How to Use Microblogging in SharePoint 2013

To begin, what exactly is microblogging? Often too long to be a tweet, but too short to be a traditional blog, a microblog is abbreviated content that, according to Microsoft, “allows users to quickly broadcast information to a central location while enabling other users to create a public dialog responding with comments. Important information and news can be shared quickly among peers while keeping conversations in context.”

New to SharePoint 2013, Microsoft has added this powerful, much anticipated social networking function to out-of-the-box SharePoint. In addition to being able to post microblogs, Microsoft has also introduced a new feature that allows you to catch up with other users via a public dialog. In this post, we’ll show you how to set up your microblog as well as introduce some of its key functionalities.

Add the Microblogging Web Part to Your Site:

  • On the Edit page, select the Insert Web Part tab from the Ribbon. From the Categories menu, select Social Collaboration and then Site Feed from the Parts menu:
  • Once installed, you should see something similar to the screenshot below:

Invite Others to Your Newsfeed:

  • Under your News Feed, click the Invite button. A dialog box will appear, prompting you to add other users:
  • Once you have entered the names of the users with whom you would like to share your site, click on Share.

Post Content to Your Microblog:

On your microblog, you have the ability to post both texts as well as images.  To post content, simply do the following:

  • Input selected text and/or image into the content dialog block:
  • Once finished, click the POST button at the bottom:
  • After you have clicked POST, your content will become “live” and available for viewing to other users:

Where is my microblogged content stored?

  • Once you have added the Site Feed Web Part, you will see that a new List named MicroFeed has been created. This list contains all of the content and data which you have added to your microblog:
  • By clicking on the MicroFeed list, you’ll see an item that resembles a folder with the title Guild ID of the Site Feed Web Part:
  • By clicking on the item under Title, the content and data which you have added to your microblog will be displayed:

Please note: In a given site, we are able to add numerous Site Feed Web Parts; however, we are only able to see one Site Feed Web Part and have one MicroFeed List.

Want to know more about out-of-the-box web parts available for SharePoint 2013? Check out the complete series: