How to See Who Is Online in BuddyNext

How to see who is online in BuddyNext, step by step. A green dot marks each member who used the site in the last five minutes. The Members page has an Online now box, an Online only filter and a Recently active sort. The same dot shows on a member's profile. Only signed-in members see who is online, and there is nothing to set up.

Transcript

In this tutorial you will see who is online in BuddyNext. A green dot marks each member who is on the site now, so people know who is around to reply. You need BuddyNext, the free plugin. There is nothing to switch on. It takes about two minutes. There are five steps. Open the Members page. Show online members only. Sort by recently active. Check a profile. Then know who can see it. Step one. Open the Members page. Sign in as a member and click Members. Beside the cards, the Online now box names the members who are on the site, with a count. A member counts as online when they have used the site in the last five minutes. After that, they drop off the list by themselves. Step two. Show online members only. Above the cards, tick Online only. The page now lists only the members who are online. Each picture carries a green dot. A grey dot means the member is not on the site now. Step three. Sort by recently active. To keep everyone on the page, and still see who was here last, use the sort list. Choose Recently active. The members who used the site most recently move to the top, online or not. Step four. Check a profile. Open a member's profile. The same dot sits on the profile picture, green while the member is online. Nobody sets themselves online. The dot follows real use of the site, and it goes grey when the member logs out. Step five. Know who can see it. Only signed-in members see who is online. Here is the same page for a visitor who is not signed in. There is no Online now box, and every dot is grey. Two things for the site owner. There is no setting for this in the admin, and a member has no switch to hide their own dot. Everyone who is signed in and active shows as online. That is all five. The Members page opened, online members shown, the list sorted by recently active, a profile checked, and who can see it explained. Your community now looks as alive as it is. Next in this series: Share photos and albums on a profile.