Microsoft has announced a brand-new feature for the free and personal version of Teams, called Communities. As the name suggests, this is a new feature designed to help users connect with the communities around them, whether that's something like a homeowner's association or a local soccer club.

Communities work somewhat similarly to groups, in that you can easily send messages to everyone in a community, as well as share files, make calls, and participate in video chats. Communities also let you filter content so you can find photos, videos, and links more easily.

However, one distinctive feature is that you can create and organize events using a community calendar, and events are visible to everyone in the community, so all the members know what's going on. You can create online, in-person, or hybrid events, with links to join online or directions for those attending an event in person. Events let you track attendance within the community, so planning becomes a bit easier this way.

Communities are a big thing for Teams, and Microsoft is even partnering with some large associations to bring their communities to the platforms. That includes the American Youth Soccer Association, which has over 500,000 members, as well as USA Hockey, and a few others. Microsoft is even partnering with SignUpGenius, an online platform for event planning and volunteer management, to make community events even easier to set up. This will be coming in 2023.

This new experience is at the forefront of the Teams app on mobile devices, which is where it's rolling out first. The new Home tab will prompt with a few communities you might be interested in creating, though you can also start from scratch. The experience will also be coming to desktop soon, which should include the Teams integration in Windows 11. Most Teams features tend to be focused on business users, but this one is actually available for anyone signed in with a Microsoft account.


Source: Microsoft