On the SharePoint Start Page is there any way to moderate the news that shows there?

[Donia Strand]

On SharePoint.com (start page) news items from various sites that you may have access to shows up. Is there any way to modify/configure what news is visible on this page? Thanks,

[#2 · Accepted solution]

Hello Donia, Unfortunately, the SharePoint Home is a Microsoft standard site that is not customizable. The information shown has its own "algorithm". It is based on your permissions, what you decide to follow and your user activity. Other parts that might affect this is also how you promote news and if you have promoted sites to be organizational news sites.

[#3]

Hi @Donia Strand 

Well, the closest thing you have to ‘moderating’ SharePoint news is ‘filtering’ 

You can filter the posts you want to show by title, recently added or changed, created by, or modified by, and page properties.  

Please note that from September 10, 2022, filtering options will not be available on the News webpart when a news source is set to ‘Recommended for current user’. 

So how do you use filtering on your SharePoint page? 

Just navigate to the News Web part, and you will find the Filter option. Click on it to open a dropdown like this: 

Choose the option that fits you best. 

Now, you also do something called audience targeting. 

With audience targeting, you can show news content to groups of people. This way, you can present specific information to the people you choose.  

Here is what you need to do: 

1. From your site's homepage, select Site contents. 
2. Then, select the ellipses (...) and then choose Settings. 
3. From the settings list, you need to choose Audience targeting settings. 
4. Select the checkbox to Enable audience targeting then select OK. 
5. Now, you need to go to the Site pages list by selecting Pages from the menu, which you will find on the left side of the page. 
6. To choose the news post you wish to target to chosen audiences, select the ellipses (...). 
7. In the properties pane, choose Edit all. 
8. You can enter up to 50 audience members in the Audience section. Then click on ‘Save’ 

To enable audience targeting in the web part, here is what you need to do: 

1. Simply, go to the Site pages list by choosing Pages from the menu on the left side of the page. 
2. For each news post you wish to target specific audiences, choose the ellipses (...). 
3. In the properties pane, select Edit all. 
4. You can enter up to 50 members in the Audience section. Once done, you can click on Save. 

You can choose either of the two methods that suit you the most. 

Hope this helps! 

[#4]

Good explanation Tushar, however, this is not applicable on the SharePoint Home site.