Like and comment on Updates
Turn on likes and comments for your team and supporters, choose which team comments supporters see, moderate them, and set who can do what.
Likes and comments turn an Update into a conversation. Your team can cheer each other on and talk about the work, supporters can respond to the impact they helped make, and you decide which of your team's words supporters get to read. Let's set it up.
Before you start: to change the switches you need permission to edit settings. To like, comment or moderate, your role needs the Update reactions and Update comments permissions described in Choose who can like and comment. Administrators can do all of it.
Turn likes and comments on
Open the Engagement settings
Go to Settings > Impact Stories, then select Engagement.
Choose Reactions
Reactions on updates is on by default. It covers your team and supporters: when it's on, people whose role allows it can like Updates.
Choose Comments
Comments on updates stays off until you turn it on. Like reactions, it covers your team and supporters.
Set the supporter options
With comments on, a Supporters group appears. Moderation decides how supporters' comments are reviewed: Review first, Review after or No review. Show approved comments to other supporters lets supporters read each other's approved comments on an Update.
Save
Select Save in the bar at the bottom of the page. Nice work: your Updates are ready for a conversation.
- The switches come first. When one is off, nobody can like or comment, your team included, whatever their roles say. Nothing is deleted: likes and comments come back when you turn the switch on again.
- Roles decide who on your team. Each section links to Open Roles, where you choose who on your team can like, comment and moderate.
- Supporter moderation is for supporters. Your team's comments never wait for review: they appear to your team straight away.
- The Storyteller app has one more switch of its own, Show reactions and comments. See Likes and comments in the app.
Like and comment on the web
Every published Update has Like and Comment under it: on the Impact Story's list of Updates, and in the Engagement card on the Update's own page. Updates that are still in review, drafts and archived Updates don't take likes or comments; the Update page says "Likes and comments open once the update is approved and published."
Like an Update
Select Like. It stays highlighted to show you liked it. Select it again to take your like back.
Open the comments
Select Comment, or the number of comments. The comments open under the Update, oldest first. Select Load older comments to see more.
Write a comment
Type in Write a comment (up to 2000 characters), then select Send. To answer someone, select Reply under their comment first.
- See who liked it: select the number of likes. You see your teammates by name and supporters as a number, for example "Sam, Ana and 12 supporters".
- Change your own comment: open the menu on your comment and select Edit or Delete. An edited comment shows Edited. Deleting removes it for everyone.
- Who's who: your teammates show with their name and photo, or Former team member once they've left your organization. Supporters show by first name with a Supporter tag.
- Markers only moderators see: Waiting for approval on a supporter comment that hasn't been approved yet, and Hidden on one that was hidden.
- Counts by who: the Update's Engagement card, and each Impact Story's page, show Reactions from supporters, Reactions from your team, Comments from supporters and Comments from your team, so you can see who's joining in.
Team comments stay with your team
Comments your team writes, on the web or in the Storyteller app, are for your team only. Supporters see a team comment only when someone who can moderate comments chooses to show it to them.
- Show it: open the comment's menu and select Show to supporters. The comment gets a Shown to supporters tag. Only approved team comments can be shown.
- Take it back: select Hide from supporters. Supporters stop seeing it; your team still does.
- Show it as you write: if you can moderate comments, tick Also show to supporters before you select Send.
- Editing a shown comment makes it team-only again. A moderator chose to show the old words, not the new ones, so the edit box warns "Supporters stop seeing it until it is shared again." Show it again once you're happy with the new words.
- A shown team comment reaches every supporter who can see the Update, while comments are on. Show approved comments to other supporters doesn't affect it: that switch is about supporters reading each other.
Notes from the field can be personal. A storyteller might mention someone's health or family in a team comment. Read a comment with the people in the Update in mind before you show it to supporters.
What supporters see
In the supporter portal, a team comment you showed appears in the Update's comments with an Organization tag. Its name follows the byline the Impact Story uses (set under Settings > Impact Stories > Byline):
- Creator's name shows your team member's first name.
- Anonymized identity shows your anonymized name and logo instead.
Supporters never see a team member's surname, email or role. The like count supporters see includes your team's likes as part of the total, without saying who.
Moderate comments
Open moderation
Go to Impact Stories and select Moderation. The Comments and reactions page covers every Impact Story. To stay within one Impact Story, open it and select its Moderation tab.
Work through the queue
Queue starts on Pending: supporter comments waiting for approval. Team comments never wait, so change the status filter to find them.
Take action
Use the actions on each row: Approve, Hide, Remove, and on team comments Show to supporters or Hide from supporters.
The queue has three columns to help you tell comments apart. Each one can be filtered and sorted:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Commented by | Supporter, Storyteller, Staff or Admin. An administrator shows as Admin, a team member whose role works with Impact Stories or Updates on the web as Staff, and everyone else on your team as Storyteller. It's recorded when the comment is written. |
| Shown to | Team or Supporters. Supporter comments are always Supporters. |
| Written in | Portal, App or Web. It's hidden at first; add it from the grid's display options. |
Audit log lists the moderation decisions already made, and who made them.
See every reaction
Reactions on the same page lists every like and reaction on your Updates: the Update, the Impact Story, the Reaction, Reacted by (Supporter, Storyteller, Staff or Admin), Written in and when. You can also reach it from See every reaction on an Impact Story's page.
Supporters are never named here. The Name column shows team members only, and only to people who can moderate comments.
Choose who can like and comment
Go to Settings > Team > Roles and open a role. In the Impact Stories section, two rows decide what that role can do:
| Row | Permission | What it allows |
|---|---|---|
| Update comments | View | Read the comments on Updates: your team's comments and approved supporter comments. |
| Create | Write comments and replies. | |
| Edit | Edit or delete their own comments. | |
| Moderate | Approve, hide or remove anyone's comment, see comments waiting for approval, and choose which team comments supporters see. | |
| Update reactions | View | See how many likes and reactions each Update has. |
| React | Like an Update, and take the like back. |
Create, Edit and Moderate all need View, so the Roles page adds it when you tick one. On the web, comments live on the Update's page, so a role also needs to view Updates to read them there; the Roles page suggests it. Storytellers read comments in the app without it.
What each role starts with
- Administrators have everything.
- The Storyteller role can view comments, write them, edit its own, see likes and like Updates. It can't moderate.
- Roles that could see Impact Stories or Updates can view comments and likes.
- Roles that could moderate comments now have Moderate on Update comments.
- Other roles get nothing new. Add Create or React to any role you want to join in.
None of this shows anything until the matching switch is on, and Comments on updates stays off until you turn it on.
For a while you may still see an older Moderate comments checkbox on the Impact Stories row. It still lets a role moderate. To take moderation away from a role completely, untick both.
Troubleshooting
Related
Likes and comments in the app
What storytellers see and do on their phones.
See an Update's history
Who created, sent, approved and published it.
Still stuck?
We're here for you, and no question is too small. Tell us what you were trying to do and what happened, and we'll help you get it sorted.