The standard news module functionality in modern SharePoint is a big step forward in using SharePoint as an Intranet Portal. In this blog, we look at the new features of this news module from a practical perspective.
With the news module, SharePoint Online now offers an out-of-the-box solution for news delivery. Previously, an additional solution was needed because SharePoint lacked sufficient functionality by default. The new news module, however, provides several interesting new features, and I’d like to highlight three of them in this blog.
Making it easy for your readers to quickly acquire relevant knowledge is essential, and formatting plays a crucial role in this. In the news module, you can drag and drop content onto a canvas, much like in PowerPoint. This allows you to create visually appealing news pages quickly and intuitively. The content can include various elements such as columns, text, images, a Power BI report, authors and editorial team, a YouTube video, or an internal video stream. These new options enhance the impact of the news and improve knowledge transfer.
Every site automatically gets a news web part that can be applied everywhere. Since the feed functionality is easy to overlook, the news module also allows you to create a newsletter. You can select news items, format the newsletter, and send it to your internal target audience.
Internal news isn’t always complete. Sometimes you may want to share an article or external research. Soon, it will be possible to connect external sources, such as partner news feeds and LinkedIn. External posts will be transformed into SharePoint news items, similar to how the Microsoft News app works. This adds content curation to the news capabilities.
Employees without desks, the so-called “deskless workers,” are often difficult to connect with the organization. Their experience is centered around the store, the street, or the customer they serve, not the headquarters where they may only visit once a week.
For this, Microsoft has developed a dedicated SharePoint app for Android and iOS. From the start page, news is now integrated, allowing users to jump directly to news pages in SharePoint. Naturally, the news posts are responsive. The app also uses the phone’s notification features, so users can receive automatic alerts when a news item is posted.
The news module fits perfectly within the framework of the new SharePoint modern sites. Previously, significant knowledge and expertise were needed to get the formatting right and create certain functionalities. Now, it’s all standard out-of-the-box, which is great news for organizations. And it’s getting even better. Microsoft is rapidly adding additional features, such as approval processes and the ability to assign specific metadata.
Curious about how to use the news module efficiently? We’ll explain all the options in our webinar on October 17th. Don’t miss it—sign up here.
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