A unique capability of Sixent is the ability to deploy a single, branded social network that unifies traditionally segregated groups such as employees and partners or staff and volunteers.

Sixent sites can help visitors convert to registered users by having some information open to the public. This can be done while still safeguarding sensitive profiles, groups and content behind a locked door.

We've recently introduced two new features that let our customers control how open their sites are to the public. The first option allows a site to limit what can be made public and the other limits who can register for a new account.

Both of these new options appear in the Site Administration area called "Site Settings".

Limiting Public Access

By default, a Sixent site has a mix of public and private information. For only the "Public" portions, it means those areas are accessible to the Web at large and you can expect to find them through a Google search.

There are now three distinct settings available to site administrators to limit or disable public access entirely to any Sixent site.

The most unique of these features is, "Limited public access". It allows site administrators to disable public sharing to select portions of their site.

Public visitors are typically permitted to post a comment on people's profiles and content items. This can now be disabled which mean only registered users are able to add comments. If registration is not closed entirely, users are prompted to "join now" to participate.

Sixent allows users to easily manage a public and private profile. However, if it's not desired to have any profiles be public, site administrators can now choose the second option, "Profiles and personal cannot cannot be viewed publicly". This doesn't remove the public profile, but it does limit its visibility to only registered site users.

Finally, if everyone in the site is permitted to start a group, a site administrator may wish to limit how open those groups can be. Selecting the third option will ensure all groups require their visitors to be authenticated users.

The last major option, "No public access permitted" quite simply forces all visitors to login before entering the site. Only the site's home page will be visible along with the login screen. If account registration is open, visitor will also be permitted to access the registration process.

Limiting Account Registrations

A Sixent site benefits from letting users setup their own accounts and maintain their own profiles over time. Sometimes, however, it's desirable to limit who can join a Sixent site. This includes limiting who can send out invitations to new users.

When registration for new accounts can't be open to the public, "Invitation only" is an ideal setting as it allows your trusted account holders to send invitations to people they wish to bring into the network.

If this is still too open, the final setting, "Closed account registration" can be selected. This limits invitations to existing (i.e. recognized) email addresses. Only site administrators will be permitted to send invitations to unrecognized email addresses.

In all cases, the Site Administration area always permits accounts to be created manually on behalf of any user. and a bulk import tool also exists for loading hundreds or thousands of contacts in a single step.