For: Teachers
Platform: Web and Mobile
✅ Note: Positive message tagging is only available for Direct Messages (DMs)—not class announcements.
Tips to Stay on Track
✅ Tag the positive messages you send to keep track of your outreach
📅 Click “See All” view to see which students haven't received positive messages recently - maybe they need a boost! 🚀
📈 Combine with Quick Kudos for faster, positive outreach
What Is "Positive Messages"?
The thumbs up icon that appears on the direct message icon menu allows you to tag a message as positive. Once tagged, TalkingPoints tracks these messages so that you can see how many you've sent and which students have received them.
This helps you:
build trust with families
celebrate student wins
notice which students haven’t received a recent positive note lately
Why It Matters
Research shows that the best communication balance is 4 positive messages for every 1 constructive message. Staying close to this 4:1 ratio:
strengthens relationships with families
makes it easier to partner with families when challenges arise
helps all students feel seen and supported
How to Tag a Message as Positive
On Web and Mobile
Start a new direct message (DM) or open an existing DM thread.
Write your message.
Click or tap the thumbs up emoji 👍 to mark it as positive.
Send your message.
✅ Once sent, the message will show as “tagged” with a thumbs up in the conversation.
📌 You can only tag new messages—you can’t go back and mark older messages as positive.
How Positive Messages Are Counted
If you send a positive DM to multiple students, it counts once per student.
If you send a DM to multiple contacts for the same student, it only counts once.
Legacy groups and students without valid contacts are not included in the counts.
⚠️ Rare case: If you send messages to both current and legacy group students, the count may briefly show more families than you have (e.g., “You’ve sent 55 messages to 50 of 48 families”).
How to View and Track Positive Messages
You can only view the following information on the TalkingPoints web application.
On the Web Homepage
You’ll see how many positive messages you’ve sent in the last 30 days
You’ll also see how many different students have received them
🔄 Counts won’t update instantly—refresh or leave the homepage and come back to see updated totals.
📋 Click “See All” to Explore More:
On the sortable list of all students who’ve received a positive message:
view how many positive messages each student received
click the chat icon to open that student’s message thread
use the arrow in the “Positive messages” column to sort by most or fewest messages
✨ At the top of the page, you’ll also see: “You’ve sent positive messages to X out of Y families”. These numbers only include families with valid, active contacts.