You can communicate privately on Connect
This guide is part of the Transition Tutorials.
Summary
Discover how to send and receive private messages on Connect. It’s pretty easy.
How to message someone
The easiest way is to tap/click on the name of the Local Guide you want to contact. Then their profile will pop up with a blue Message-button.
Use the blue Message-button to start writing your message.
As shown above, Connect will automatically insert a link to the topic from where you started the message. Feel free to delete this if it is not needed.
The other way to start a new private conversation is to hit your profile picture and then select Messages.
Then hit New Message.
Using this method requires you to spell the username correctly.
You might have noticed the text Add users or groups. Groups are not yet available on Connect.
Keep in mind that all Connect users can disable private messages. In that case, you cannot send them a message.
Getting a private message
When you receive a new private message, it will appear in your Bell feed, and a tiny red envelope is shown with the bell icon.
Depending on your notification settings, you can also get notified by email or live notifications.
Just click on a message to open it.
Under messages, you have these options to sort your messages:
- Latest
- Sent
- New
- Unread
- Archive
Using private messages on the revitalized Connect is easy and better integrated than on the old site. We can contact fellow local guides here on Connect, but keep in mind that only a fraction of the Maps users are signed up to Connect. So you can not reach out to any Local Guide you find on Maps. If they have not signed up on Connect or use a different username, you cannot contact them.
Some groups of Local Guides have decided to use apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, and Facebook to communicate more directly and quickly.
This is the end of this tutorial.
Credit: The oil painting shown at the top is Beach at Trouville by Eugène Boudin. Painted in 1864/5. Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington.
