What Are Rafts?

What is a Raft?

A Raft is the main building block of your Raftr community, connecting people based on a common topic, function, team, club, or other group. Rafts can include Events, Posts, messages and other customization features, and can be public, private, or secret. Think of Rafts as groups where like-minded individuals can join around something they have in common, like all the residents of the same building, or alumni from a specific class year.  

Types of Rafts

There are two types of Rafts on Raftr and several different privacy settings for member management and content accessibility. 

Basic Raft

A Basic Raft is a Raft that anyone in the community can create for their group or interests. There are some limitations to Basic Rafts, like a standard limit of 25 members, one Raft Leader, 1 Co-leader, no Curators, and no access to premium features like Channels, Announcements, and advanced content types and tools. However, Basic Rafts do support Events, Polls, pinned content, and messaging. Like Premium Rafts, Basic Rafts can be public, private, or secret (see below for details).

Premium Raft

A Premium Raft is the more advanced level of Raft in a community, with unlimited members and advanced Raft management roles and settings. Premium Rafts have access to some functionality that Basic Rafts do not, such as custom Announcements, content scheduling, and duplicating Posts. They can also support premium feature sets such as List Posts and Attendance Tracking/Event Check-in (if those are available in your community). And most noticeably, they can have unlimited Channels where smaller subgroups can chat, connect, and stay organized.

Raft Features

Content Types

Rafts can include a variety of content types:

• Events
• Posts
• Messages
• Polls
• Announcements (Premium Rafts only)
• Directories (Premium Rafts only)
• Checklists (Premium Rafts only)
• Maps (Premium Rafts only)
• Virtual Tours (Premium Rafts only)
• Guides (Premium Rafts only)

Privacy Settings

Rafts offer customized privacy levels, each of which determines how members can interact and join the group.

• Public Rafts ー Public Rafts are visible and discoverable through search, on the Community Hub, and on the Events and News feeds. They can be instantly joined through a simple tap of a button. No approval is required for members to join a public Raft.
• Private Rafts ー Private Rafts have setting options that determine whether or not they are discoverable through search or other places on the platform. Regardless of discoverability, approval is required to join a private Raft. A member may request to join, and that request must be approved by Raft Admins (either a Leader or Co-Leader), or they can be invited by a Raft Leader or Co-leader.
• Secret Rafts ー Secret Rafts are not discoverable through search and are hidden from view unless you are invited and join as a member. Members cannot request to join; the only way to join a secret Raft is via an invite from a Raft Leader or Co-Leader.

Exploring and Engaging in Rafts

Take advantage of different ways to explore and engage in Rafts:

Start at the Raft Home Tab

Get acquainted with all the Raft content by starting in the Home tab of the Raft menu (the default view). From here, view Posts pinned by the Raft Admins or the most recent Posts and Events.

Discover Upcoming Events 

View what new Events are approaching and mark yourself Interested to save it for later, or click Share to spread the word.

View and React to Posts 

Explore the Posts tab in the Raft menu and engage with Posts by writing a comment or liking the Post. You can also reply or like someone’s comment as well. These interactions all get tallied in our algorithm to surface trending content on the Community and Home pages.

Create Content

Creating content is a great way to share Events or your thoughts and ideas. You can personalize and illustrate your Events and Posts with photos, videos, or GIFs. You can also share links to external content by either pasting a link you copied or by clicking Share under the content.

Bookmark Content

Save your favorite Posts or messages for later by bookmarking them. You can use the Bookmark filter on Post feeds and Chat conversations to see a full list of what you've saved.

Send Announcements

Raft Admins can also share Posts and Events as an Announcement to get maximum reach (on Premium Rafts only).

Chat & Channels

Chat live with other members of your Raft by selecting the Chat tab in the Raft menu to chat with all members of the Raft, or go to the Channels tab to chat with members of sub-groups you’ve joined. Chat messages can also include emoji, pictures, videos, GIFs, Polls, and Events.