Jivespace: Groups vs. Spaces

Heather Burks

329 posts since
Oct 3, 2008

Currently Being Moderated

Jan 7, 2009 3:34 PM

Groups vs. Spaces

I am having trouble explaining to others the difference between Groups and Spaces in our community. Maybe this is because I am not quite sure about the difference myself. I can see the concept, and know that there are some things you can do in one and not the other (ie projects), but am wondering how you explain the difference? Is there a guideline of when one would be more appropriate than the other, as well as a list of the differences?

Tags: groups, spaces, explain, difference

Functionality	Space	Group
Who can create?	Only space administrators. These are usually designated community managers who have received space administration training.	Any authenticated user
Typical Purpose	Spaces are typically used to create a more structured, browsable hierarchy. For example, some create a space and sub-spaces for each functional area across their organization; some create spaces that promote the cross-organizational conversations you want to invoke; some also create departmental spaces, but that is not a best practice, since it promotes siloes of information. http://experian.jivesoftware.com/docs/DOC-1032	Groups are typically used for ad hoc gathering around a particular topic. Some create groups for their departments; some create groups about more social topics (e.g. Beer Lovers).
Quantity	Best practice is to keep the number of top-level spaces small. Proliferation of spaces leads to a confusing UI and the inability to figure out where exactly to place new content.	Best practice is to let users create as many groups as they want and allow overlap. Group membership appears in a person's profile, and facilitates expertise location and the discovery of similar people.
Functionality	Projects, Discussions, Documents, space-based Blog, Tag Groups, Polls, Announcements and more can be created in Spaces. Of the two, the Space has more functionality.	Discussions, Documents, group-based Blog, Polls and Announcements can be created in Groups.
Membership	There is no membership element to a public Space. There is, however, with a private Space	There is membership for all four Group Types, including Open, Members Only, Private, and Secret (create a group to learn about the differences in these types)
Appearance in UI - Differences	Spaces are available in the Space widget, which can be added to All Content page, users' Your View page, and the Overview page of spaces.	Groups only appear via Browse -> Groups, and in the Your Groups widget, which is only available on a user's Your View page. Best practice is to add a link to the User Bar that takes a user directly to the Groups directory, as you see we've done in this Clearspace instance.

Functionality

Space

Group

Who can create?

Only space administrators. These are usually designated community managers who have received space administration training.

Any authenticated user

Typical Purpose

Spaces are typically used to create a more structured, browsable hierarchy. For example, some create a space and sub-spaces for each functional area across their organization; some create spaces that promote the cross-organizational conversations you want to invoke; some also create departmental spaces, but that is not a best practice, since it promotes siloes of information. http://experian.jivesoftware.com/docs/DOC-1032

Groups are typically used for ad hoc gathering around a particular topic. Some create groups for their departments; some create groups about more social topics (e.g. Beer Lovers).

Quantity

Best practice is to keep the number of top-level spaces small. Proliferation of spaces leads to a confusing UI and the inability to figure out where exactly to place new content.

Best practice is to let users create as many groups as they want and allow overlap. Group membership appears in a person's profile, and facilitates expertise location and the discovery of similar people.

Functionality

Projects, Discussions, Documents, space-based Blog, Tag Groups, Polls, Announcements and more can be created in Spaces. Of the two, the Space has more functionality.

Discussions, Documents, group-based Blog, Polls and Announcements can be created in Groups.

Membership

There is no membership element to a public Space. There is, however, with a private Space

There is membership for all four Group Types, including Open, Members Only, Private, and Secret (create a group to learn about the differences in these types)

Appearance in UI - Differences

Spaces are available in the Space widget, which can be added to All Content page, users' Your View page, and the Overview page of spaces.

Groups only appear via Browse -> Groups, and in the Your Groups widget, which is only available on a user's Your View page. Best practice is to add a link to the User Bar that takes a user directly to the Groups directory, as you see we've done in this Clearspace instance.

Jan 7, 2009 3:34 PM

Groups vs. Spaces

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