Different ways to configure community access and visibility

Last updated: January 01, 2024

Circle offers a wide range of customizable options to help you manage the visibility and access of your community, depending on your preference. Whether you want to create a unique community just for your members or a more inclusive space for a wider audience, you have the tools to build and manage a thriving community.

Community access is structured into two distinct layers: Community and Content. Together, these layers provide greater flexibility for managing access within your community.

Let’s take a high-level look at the available configurations for each layer.

The community access layer determines the overall visibility of your community. You can choose to make your community accessible to everyone or restrict it to members only.

It’s crucial to note that this access option applies solely to accessing your community. The visibility of your content in any space depends on how you've configured content access.

Your community visibility can be set to either public or private.

• Public: When your community is set to public, it becomes accessible to anyone via the community URL. You can also allow visitors to sign up and create a community account.

• Private: Opting for a private community ensures only members can access it. The Circle sign up option is disabled in this case, but you can add a custom sign up link to the login page.

Content access plays a crucial role in managing the accessibility of community content, including spaces, space groups, and the Feed. This layer offers precise control over granting or restricting access to specific spaces once users have entered through the community access layer.

Some of the options for the content visibility configuration include the following:

• Setting a specific space to open, private, or secret.

• Managing space and space group visibility in the sidebar.

• Displaying a lock screen to visitors and non-space members when attempting to access private spaces within your community.

• Managing the Feed for visitors and members.

• Selecting default spaces to which new members will be automatically added via invite access (free access) upon joining the community.

• Defining a separate default landing page (a space or Feed) for visitors, existing members, and new members, directing them to their initial landing page when they visit the community URL.

By leveraging both community and content access layers, you can configure access permissions at a granular level. For instance, with the community access layer, you can decide whether anyone or only members can visit your community. Then, with the content access layer, you can control which content is visible to them.

Let's explore the types of communities you can configure using these layers.

Public communities are ideal for creators who want their community to be freely available to everyone. With this approach, you can make your community and its content accessible to everyone without requiring them to become members.

Visitors can view your community spaces, but they need to become members to participate. Additionally, you can enable visitor sign ups to let anyone become a member of your community.

Private communities are ideal for creators who want their entire community to be exclusively available via member invitations and paywalls.

The private community setup is a way to go if you intend to achieve the following:

• Restrict community access solely to members of your community. Visitors cannot access the community without becoming members first.

• Once someone joins your private community, further configure which spaces and space groups are visible and accessible to members.

• Offer paid memberships that grant access to restricted content, enabling you to monetize your community and provide added value to paying members.

The hybrid community approach is a popular choice among community builders and provides an excellent option when you want to:

• Strike a balance between the public and private community approaches.

• Maintain the same community access configuration as a public community, allowing anyone to explore your community and some open spaces without requiring a community account.

• Limit access to specific spaces based on your content access configurations, offering a more exclusive experience for users who become members.

• Offer paid memberships that grant access to restricted content. Show visitors a lock screen on these restricted spaces to promote your memberships.

To learn more about setting up these layers based on your preference, please refer to the following guides:

• Set up a public community

• Examples of space access configuration for public communities

• Set up a private community

• Examples of space access configuration for private communities