Getting Started
Installing Yammer
Activate Profile: To activate your Yammer account from your staff desktop, go to portal.office.com and click on the Yammer icon under use the online apps.
Log In: To log in to your Yammer account from a personally-owned computer, go to portal.office.com and in the upper right side corner click on LOG IN. You will be redirected to a page where you will have to enter your University email address in the format js35@stir.ac.uk and your password. After this, click on Log IN.
Mobile Device: To use Yammer on a mobile device, go to the app store and install the Yammer app. Enter your full University email address in the format js35@stir.ac.uk and your password and click Sign In. When prompted, enter your network user name (e.g. js35) and password and click Sign In.
Setting up your Profile
When you have completed your Yammer installation, you will be taken through a setup guide where you will be asked to fill out the city you work in, add a profile picture and enter email addresses of colleagues you work with. Yammer will send these people an email with an invitation to join.
Profile Edit: To manage your profile, go to the bottom left side corner of your Yammer home feed, click on the settings icon and select Edit Settings. From there you can modify your name, add a photo and write some information about yourself such as what your expertise are, so your colleagues can identify you when they seek for help. Once you have filled out your profile, scroll down to the bottom and click Save.
Notifications: In the column on the right side you also have Notifications. Here you can modify the frequency of the emails you’ll be receiving and also the activity you want to be notified about by ticking/unticking the boxes. At the end, click Save.
Yammer Home Page: When you first sign in to Yammer, on the left side of your profile, you will be able to see all the Groups you are a member of. In the middle you have your News Feed where you can see and interact with everything that was posted by the members of the groups you are associated with and the people you follow. At the bottom right side corner, there is an Online Now section, where you can chat instantly with the people that are logged in.
Groups: A Group is an area within your business social network for people who share mutual interests. They can be public or private. Since Yammer is already being used by other people in the University, you should check if they have started Groups that you might want to join. By default, you will be added to the STIR.AC.UK GROUPS which include all employees from the University who have joined Yammer.
Join a Group: To join a Group, click the Discover more groups link on the left side of your Yammer homepage. There you can search and join any Public Group within your network, but you will need to be invited to a Private Group. You also have the option to search for External Groups by clicking your settings icon and selecting Browse External Networks.
Basic functions
Create a Group
To create a Group, click the Create a new group link on the left side of your Yammer homepage. There you will be provided with some options. You will have to choose whether it is going to be an Internal Group (to collaborate with people within the University), or an External Group (to collaborate with people from other companies). You will need to set the group’s name, invite members by adding their names or emails and finally select the visibility of the content to Public (accessible to anyone in the stir.ac.uk network), or Private (only approved members can join). When Private, Tick/untick List in Group Directory if you want the group to be shown in the Yammer community or not. To find out more about administering groups, please refer to Yammer Admin User Guide.
Follow someone and Like something
When you follow someone or like something on Yammer, it means you will see their posts or more related content on your News Feed. To start following people, you can search for them by typing their names in the search box, or by scrolling down the All Company feed and looking for something they posted that interests you. When you find them, click on their names and select Follow on the upper right corner. To create a Group, click the Create a new group link on the left side of your Yammer homepage. There you will be provided with some options. You will have to choose whether it is going to be an Internal Group(to collaborate with people within the University), or an External Group (to collaborate with people from other companies). You will need to set the group’s name, invite members by adding their names or emails and finally select the visibility of the content to Public (accessible to anyone in the stir.ac.uk network), or Private (only approved members can join). When Private, Tick/untick List in Group Directory if you want the group to be shown in the Yammer community or not. To find out more about administering groups, please refer to Yammer Admin User Guide.
Write a Post/Create a poll/Praise someone
To write a post on Yammer, click on the Update box and write the content of your post. You have the option of adding a person who you want to be notified by adding their name or email, attaching a file or a note and adding a topic. Once you have finished, select Post.
To create a poll on Yammer, click on the Poll option in your home feed, write the question and the optional answers. You also have the option of adding a person who you want to be notified by adding their name or email, attaching a file or a note and adding a topic. Once you have finished, select Post.
To praise someone on Yammer, click on the Praise option in your home feed, enter the name of the person you want to praise, add the reason you are praising them for and once again you have the option of adding a person who you want to notify by adding their name or email, attaching a file or a note and adding a topic. When you have finished, select Post.
Send a private message to someone
To send a private message, open your inbox by clicking the message icon on the top left of your Yammer page and click Create Message. Type in the name of the recipient and the message and attach a file if you need to. When you have finished, click Send. Your Inbox contains private messages sent to you as well as public posts that you were mentioned in.
To respond to a message, go to your inbox and select the message you want to reply to. Type in your reply and click Post. You also have the ability to have the message emailed to you by clicking on the more options icon and select Email Me. An additional option you have is to move a conversation from a private message to a group message, so others can participate. To do this, click on the Move to Group option and select the group you want to move it to.
App Directory
The Yammer App Directory serves as an easy way for employees to browse through other business applications and access them to make their collaboration more enjoyable and easy. To access the App Directory, sign in to your Yammer account and, in the upper left corner, click the more options icon and select APPS. You will be redirected to the App Directory page where you can choose from a variety of apps to install.
Admin User Guide
Note: If you are an existing Yammer user, read 1. Yammer Admin User Guide. If you have never logged in to Yammer, please refer to 2. Yammer Getting Started User Guide in the first instance.
Customize Group Info
As a group administrator, you have the ability to configure and reconfigure your group at any time. While on the home feed of your group page, click the settings icon in the upper-right corner of the group’s header area. From there you can:
- Modify the name of your group.
- Select your group’s avatar and colour.
- Add a group description.
- Add members by searching for their names or email addresses or invite them if they haven’t activated their accounts yet.
Member Management
To become a group administrator on Yammer, you simply have to create a group. Whoever creates the group, is the group administrator and has the ability to invite/remove members or appoint/revoke administration privileges. To do so, follow these steps:
- Under Manage Admins, click the Add and Remove Admins. A dialog box that lists all the group members will open. You can select multiple admins.
- Locate the group member in the menu, click the settings icon and select Make Admin/Revoke Admin.
- Similarly, you can remove members by clicking the Remove Members link.
Content visibility
Your group can either be Public (visible to anyone in the stir.ac.uk network and searchable on the wider Yammer network), or Private (only members approved by the admin can join).
When Private, tick/untick List in Group Directory if you want the group to be shown in the stir.ac.uk Yammer community. If it’s not listed, the group will only be visible to its members, but nobody else.
Who can join the group
Depending on your settings – either anyone approved by a group member, or only those approved by an admin.
After you finished with your settings, click Save Changes.
