In Collaborate, users have the ability to follow other users and be followed. This allows you to view those in either list and easily contact them via the message button.
How to follow another user
The ability to follow another user is subject to the user interaction rules discussed here. This is due to the fact that access to user's profile can be restricted. Generally, users can only follow each other if they are in the same site or they are members of the same organisation.
To follow another user, access their profile via the search functionality or click their name in a post or update and in the top righthand corner click Follow:
Once you have followed a user, the button will display Following instead of Follow, allowing users to easily determine who they are following and who they are not.
To unfollow a user, hover over the Following button which will change to Unfollow and click it. This will unfollow you from this user.
Notifications when someone starts to follow a user
When a user is followed, the user may receive a notification (either via email, online or both), if they have has configured their notification settings appropriately. The email notification looks like the following:
There are no notifications when a user stops following you.
Who am I following/who is following me
A user can determine who they are following and who is following them from their own profile. There are two separate sections of the profile: Followers and Following. (The sections of the profile are identified on the left.)
Each section shows who is following the user and who the user is following, respectively. Within the Followers page, the user can in turn choose to follow any of their followers by clicking Follow next to each name.
What does it mean to follow someone
Currently, the primary benefit of following is that the following user can choose to filter his or her activity stream, displaying activity only involving the people they are following. Simply filter by People and select the People i'm following and People following me checkboxes:
