Spheres: The Complete Community Reference

Everything a Sphere does, as it works today.

Creating and setting up

Create → Spheres → New Sphere. Name, description, access type (Public, Private with approval, Paid through an offer), member threads on or off, attachments on or off, gamification on or off, accent colour and icon. Plan limits: 2, 3 or 5 Spheres, and 100, 500 or unlimited members each.

The Lounge

The Lounge is your view of the community: the feed of moments and threads, your conversations with members, and the moderation centre.

Moments and threads

• Moments are short posts with a photo or video.
• Threads are discussions with a title. Members reply, react with one of four reactions, and mention each other with @.
• You can pin a thread to the top, lock it to stop replies, or archive it.
• Members can start threads and attach files when you allow it.

Events

Events → Create Event: title, description, start time, meeting link, maximum attendees, cover image. Members RSVP. After the event, add a replay link so people who missed it can watch. Upcoming and past events are listed separately.

Resources

Resources → Add Resource: upload a file or add a link, with a title, description and category. Documents, audio, video and archives up to 50 MB; images up to 10 MB. Download counts are tracked.

Courses

Attach courses to a Sphere so members reach them from inside the community.

Direct messages

Members message each other only after a connection request is accepted, and can block anyone. You can converse with members from the Lounge.

Members

• Invite: Copy invite link, or invite by email.
• Approval: Private Spheres hold new members until you approve them.
• Remove or ban a member from the members list.

Moderation centre

Members can report content. Reports arrive in the moderation centre where you approve, reject, delete the content, dismiss the report, or mark it resolved while keeping the content. Word filters hold or block posts containing words you choose.

Gamification

When gamification is on, members earn points:

Activity	Points
Join the Sphere	10
Start a thread	15
Reply to a thread	5
Receive a reaction	2
First reply bonus	10
Daily visit	3
Attend an event	20
Share a moment	5
7-day streak	50
30-day streak	100

Levels: Rising (0), Member (50), Insider (200), Champion (500), Legend (1,000). Badges include First Steps, Conversation Starter, Dedicated, Early Adopter, Helpful, Beloved and On Fire.

Notifications

Members are notified in the portal, by email, and by push where they have allowed it, for new threads, replies, mentions, messages, level-ups and badges.

Analytics

Analytics shows Daily Activity, Top Contributors, Growth & Invites, and Engagement Insights, over 7, 30 or 90 days.

Paid access

Set the access type to Paid and link an offer. Pricing, trials and billing cycles live on the offer under Sell → Offers & Checkout. Payments appear in Insights → Sales.