Newsvine Groups Overview and Help

Some people prefer to participate in public discussions while others would rather organize into smaller groups with their friends, colleagues, or others who share common interests. Newsvine now provides four levels of interaction:

Public Discussions

Newsvine is a growing community of over 500,000 people. The easiest way to participate is to simply read articles just as you would on your favorite news site and participate in the public discussions which appear on each page. You can also write your own articles and publish them right here on Newsvine for everyone to see. Finally, you can share articles you've found elsewhere on the web ("seeding") and publish them to your public Newsvine column with just a few clicks.

Self-governed "Public Groups"

Sometimes a group of contributors would like to self-organize around a particular topic. Examples might be a "green" group discussing environmental issues or a "food" group discussing urban hipster cuisine. In Public Groups, all articles published by members are viewable to the world at the group's front page (http://yourgroupname.newsvine.com). Only group members, however, may publish to the group and non-members must request access in order to join.
- Show Me How...

Self-governed "Private Groups"

Private groups are just like Public Groups except in a Private Group, all content is hidden from non-members. Private Groups may still choose to list their group in the Newsvine Groups Directory so that others may find it and request access, but all articles, seeds, discussions, and member lists are always hidden. Private Groups are great for discussing sensitive topics or organizing groups of friends or colleagues around subjects that are only interesting to them.
- Show Me How...

Private discussions with friends

A High-Level Overview of Newsvine Group Functionality

The figure below shows how publishing content in each way affects who can read, discuss and participate:

Content Type:

Articles and Seeded Links

There are now four destinations for Articles and Seeded Links. Note that content published to Groups can always optionally be published to "All of Newsvine" as well.
Privacy:

Most Public <————————————————> Most Private
Published to:

All of Newsvine

Anyone can publish to to "All of Newsvine"

Public Group

Only members of the group can publish to a Public Group

Private Group

Only members of the group can publish to a Private Group

Friend List

Only the owner of the Friend List may publish to it
Readable by:

Everyone

Everyone can read content published to "All of Newsvine"

Everyone

Everyone can read content published to a Public Group

Group Members Only

Only members can read content published to a Private Group

Friend List Members

Only members of a Friend List can read content published to it
Possible Discussions:

Everyone

There is one public discussion open to all

Everyone or Group Members

There is one public discussion open to all and a group discussion open only to members

Group Members

There is one discussion open only to members

Friend List Members

Only members that are on the Friend List can join the discussion
NOTE: This left-most column describes Newsvine as it has existed thus far NOTE: Both Public and Private Groups can be listed in the Group Directory, but Private Groups may elect not to be listed. NOTE: A Private Group is like a Friend List that is shared among users. In other words, if more than one user will have the same Friend List, that relationship is better set up as a Private Group.

If you read the diagram from top to bottom, it shows the evolution of an article or seed on Newsvine. The process begins when someone publishes a piece of content to Newsvine. Next, members of the community read it, comment on it, and that leads to a discussion.

If you read the diagram from left to right, it shows the choices that users can make that lead from Most Public content to Most Private content. Most Public means that the largest number of Newsvine members can both read and discuss the article or seed, while Most Private means the most restrictions can be applied as to who can view the artlce of seed, as well as comment on it.

Newsvine Groups FAQ

Q: Once a group is private, can it ever be made public?
A: No. Discussions that happen in private groups are considered private forever, so it is not possible to transition a Private Group or any Private Group Discussions and make them public.
Q: If I seed some articles privately to a Friend List and then later go back and add someone new to the Friend List, will this person have access to the conversations that occurred before they joined the Friend List?
A: Yes. Adding someone new to an existing Friend List gives them retroactive access the conversations already seeded to that Friend List.
Q: If I seed something to a Private Group, will the seed appear in the Private Seeds & Articles module on my column page?
A: No. That module, if you configure it to be visible, displays private articles and seeds that are published to Friend Lists only.
Q: If I read an interesting seed or article on the front page of Newsvine, and I'd like to have a private discussion about the seed or article with a couple of my friends, is this possible?
A: Yes. Just scroll down to where the conversations begin, and you'll see a tab labelled Start New Friend Discussion. Select this tab, and you'll be presented with the option to either (a) start a conversation with all of your friends or (b) start a conversation with any of your current Friend Lists.
Q: Can content be removed from a Group by an Admin, if it does not belong?
A: Yes. Group Admins can remove content from the Group by clicking the small 'trash' icon in the toolbar provided on the Group's homepage. This will only remove the piece of content from the Group (i.e., the article or seeded link will still be available on the user's column and elsewhere around Newsvine such as tag pages, etc.).

A Glossary of Newsvine-Group-Specific Terms

Conversation:

A conversation is the set of comments at the bottom of a seed or article page. Also referred to as a "discussion".

Friend List:

A logical grouping of your Friends created for the purpose of discussing an article or seed. Examples might include "My Family", or "My Flickr Friends", or "My Bookclub". The rule of thumb here is that a Friend List should be created if you are the only person who might want to start a conversation with the people on the list. If it's a "shared list", you probably want to look into starting a Private Group.

Groups Directory:

All Public Groups, along with their descriptions, can be found in the Groups Directory, which can be found here.

Publish To:

Seeds and Articles now have multiple destinations on Newsvine. Examples of this include:

Seeded Link:

A seeded link is a link to an article found elsewhere on the internet. Instead of just writing original articles and publishing them to Newsvine, users can also publish links to other articles they've read, for the purpose of sharing and starting a discussion. Also referred to as a "seed".

Private Group:

A group whose seeds, articles, and members are not viewable to the public. Private groups may still choose to be listed in the Newsvine Groups Directory or they can remain completely hidden.

Public Group:

A group whose seeds and articles are available for reading and commenting by the general public, but which also has a separate conversation that's available only to those who are members of the group.

Only members of the group can post articles and seeds to the group, but any user who is interested in the group can read said articles and seeds.