General Information
- Who and what is CircleBuilder?
- Why does my church or ministry need CircleBuilder?
- How does CircleBuilder work?
- How is CircleBuilder different than other social networking sites?
- Can I make my profile, events, and circles private?
- What about moderation?
- How much does it cost?
- Do I still need my website?
How do I?
- Add a new circle in my organization?
- Upload my organization's logo?
- Upload an image to use for a circle logo?
- Invite others to join my circle?
- Set up an event?
- Add a comment?
- Add a photo?
- Send a message to a member?
- Configure content moderation?
Blog
General Information
Who and what is CircleBuilder?
The founders of CircleBuilder have been developing technologies to help faith-based organizations connect since 2000. We are deeply committed to helping churches and ministries connect and grow. Our community engagement engine provides faith-based organizations a private, easy-to-use, full featured solution to connect members and help them grow their faith.
Why does my church or ministry need CircleBuilder?
Online social networks have exploded in popularity and it's not just young kids using them. Members of your own community want to connect with and learn from each other, but the unique needs of churches and ministries require features not found in these open environments. CircleBuilder lets you harness the power of connective technology and manage concerns over member privacy, church branding and content control.
How does CircleBuilder work?
Take the tour and see for yourself.
How is CircleBuilder different than other social networking
sites?First, most social networking sites are built around the individual. CircleBuilder is built around your organization. Second, these sites open their members to everyone and anything on the Internet. Your domain is private and you can maintain control over membership and content. Third, open social networks lack a portfolio of specific features aimed at improving the spiritual life of your community such as organization specific tagging, personalized communications, moderation and branding.
Can I make my profile, events and circles private?
Yes. Profiles, events and circles each have unique privacy settings, allowing you to control who can see and interact with your information.
What about moderation?
Our configurable moderation system allows creation of content (blog posts or circles, for example) to be moderated either by organization administrators or by circle organizers.
How much does it cost?
Start a free circle for your church or organization. It allows you to list events, add circles, post pictures and start connecting. As your needs grow, you can expand into an affordable, monthly subscription package suitable for your organizations.
Do I still need my website?
CircleBuilder was created to be your private, member engagement and connectivity engine. Your website, on the other hand, is often designed to be searchable by browsers and outsiders, and for general public information. Certainly there is a place for both, which is why CircleBuilder provides the capability to build a new public website, free, with up to 5 pages. It's easy to maintain, public and searchable, and convenient since it's part of your organization's CircleBuilder account.
How do I?
Add a new circle in my organization?
- Click on Circles in the top navigation bar
- Click the "Add a Circle" button
- Fill out the new circle information
- Choose the parent circle. Your new circle will be organized under the parent circle.
Depending on your organization's moderation settings, your new circle may need to be approved by a moderator.
Upload my organization's logo?
You must be an organization administrator (circle creator and designator moderator) to perform this function.
- Go to "Admin Tools" in the dropdown under the "My Organization" button at the top.
- Click the "Organization logo" link.
- In the profile box, click the "Upload logo" link and upload the image.
- Once uploaded, use the editing tool to select your logo. PLEASE NOTE: The logo size is 270 pixels wide by 50 pixels high. Our upload tool allows cropping and resizing by dragging the appropriate rectangle on the uploaded image. Watch the preview area in the top right to make sure you like what you see.
Upload an image to use for a circle logo?
- Click on Circles in the top navigation bar
- Click on "Edit" next to the appropriate circle
- Use the "Circle logo" field to select the desired image.
- Once uploaded, click and drag on the uploaded image to select the desired portion of the picture. The preview area above the picture shows the resulting resized image. PLEASE NOTE: The resulting image will be transformed into a circle.
Invite others to join my circle?
- Click on the "My Organization" button at the top.
- Choose "Invite" in the main circle description.
- Add emails and message then hit "Send".
Set up an event?
- Click on Events in the main navigation bar.
- Click on "Add an event".
- Choose the circle for the event (For example: If you are scheduling a Bible study for the Men's ministry, just choose "Men's ministry" as the circle.
- Fill out the event details and post.
Add a comment?
You can comment on circles and events.
To add a comment:
- Browse to the desired circle or event.
- In the comment section, simply add your text and click "Post".
- Depending on moderation rules, your comment may post immediately. If not, the moderator will need to approve it.
Add a photo?
Photos are tied to circles.
To add an album (an album is a collection of photos).
- Browse to the desired circle.
- Click on "View All" in the photos box.
- Click "Add Album".
- Give your album a name and description and "Save".
- Click on the "Add photos" link to add your photos (you can tag with a caption if you like) then hit "Save".
To delete an individual photo or edit the caption, just click on the photo and choose the appropriate link at the bottom.
Send a message to a member?
You have several ways:
From a circle page
- Click on a member photo. The member profile will open up.
- In the member profile, click on "Send (person's name) a message".
- Compose your message and click "Send".
When you are on the "My Home" page
- Click on "Compose" in the Messages area.
- Start typing the first few letters of the person's name. a drop down of matching members will appear. Click on the member.
- Compose your message and click "Send".
Configure content moderation?
Moderation is controlled by the organization administrator(s) (person who created the main organization) and circle organizers (people who set up circles below the main organization circle).
You may choose between three types of moderation:
- No Moderation: Users will be able to post content without going through the approval process.
- Circle Organizer Moderation: When a user posts content into a specific circle within the organization that circle's organizer(s) must approve the content before it will be publicly visible.
- Administrator Moderation: When a user posts content into any circle, the organization administrator(s) must approve the content before it will be publicly visible.
To edit moderation:
- Click on Circles in the top navigation bar and choose the circle you want edit.
- Click on "Moderation Settings".
- Choose the level of moderation desired for each type of content.
If you want moderation control to be consistent across all circles, configure the organization circle and click on "Apply to sub circles". This will cause all circles to have the desired moderation settings.
Blogs
What is a blog?
Blogs are great places to share the things that matters to you. You might choose to talk about current events, sermons, bible verses, prayer requests and more.
How do I add a blog post?
Please note: Blogs are tied to your organization's circle (entire church) or can be specific to a specific circle.
- Choose a circle you want to blog in. Either click on the organization home circle or choose Circles and pick a circle.
- Click on "Write a Blog Post".
- Write your message then click "Create Blog Post".
- Depending on moderation rules, your message may post immediately. If not, the moderator will need to approve it.
How do I add video clips to my blog post?
CircleBuilder currently supports adding video by inserting the URL link to the video from current sites like GodTube®. To add:
- When you are writing your blog, click on the icon that looks like a TV
- In the new popup box called "Insert embedded media", insert the video URL (web address) into the "File/URL" box.
- Click insert. You should see the video preview in your blog post.