Microblogging for Confluence

Share information, have conversations, write messages and updates

See the documentation for your Release

Write a micropost


Mention a user by typing "@" and you'll get suggestions.


Choose a topic for your micropost.

The microblog editor to write a micropost is similar to the one used by Confluence for comments. Use it to share information and style your micropost.

You can use:

  • Text formatting
  • Links
  • Images
  • @ to mention a user
  • # to label / hashtag a micropost (warning) the word you want to use as hashtag hast to be unformatted (not bold, underlined, italic etc.)
  • Some macros (warning) Please note that not all macros work within the microblog. Especially if you insert them via copy / paste.

You also have to choose a microblog topic to store your micropost in ("Cat content" in the screenshot). In most cases, a suggested topic is preselected. If you cannot see the option to select a topic, the topic is predefined by context or macro configuration.

Reply to a micropost


Replying to a micropost uses the same editor as writing a new one.

Replying to a micropost is pretty much the same as writing a new one. By clicking the "Reply"-Button the related micropost will be moved to the top of the timeline and you can answer while seeing the context. Obviously, you can not change the microblog topic when writing an answer.

You can not only reply to top-level microposts, but also to replies. Currently, no actually nested replies are created. Instead, your reply goes to the top-level post, but the post you refer to will be highlighted in the context and an @-mention will be inserted in the editor. Also, the editor now always shows up directly under the post you refer to so that you don't have to scroll through all the reply context.

 

Edit a micropost

 


By clicking the "edit" button, you get the well known editor to change your post.


After editing, the micropost is marked as "edited". You can open the version history by clicking this word.


The version history shows every change that was made.

You can edit your microposts to correct a typo, fix a link or whatsoever.
(info) Note that every Confluence administrator can also edit or remove your post!

After saving an edited micropost, it will be marked as "edited", so that others are aware that the post has been modified.

Click the "(edited)" link to show a version history overlay. It includes all modifications that have been made to this post, including date, time, the modifying user and the post contents.

Note that editing a micropost will not change the order of the timeline. The edited micropost will not be on top.

 

Delete a micropost

As a regular user you can delete your own microposts. Confluence or Space admins can also delete other users' microposts. But there is one rule: Only the last post of a conversation can be deleted at any given time. This rule applies to both regular users and admins. The idea behind this rule is to prevent anyone from distorting the meaning of a post by changing its context. 

If you want to remove a whole thread, you'll have to do so one post at a time.


Personal timeline, filter and search

With the sidebar you can

  • define your own Microblog Timeline (personal timeline) depending on your interests 
  • filter which topics or spaces you want to see in your timeline 
  • search for content and hashtags 

Set your personal timeline (My topics and spaces)


Click on the Gear symbol to define your personal timeline.

 


Now you can set the spaces and topics your are interested in and which should be shown in your timeline.


Click "Save". As a result you'll see your personal timeline. If new topics or spaces are added to the microblog, you'll get them automatically in your personal timeline.

 

Filter which topics or spaces you want to see


Click on a topic or space in the sidebar. Now the timeline only shows posts of the selected topic oder space and you'll also see a hint at the top of your timeline, e.g. "Selected topic: General". Click on "x" or the topic once again and the filter's deactivated.

Use "CMD" or "Control" in order to filter for multiple topics or spaces.

Search for content and hashtags


Click on the loupe to use the search function. You can search for content or hashtags.


E.g. type in "extranet" and hit the loupe button or use "Enter" on your keyboard. You'll see your search highlighted and also a hint "Your search result:". Click on "x" or switch to the sidebar tab to delete your search.


With "Advanced Search" you can specify your search for author or period. You can also define in which spaces or topics you want to search (standard is searching in your personal timeline).

 

Notification for new posts


If new posts are available, you'll get a notification in your timeline - load them by clicking.


Shortened microposts


Your admin can activate "shortened microposts" so that microposts are shortened depending on a defined height. In this case you'll see a "Show more" button.

(warning) The macro can be configured to restrict the topic filter to a given space. The filter and search function is still available, but you're not able to define your personal timeline.

The macro can also be configured to only show a given topic and not display the sidebar at all.
(See Configure Macro)



Inserting the macro / Inserting a timeline in a wiki page

Within the "Microblog Timeline" macro you have a powerful configuration to customize your timeline.

Add macro

  1. Create or edit a page.
  2. Add "Other macro".
  3. Search for "microblog timeline" in the macro selector and add the "Microblog Timeline".
  4. Configure Macro (See Configure macro)
  5. Click on "Insert".
  6. Click on "Save". - You should see microposts - if any exist - in your Confluence wiki.
    (warning) Your admin has to configure at least one topic to get the microblog timeline to work - otherwise you are not able to write a micropost.
    (warning) Please notice that it is not possible to add more than one Microblog Timeline to a single Confluence page.

