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Posted almost 12 years ago

Connecting on BiggerPockets: Followers & Colleagues

Connecting with others on BiggerPockets just got easier.  There are two ways that you can connect -- as a Follower and Colleague.  


Followers & Colleagues: What are they?

Following

When you follow another user, what you're telling our system is that you're interested in seeing their various activities around the site, including posting of property listings, blog articles, and files, as well as other actions. 




Colleagues

Colleagues can see everything that Followers can see, but they can also send one another private message.  In addition, if you've got a profile that is private to everyone but colleagues, your colleagues will be able to see the details you've got posted, whereas followers or others will not.


How to Connect as a Follower or Colleague on BiggerPockets

On a user's profile, next to their forum posts, and next their blog posts, you'll find a Connect link.  Once you click that link, you'll see a dropdown that will allow you to follow or send a colleague request to that user.



Simply click follow and you'll start following them.  If you click "Send Colleague Request," you will be taken to a page where you can send a personal message with your request.  It is in your best interest to provide a professional introduction, and to explain why you're looking to connect with that user.


Once you've entered your note and click "Send Request" the other user will be notified on their Notifications on site and by email of the request.  If you've entered a message, that will appear in their inbox.


They can then choose to accept, reject, or ignore the request.  


Now, the recipient of a colleague request can also elect to respond to the message in the request before or after responding to the request itself, just as you would respond to a private message.

Other Conditions:

Adding a Colleague Request After Following Someone - Just click the connect link and you'll see that you can send a request there.


Spontaneous Colleagues - When users follow one another, they become colleagues spontaneously.


Removing a Colleague - Just go to the Colleagues link on the left of your dashboard and click the red circle with the minus sign in it to remove any colleagues.


Comments (18)

  1. Did I read somewhere that you can only have so many colleagues on the site? If so should we be a little selective with the colleagues that we accept and request? Thanks for any information am trying to understand this to maximize the use of it on the site.


    1. There's no limit to the number of colleagues you can have -- just the number of outstanding requests at one time.


  2. Note there is a typo in the first line Joshua Dorkin... "couldn't just got easier"


    1. My goodness -- the post is over a year old and no one caught that until now. Thanks! I just fixed it.


    2. Because I can't resist taking something too far, I'd like to add that you can hold the ALT key and type 0151 on your numberpad, and it will produce an em dash when you release—unless you are really partial to those double hyphens. :-P Also, this is a great article! Because your comments appeared in my dashboard this morning, I remembered to go and follow a few more of my favorites here at BP.


    3. Jesse - I don't have the time to press ALT 0151 -- that takes me 3 times as long as it takes to do a double dash. ;) I'm glad you found it to be valuable, though. The dashboard works if you use it . . . .


    4. I didn't say it would be valuable! I'm full of useless tidbits. My focus for the year is to quit collecting them so that I can mind my business, as Robert would put it.


    5. I guess I'm sorry you don't find it to be valuable. We do our best here, but not every tool is for everyone. I suppose I must have misread your intent...


  3. I was just wondering what these things are. Thanks for the article. :)


  4. is following function on forum still active/useful? I don't see where the benefit/use is for "following" someone.


    1. The value comes in seeing that user's blog posts, dashboard posts, and new forum posts in your dashboard feed.


    2. really? in my dashboard feed, i see a lot of other people outside my following list. is that a bug or am i missing something? thx for the quick feedback!


  5. Updating the new colleague request feature so you can reply is great, but now all my conversations are titled "New Colleague Request". It would be nice if we could edit the title of our conversations. Thanks Josh for all your hard work and making this site what it is!


  6. I have no problem with it being colleague or follower but I still have a few that are still both. I noticed my followers list dropped to very few which I understand. I guess some of the doubles were missed.


    1. Let us know if this is the case tomorrow morning, and if it is, we'll investigate. I believe that the script is still running. Thanks.


  7. This is one thing I've been a bit confused about, can you be someone's follower and their colleague simultaneously?


    1. Previously, you could. That is no longer possible. You're either a follower or a colleague.


    2. Good to know. Thanks.