Feature Spaces for New Members

Free & Pro

You can choose which spaces to highlight so new members start where you want them, instead of a near-random list. Featured spaces show up first in the Spaces directory and in the new-member welcome flow.

Why use it#

On a new community there are no member counts or activity yet, so every automatic "popular" or "suggested" list is close to random, exactly when a newcomer most needs steering. Featuring a handful of spaces fixes that:

You decide the starting point. The spaces you feature lead the directory and onboarding, so a new member's first click is one you chose.
It follows them across the site. Featured spaces lead the directory sidebar on desktop, a strip at the top on mobile, the onboarding "Spaces" step, and get a nudge in the suggestions members see in the feed.
No setup trap. If you have not featured anything but you auto-join new members to some spaces, those become the featured set automatically, so the section is never empty for no reason.

How it works (site owner, in the admin)#

Everything is under BuddyNext > Spaces > Directory.

Featuring a space#

From the "…" menu on any space row, choose Feature (or Unfeature). Featured spaces show a Featured badge, and a Featured (n) filter shows just them.
You can feature up to 6 spaces. Trying to feature a 7th tells you to unfeature one first.
Select several rows and use the bulk action to feature or unfeature them together.

Ordering them#

The Featured spaces section at the top of the Directory shows your featured spaces in order. Drag to reorder, or use the up/down buttons, and remove one with the ×. Type a name in Add a space to search and add another. Changes save as you make them.

The order matters: it is the order members see, top to bottom.

What members see#

Desktop / tablet: a Featured card at the top of the Spaces directory sidebar.
Phone: a horizontal Featured spaces strip above the directory list (the sidebar is hidden on small screens).
New members: your featured spaces lead the "Spaces" step of the welcome flow (open spaces only there, since that step is one-click join).
In the feed: featured spaces a member has not joined get a gentle boost in their suggested spaces, behind their strongest personal matches.

Good to know#

Private and secret spaces stay private. You can feature them, but they are only shown to people who can already see them. A featured secret space never appears to someone who should not know it exists.
Archived or deleted spaces drop out of the featured lists automatically.
It is your data, not a setting. "Restore defaults" on the Spaces settings never clears your featured list.
Featured spaces are not pinned into the main directory grid or its sorts; they lead the discovery surfaces above, and the grid stays as-is.