If configured on your community site, users can earn points for most actions they perform, like writing or replying to a discussion thread, uploading files, and writing blog posts. There are two main uses for these points:
- Recognition - You can assign the most engaged users a variety of "MVP" badges, helping to promote a sense of gamification among your members.
- Tangible rewards - If the Redeemable Rewards feature is enabled on your community site, users can redeem these accrued points for real money or rewards; this system acts as an incentive to spur engagement across your community site. See Redeemable Rewards to learn more about setting up Redeemable Rewards for your community site.
Watch the video
Point Categories
There are three categories of points:
- Engagement points are awarded based on user's activities
- Contribution points are awarded when a user creates content
- Reputation points are awarded when a user's content is recommended or marked as the best answer
Contribution and Reputation points are subsets of Engagement points.
NOTE: Volunteer points are a fourth point type that are configured in the Admin > Volunteer > Settings page. These points are awarded specifically for volunteer activities and don't factor into these standard engagement criteria.
To manage the point allocation for each of your site's engagement criteria:
- Access the Admin interface.
- Navigate to Engagement > User Engagement > Engagement Points.
Manage Point Allocations
To assign or update the point allocation for an engagement criterion, select it in the list and enter the number in the Points field. Then, click Save at the bottom of the panel.
TIP: By default, only 15 criterion are shown in the list. Use the per page menu at the bottom left to show more per page or click through the pages using the page menu at the bottom right to ensure you define points for all available criterion.
Full List of Engagement Types
The point category for each Engagement Type is listed in the table below. A reminder of the categories:
- Engagement points (user activity)
- Contribution points (user creates content)
- Reputation points (user's content is recommended or marked as the best answer)
| Engagement Type | Point Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Best Answer | E C R | The number of times content created by the user was marked as the Best Answer by others |
| Bio Updated | E | Awarded each time a user updates their Bio details on their profile. |
| Blog Comments | E C | Awarded each time a user comments on a blog article. |
| Blogs Viewed | E | Awarded each time a user views a blog article. |
| Blogs Written | E C | Awarded each time a user writes a blog article. |
| Calendar Events Added | E C | Awarded each time a user adds a calendar event. |
| Calendar Events Registered | E | Awarded each time a user registers for a calendar event. |
| Communities Admin | E | Awarded for each community for which a user is an admin. |
| Communities Created | E C | Awarded each time a user creates a community. |
| Community Invitations Sent | E | Awarded each time a user sends an invitation to join a community. |
| Community Invitations Accepted | E | Awarded each time a user accepts an invitation to join a community. |
| Community Membership | E | Awarded for each community in which a user is a member. |
| Contacts (Friends) | E | Awarded for each contact or friend the user currently has. |
| Contact Invitations Sent | E | Awarded each time a user sends an invitation to become a contact to another user. |
| Contact Invitations Accepted | E | Awarded each time a user accepts an invitation to become a contact with another user. |
| Contact Information Updated | E | Awarded each time a user updates their Contact information. |
| Demographics Updated | E | Awarded each time a user updates their Demographic profile information. |
| Discussion Group Moderations | E | Awarded each time a user moderates a Discussion post (moderators only). |
| Discussion Group Subscriptions | E | Awarded each time a user subscribes to a Discussion list in real time. |
| Discussion Group Posts Written | E C | Awarded each time a user writes a Discussion post. |
| Discussion Posts Read | E | Awarded each time a user reads a Discussion post. |
| Discussion - New thread started | E C | Awarded each time a user creates a new Discussion thread. |
| Discussion - Reply to Sender | E | Awarded each time a user sends a message to a Discussion post's author from within a Discussion (i.e., not via email). |
| Education Details Updated | E C | Awarded each time a user updates their Education details on their profile. |
| Glossary Term Comments | E C | Awarded each time a user comments on glossary terms. |
| Glossary Terms Edited | E C | Awarded each time a user edits a glossary term. |
| Glossary Terms Rated | E C | Awarded each time a user rates a glossary term. |
| Glossary Terms Viewed | E | Awarded each time a user views a glossary term. |
| Job History Updated | E | Awarded each time a user updates their Job History details on their profile. |
| Library Entries Posted | E C | Awarded each time a user posts/uploads a Library Entry. |
| Library Entries Rated | E C | Awarded each time a user rates a Library Entry. |
| Library Entries Moderated | E | Awarded each time a user moderates a Library Entry (moderators only). |
| Library Entry Comments | E C | Awarded each time a user comments on a Library Entry. |
| Library Entries Viewed | E | Awarded each time a user views a Library Entry. |
| Messages Received | E | Awarded each time a user receives and reads a person-to-person message. |
| Messages Sent | E | Awarded each time a user sends a person-to-person message via the Directory. |
| Networks | E | Awarded each time a user joins a network. |
| New Sessions Added | E | Awarded each time a user creates a new session. |
| Profile Picture Updated | E | Awarded each time a user updates their profile picture. |
| Recommended Content | E C R | The number of times content created by the user was recommended by others. |
| Related Links | E C | Awarded each time a user adds a related link or Entry to a Library Entry. |
| RSS Subscriptions | E | Awarded for each RSS subscription the user maintains. |
| Sessions Updated | E | Awarded each time a user updates an event session. |
| Status Update | E | Awarded each time a user updates their status. |
| Website Pages Created | E C | Awarded each time a user creates a website page. |
| Website Pages Updated | E C | Awarded each time a user updates a website page. |
| Website Pages Viewed | E | Awarded each time a user views a website page. |