Configure macro

 

This shows a configuration for a "space timeline".

  1. Default timeline: Choose the default source for this microblog and configure which posts are displayed initially.
    Depending on this configuration you have different parameters to set. (See Configuration combinations)
    1. Global: Initially shows the "global timeline" with posts from all spaces and topics.
    2. Space: Initially shows a "space timeline" with posts from the specified space.
    3. Topic: Initially shows a "topic timeline" with posts from the specified topic. The user can switch to other topics.
      New in 3.1: Can be left empty, so users have to choose a topic first to write Microposts
    4. Topic (without topic sidebar):  Shows a topic timeline with posts from the specified topic. The user can not switch to other topics.
      Note: The topic sidebar is disabled with this configuration.
  2. Space: Choose the space from which the microposts should be loaded.
    (warning) If you don't find the space you want to use you have to add a topic to this space in the administration first!
  3. Default topic for posting: Select a topic where the microposts should be stored by default. When using a space timeline, the dropdown is restricted to topics from the specified space.
    New in 3.1: Can be left empty, so users have to choose a topic first to write Microposts
  4. Topic: Choose the topic from which the microposts should be loaded and where they should be stored by default.
  5. Hide topic sidebar: Initally hide the topic sidebar instead of showing it. Users can still expand the sidebar for searching (and they still can hide it if you don't select this option).
  6. Limit number of microposts shown: Optionally enter the number of microposts displayed on a page - default is 20 and max is 100. The limit applies to "parent" microposts, not to replies. When there are more posts in the microblog, a "Show more posts" link is displayed.
  7. Limit number of replies shown: Optionally enter the number of initially displayed replies to each micropost - default is 3. When there are more replies to a micropost, they can be viewed by clicking on a "X more replies" link.

(lightbulb) No worries: This configuration looks harder than it is. Just try it and use the preview button in the "Edit 'Microblog Timeline' Macro" view to see the results.


Configuration combinations

 Space (2)Default topic for posting (3)Topic (4)Hide topic sidebar (6)Sidebar always hidden
Global(error)(tick)(error)(tick)(error)
Space(tick)(tick)(error)(tick)(error)
Topic(error)(error)(tick)(tick)(error)
Topic (without topic sidebar)(error)(error)(tick)(error)(tick)



Microblog action

The microblog now has its own page where you can see the global timeline. You can get there by clicking the link in the application header.

The microblog action is also available under: http://<Confluence-URL>/plugins/microblog.action.

Notifications


A typical notification after a user mentions you in a micropost.

If a user replies to your micropost or you get mentioned in a micropost, you'll get an email notification (if you configured your account to receive notifications).

The notification emails contain the micropost with complete context (i.e., all replies), and with all attached images.

You can directly view, answer and like the micropost.

Receive your daily digest or instantly for every new post

If you want to know what is going on inside your confluence microblog, but you can't access your intranet because you are out of office (and maybe your confluence is behind a firewall), the daily digest or instantly email features are what you are looking for.

Simply click the watch button on your global timeline and get an email with all unread posts.

(warning) If you cannot see the watch button, your administrator has disabled the daily digest feature of the microblog.


The subscribe button for Notifications by Email

The subscription dialog after clicking the watch button.

You can choose between a daily digest and an instantly email for every new post. You can also set the hour when you want to receive your daily digest.

In both cases, you will only receive an email notification for the selected topics or spaces.

New in 3.0: You receive the daily digest at your time - you don't have to care about the server time anymore.

New in 3.1: Hipchat integration


Microposts created in space "TEST" will send a notification to Hipchat Room "MB Test"

Requires Confluence HipChat Plugin at least in version 7. You can update it via add-on management in your Confluence instance.

If you already connected your Confluence with Hipchat you may configure notifications on micropost creation per space (See Use HipChat and Confluence together for details). You find the configuration pages under:

  • <base-url>/plugins/servlet/hipchat/configure
  • <base-url>/spaces/hipchat2.action?key=<space-key>

By checking "new Micropost" you may receive a notification in Hipchat everytime a new Micropost is created

(warning) Please note, that Hipchat does not support all html attributes, so the notifications may not look exactly the sam as the post in confluence. For example there images or macros will be stripped.

(question) By now, we can't say if this integration also works with Stride - stay tuned


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This content was last updated on 01/14/2020.

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