With so many ways to engage families on TalkingPoints, it can be hard to tell who can see messages when a teacher or staff member sends an announcement or direct message. Find out how to tell the exact visibility of messages on TalkingPoints.
If your district or school has student messaging enabled, staff will see more messaging options. You can message the student's family contacts, only student contacts, or student and family contacts. For more information, skip to the last section.
Who can see your messages?
The TalkingPoints default is to send your message to all family contacts listed for that student, though you can always deselect specific contacts within a direct message. You can also send direct messages to multiple students' families simultaneously, but this will create a separate thread for each person.
Families never see information about other families.
Tip: Personalize your messages by using merge fields to fill in information automatically!
Who can see messages from family contacts?
Teachers and staff are the only people who can see messages from family contacts, even if the contact is replying to an announcement.
If family contacts are using the app, they can choose to enable shared messaging, which allows them to see each other's replies to you, similar to a group chat. Contacts who don't enable shared messaging for a thread cannot see each other's messages, only yours.
FAQ
If I send a direct message to multiple students, will everyone be able to see each other's messages?
No, each family will receive their own, individual message. Unless a family opts into shared messaging, all messages on TalkingPoints are 1:1 messages.
What is the dark purple icon next to a contact's name?
Contacts with this icon & next to their names can see messages from each other, essentially participating in a group chat with you about the student. If you do not see the purple icon, contacts can only see messages that you send.
Does everyone in a particular family have the option to enable shared messaging?
Families must have the TalkingPoints Families app and turn on the shared messaging toggle individually for each student to use shared messaging. Contacts using TEXT and students 13+ cannot share messages with other contacts.
For schools and districts with the Student Messaging feature
Who can see messages from student contacts?
Only teachers and staff see messages from student contacts. Family contacts cannot see messages from students.
Can students enable shared messaging with the other family contacts listed?
No, shared messaging cannot be enabled for students and their family contacts. Students cannot see messages from family contacts. Only the family contacts can share messages with one another, provided they enable it within the app.