The article explains how to use Deputy News Feed and Posts to communicate with your team members and will cover:

• Overview
• Who can create a post?
• Who can request confirmation that the recipient has read the post?
• Who can see a post?
• How to create a post?
• Confirming you've read a post
• Commenting on a post
• Permissions to post and comment
• How will my team members know they have a post to read?
• How do I see who has read / confirmed a post?
• How to message team members currently working at a location?
• How to find a post?
• How to delete a post?
• FAQ

The News Feed feature in Deputy allows you to communicate with your team members.

You can:

Any team member (with permission enabled) may create a post in News Feed.

Team members may create a post (or comment on or confirm one) using the latest version of the mobile and Kiosk apps as well as using Deputy on the web.

You can see and share posts with team members you have access to, meaning those you share a workplace with or those you manage.

You are only able to see messages that are relevant to you. If a team member posts a message to a location where you work, then you will be able to see and comment on the post. However, if one team member sends posts directly to another team member, only those two team members are able to see that post.

How to create a post

1. Using Deputy on the web, click on News Feed at the top of the screen.

2. Click Create Post.

3. Select who you would like to share your post with. In the dropdown, you will see the full list of locations and team members you have permission to send messages to.

Rather than scrolling through the list, you may type the name of the location/person you'd like to share the post with and then select the name when it appears. 

4. Enter the text you would like to send. This can be anything you'd like to add, whether it be a short message, a link, or a long post. The character count limit is 3000.

5. If you would like to attach a file to the post for your team to view or download, please click Attachment. You may attach JPG, PNG, MP4, MOV and PDFs to the post. To attach the file, find it on your device then select it and click Open. You may attach up to 4 files, however, there is a limit of 100MB per file. You can delete an uploaded attachment by hovering over the file and clicking on the trash can icon.

6. Tick the check box if you would like your reader to confirm they have read the message or allow the reader to comment on your post.

Who can you ask to confirm a post?

If the author of a post has requested you to confirm you've read a post then Confirmation required will appear under the post.
Click Confirm read to let the author know you have received and acknowledged their message.

Once you have confirmed you've read a post, Confirmed read will appear under the post and the author will be able to see you've read the post.

Reacting to posts with emojis

You can click on React to add an emoji to some posts or comments in your News Feed.

Note: you can not react with an emoji on posts that require confirmation. This is to avoid confusion between reacting with a thumbs-up emoji and actually clicking Confirm read.

If you would like to see who has reacted to a post or comment just click on the Reactions link to view these.

By default, all team members are able to comment on posts that are visible to them unless:

• the System Administrator has disabled the permission for that team member's access level OR
• the author has not enabled comments for that post.

If you have permission to comment on a post, a text field will appear next to your profile photo under the post. Just type your message and click Comment.

You can write comments with up to 500 characters.

By default, all team members in your organisation have the ability to post and comment on messages in the News Feed however, the following options are also available.

System Administrators do also have the ability to disable and enable specific user access levels from posting and/or commenting on News Feed posts if desired.

System Administrators of Deputy accounts on Premium, Scheduling and Time and Attendance plan can learn how to configure News Feed posting and commenting permissions in Customise your Deputy account with Business Settings.

For Deputy accounts on the Enterprise plan, you can learn how to configure News Feed posting and commenting permissions in Roles, Access Levels & Permissions - Enterprise

When each author creates a post there is also the option to decide whether you want team members to be able to comment on that specific post.

If you would like to allow commenting on your post just select the check box at the bottom of the window before clicking Post.

New posts will appear on Deputy's News Feed page and members will receive an email notifying them of the new post.

Team members who have the Deputy mobile app will not receive an email. They will receive a push notification on their phones to inform them of a new post. They can tap on this notification to read the message, confirm and comment to reply if required.

After creating the post with Require Confirmation turned on, you will be able to view who has confirmed the post by clicking the link under the text of the post.

In the example below, 4 of the 49 people the post was sent to, have read and confirmed the post.

When you click on the purple link you can see a list of:

• All recipients of the post
• Confirmed recipients
• Unconfirmed recipients

You are also able to ask team members who have already confirmed to reconfirm. 

Note: not all users have the ability to view read confirmation lists:

• System Administrators can view who has confirmed they've read a post on all posts they have permission to view regardless of whether they created the post or another team member did.
• Location Managers and Supervisors can only see who has confirmed they've read a post on only the posts they have created themselves. They are unable to view read confirmation lists on posts created by other users
• Employees are unable to view any confirmation lists about who has read a post.

You can send a post to all team members at a particular location by selecting that Location group when you create the post. However, there is also a way to message team members currently working at that particular location at the time you create the post.

1. Click on the Locations page.

2. On the right side of the screen, you will see a list of team members. Select the location you are interested in from the drop-down menu and the team members that are currently on shift will be listed.

3. Click the speech icon circled below:

This will bring up the Create Post pop up and will auto-populate the Share with field with all the team members that are currently on shift in the location you selected and allow you to create a post including adding an attachment and selecting whether the recipients need to confirm they have read it and whether they are permitted to comment on the post.

Filter

On the News Feed tab you can find your filters over to the left. Changing your filters will display the relevant post in the News Feed.

You may filter by:

When using the mobile app - posts will appear in chronological order.
When using the web app - posts requiring confirmation will appear first in chronological order, followed by posts which don't require confirmation in chronological order.

Search bar

At the top of the News Feed page you will also see a search bar. You can type in this search bar to search for specific content of a post, or for the staff member who posted it. The system will search for all posts fitting the criteria within your currently selected filter as selected on the left-hand side menu.

You can also find posts left by a team member by viewing their profile from any page such as People or Schedule.

Simply click on the Team member's icon, click to view their profile and click the News Feed tab.

To delete a news feed post, simply mouse-over the post you would like to delete and click the Trash can icon. Note this is single click action, you will be not asked to confirm the delete action. The post can not be recovered so only click the delete button is you are sure you wish to delete the post.

The ability to delete a post depends on the user's access level.

• System Administrators can delete any post they have permission to view. Note: System Administrators can not view or delete posts sent between other team members to each other.
• Location Managers can only delete their own posts.
• Supervisors can delete their own posts as long as the post only has comments from themselves or Supervisors and Employees. Supervisors can not delete a post where another Supervisor, Location manager or System Administrator has commented on it.
• Employees can delete their own posts as long as the post only has comments from themselves or other Employees. Employees can not delete a post where Supervisors, Location managers or System Administrators have commented on it.

For more information please read News Feed - FAQ.