.
To the right under every post is the bell symbol. Once you activate this, you always receive news about this post in the notification bell in the navigation.
Permissions
An example configuration for users (left side) and admins (right side) could look something like this:
A user with the permissions mentioned above can perform all key actions on a timeline: Creating and deleting posts and sharing content. What’s more, they can not only use their own timeline but also post on other timelines, e.g. on those of pages, communities, homepages, or other users.
Your admins should have the permission to create what are known as sticky posts. They "stick" to the top of the user’s timeline until the user confirms that the post has been read. Admins should also be assigned the permission to publish a "locked post". Users are unable to comment on or "like" this post.
Sticky
Haiilo offers the option of making a post mandatory for everyone. The "sticky" function is used for this. This post is then pinned at the top of every user’s timeline for a period of time. To remove a sticky post again, the user must be active and set the post to read by clicking on the option.You can set a post back to "un-sticky" later on. Select the corresponding function on the post and set it back to the normal post status.
To create a post with the "sticky" function, you need the permission to "Create sticky timeline items". Please have an administrator check whether you have this permission if you can’t see the option when creating the post.
Posts on timelines can only be set to "sticky" when they are created. This has been designed intentionally to prevent ancient posts from suddenly being set to "sticky" and thus appearing further up. If you want to bring an old post back into focus, you can share it and set this new post as "sticky" when you share it:
Like
The "Like" function in Haiilo has a visual effect: other users can express their agreement with a "Like".
Anyone with the permission "Access and add likes" can assign a "thumbs up". Ideally, the permission "Access timeline on homepage" is also allocated so that your users can also react to posts and not just blog articles.
Subscribers or authors do not receive any notification when users "like" the post. This could lead to an excessive number of notifications. Notifications are only created for new comments or named mentions via the mentioning function (@+name of user). Those who press "like" also don’t receive any notifications when another person "likes" or comments on the post.
Mention
Basically, where comments are possible, you can also mention other users.
To activate the function, all you have to do is type in an @ sign. This will open a drop-down list of all the users in your network. The more characters you use, the smaller the selection. In the flowing text, the link of the colleague is displayed as a hyperlink, and the person in question also receives a notification.
FAQ
What is the timeline?
The timeline is a digital noticeboard on which users can interact and provide each other with information. Timelines are available to you globally on homepages, on your profile and as an app within pages, events and communities.
In what order are timeline posts displayed?
The timeline has a chronological structure and is based on the time that posts are created. The sticky posts are always right at the top as they are pinned to highlight important information. If an old post is shared again, this post also appears further up.Which posts does the timeline contain on a homepage?
Timelines on homepages show you the latest happenings in Haiilo, broken down into your subscriptions and memberships. Everything from (your) pages, communities, events, and colleagues is collected here. If colleagues interact with each other and you only follow one of them, you will nevertheless see this on your timeline. In plain language, you see posts in the following user situations:- Posts from users who you follow
- Shared posts from users who you follow
- Posts written/shared on your own profile
- Posts that you have written/shared yourself on another profile
Example:
If person A writes something on person B’s timeline, everyone who follows person A or B sees this and, naturally, person B themselves.
No posts are displayed in the timeline just because they’ve been commented on or "liked" by someone who you follow. This way, we try not to overload the information flow on the timeline of a homepage, as things can quickly become confusing for companies of a certain size or with a large number of employees.
Can a post be changed later on?
Generally, a user can change the text of his own posts (attachments can no longer be changed). However, only until another user has reacted to it in the form of sharing, "liking", or commenting. Subsequent editing is then no longer possible as the context could otherwise change.
What happens if I delete a post?
Posts can fundamentally be deleted by the creator themselves or by an admin (with the permission "moderator mode"). The post, with all of its attachments and comments, is then removed from the interface.
Who can delete a post or the associated comments?
These users can delete a post or the associated comments:
- Moderators with activated moderator mode
- Administrators of a page or a community can delete posts and comments on the page/community
- Creators of a post can delete this along with the comments
If this should not be permitted, an admin can remove the global permission "Delete timeline items" from users, although this then also applies to posts that users have created themselves.
How can I find an old post on the timeline?
The timeline functions like a news ticker. It’s always up to date. Timeline posts can naturally be retrieved again. To do this, use the global search to limit the search criteria in detail with filters.
What happens to files on the timeline?
Files that are uploaded to the timeline in a post are saved encrypted in the database for your instance. Page admins can also upload files via the app folder and access them later. To access these, you require access to the central documents library. This functionality is particularly good if you often use the same image material.
If I post a file to the timeline of a community, why is this not stored directly in the file archive for the community?
The documents app is used to clearly manage and administer documents. If you were to mix both functions, this could quickly become confusing. Things soon get out of control, especially for large companies.
What happens to timeline attachments if the post is deleted?
The attachments of timeline posts are inseparable from the respective comment or post. As a result, the attachment is also deleted if the post or comment is deleted.
How can I delete a share on my personal timeline?
If you would like to delete a shared post from your own timeline, proceed as follows. Click on the number of shares. You can now see all shares for this post. In the list, select the options symbol for your entry and select "delete" there. The shared post is then deleted from your personal timeline.
Can any post be set as "sticky"?
If a user has the permission for "Create sticky timeline items", they can theoretically set any post as "sticky". This naturally also poses the risk that the function will be over-used. We thus recommend that you to allocate this permission with care. Users soon get annoyed when they have to click away 10 posts before they can reach the latest ones.
Is it possible to see who has read a post?
There is currently no provision for allowing users to see who has received and read a post. However, you can be sure: A post pinned at the top that needs to be marked as "read" manually will attract the right amount of attention and be seen by users.
So the rule is: Use the "sticky" function on posts sparingly. This then allows other users to see straight away that a post is important.
How is the preview of links handled?
The timeline preview feature creates a link preview when inserting a link which is stored in a cache version. That means Haiilo creates a preview when the link is used for the first time and afterwards this preview is used again every time the link is included in a post.
To generate a new preview, you can enter the corresponding link in a timeline post and add e.g. a "?" or a "/" at the end of the link. This will make the URL for the cached version different from the previous one and a new preview will be generated.
Is it possible to mention people in the body text of apps?
This is not possible, because the apps in Haiilo work with rich text editors - a simple Mentioning like in comments is not possible.
Two alternative solutions for you:
- You use the linking. In the body text you mention the name of the person. Activate the name and set a link to their profile.
- Alternatively, you can also add widgets via the advanced settings in a content app, for example, to directly display a preview of the user's profile.
In both cases, however, no notification is triggered.
Can I also mention a user via their phone number, for example?
You can, as long as your admins have configured the profile fields (here phone number) for Mentioning via REST API. You can read more about this here.