The 'important news' overview

Introduction

The 'important news' overview displays the most relevant, popular and recent posts at the top of the homepage. This way you can see at a glance which posts currently deserve attention.

In this article you will read which posts appear in the overview, how the system determines their order, how admins adjust the overview, which tips help to keep it clear and what to do if you run into problems.

Example of the 'important news' overview at the top of the Plek homepage

Please note:
Only admins can adjust the 'important news' overview through the Admin Panel. Which posts a user sees depends on the settings of your environment and on the groups the user is a member of.

How does the 'important news' overview work?

The system automatically determines which posts are relevant to you. Depending on the settings of your environment, three types of post streams are combined in the overview:

Channel posts: posts that have been placed in a channel.
Posts from groups you are a member of: news from your own groups.
Popular posts from open groups: relevant posts from groups you are not a member of, but that are open to everyone.

Two display modes are available for the overview itself: Grid and Carousel. Admins decide which mode is active.

Grid view:

Example of the grid view of the 'important news' overview

Carousel view (new):

Example of the new carousel view of the 'important news' overview

How is the order determined?

When you select 'Show all channels, groups and/or open groups by default' under Post configurations, an algorithm determines the order of the posts. It makes sure that every user sees news that is interesting and relevant for them.

Frequent users regularly see new posts. Less frequent users mainly see the most important and unread posts. The algorithm assigns points based on the following criteria:

Channel priority: for each channel you can set whether posts in that channel should get extra weight in the algorithm. This way you largely determine the important news yourself. Go to Admin Panel > Configurations > Channels, click the three dots (...) next to the channel and adjust the priority under General information > Post priority for important news section via the dropdown menu.
Featured posts: featured posts are given extra weight and are prominently visible to all users. They are marked with . In grid view, featured posts appear in the top left of the overview.
Popularity: posts with many views, likes and/or comments rank higher and are marked with .
Recent posts: recent posts weigh more than older ones, so that something new appears regularly. They are marked with . Older posts can still remain visible for a while if they are popular — the algorithm takes into account whether views, likes and comments are recent, so popular posts from the past do not stay visible indefinitely.
Read status: the algorithm takes into account whether a user has already read a post. The order of the posts therefore differs at each visit to the homepage.

Posts from open groups

Posts from open groups you are not a member of carry less weight in the algorithm than posts from groups you are a member of. This way you only see relevant and interesting posts from those groups.

Are too many irrelevant posts from open groups still being shown? Then they can be filtered out. Posts from your own groups or popular posts from other groups can also be turned off separately.

Info:
Users can always adjust their own view, within the default settings the admin has configured for the environment.

Adjusting the 'important news' overview

Admins manage the 'important news' overview through the Admin Panel. Follow the steps below to access the settings.

Navigate to the settings

Hover over your profile picture in the top right of the screen.
Click on Admin Panel in the menu that appears.
Go to Configurations > Modules > Startpage.

Adjust the settings

Under Configurations > Modules > Startpage you will find all options for the 'important news' overview. Follow these steps:

Turn the 'important news' overview on or off using the toggle.
Choose a display mode: Grid or Carousel.
Under Post configurations, choose which type of posts are shown: channels, groups and/or open groups.
Adjust the title of the overview (optional).
Adjust the colours (optional).
Set how long a post should remain visible.
Click Save to apply your changes.

Tip:
Want to give a specific channel extra visibility? Adjust the priority for that channel. Read more about this in the section How is the order determined?.

Tips for a clear 'important news' overview

Use the following tips to make sure the overview stays calm and relevant for all your users.

Tip 1: Get the settings right

When the general platform settings and channel settings are properly configured and important posts are featured, you have more control over which posts are displayed.

Tip 2: Choose a calm visual style

Bright colours and a busy background can make the overview look cluttered. You can adjust your visual identity from the admin panel yourself.

Tip 3: Work with images

The 'important news' overview shows posts both with and without images. For many users, a view that only shows posts with an image is easier to scan. Choose the image carefully — a resolution of 600x340 ensures a sharp image.

Tip:
You can decide which image is shown in the 'important news' overview yourself. Use the 'image preview' function for this. You can also choose to remove the image from the body of the text.

Tip 4: Agree on a content strategy

The more users have influence on the 'important news' overview, the bigger the chance that it becomes messy. Make clear agreements about your content strategy and, if needed, limit the number of people who can post channel messages.

Troubleshooting