Seamless Transition from Workplace by Meta to Microsoft
We understand the challenges and decisions customers may face in finding an enterprise-ready digital workspace that meets your organization's needs. Microsoft has a market-leading solution for customers impacted by Meta’s closure of Workplace and we will work to help ensure a smooth transition and customized plan to help you manage this change.What’s new in Viva Engage – Ignite Edition
Today at Microsoft Ignite, we announced new experiences in Viva Engage designed to enable leaders and employees to share, connect, and communicate – with new integrations across Viva and Microsoft 365 and new ways to harness the power of Copilot and AI for knowledge discovery, moderation, and analytics. Here’s a full briefing on the latest news: Storyline in Microsoft Teams Storylines in Viva Engage enable you to create, share and discover content with others in your organization, fostering collaboration and connection through personalized content and experiences. The Storyline integration into Microsoft Teams empowers you to follow updates and notifications from leadership, discover content, and contribute your ideas and perspectives while staying in your flow of work in Teams. Landing early in 2025, this update provides a new way for leaders to share communications with the entire company using Microsoft Teams. Full community integration and much more is coming next year. Storyline announcements – sharing at scale Leaders and their communications teams can share announcements and posts from leaders’ storylines that reach their target audiences across Teams and Outlook. When a leader sends an announcements, their determined audience will see it as a notification, with the ability to reach and engage virtually any size audience. Please note: Configuring leaders and audiences required Viva Suite or Viva Communications & Communities. Expanded Copilot Experience Earlier this year, we added Copilot to Viva Engage to help users stay on top of trending content, spark engagement, get writing assistance, and help drive adoption through community learning. Now, we are expanding the powers of Copilot within Engage to help find knowledge, summarize community content, and catch up on important conversations. Copilot in Viva Engage will soon be able to summarize community engagement. Over time, we will bring more Copilot skills into Engage including predictive analytics, image creation, and best practices for leadership communications. Copilot in Viva Engage experiences are available to Viva suite and Viva Communications and Communities customers. AI powered moderation tools for digital safety Use Engage AI-powered content and keyword alerts to gain visibility into conversations across your network. This new capability gives you visibility into themes of your choosing and proactively mute conversations about controversial topics. As part of our digital safety efforts, we are also modernizing keyword detection giving moderators the ability to mute, flag, or track any keyword with more innovation in the new year including real-time analysis of new posts. Experts and verified answers in Communities Discovering and validating knowledge is essential to communities and a driving force behind participation. To help highlight authoritative information, community admins can now designate experts in their communities to scale the load of managing knowledge. Experts can serve as a source of trustworthy knowledge and help members quickly find the solutions they are looking for. Experts will be able to: Mark best answer on questions Mark an answer as Verified Get an ‘expert’ tag next to their name to identify them Be recognized in the expert section Engage Q&A coming to Microsoft 365 Copilot Incorporating Engage Q&A ensures that trusted, expert knowledge is surfaced in Copilot. This will be a game changer in the vast source of knowledge increasing the accuracy and consistency of Copilot’s responses. Soon, you’ll see verified answers in the reference hover card in Copilot. Through verified answers, you can be assured the information is trustworthy. And of course, you’ll be able to see the source and click into it for context. Q&A from public Engage communities is also now available in Microsoft 365 workplace search in Bing at work, Office.com, and SharePoint.com. &A content in Microsoft 365 Copilot Business Chat in Teams Additionally, the ‘Experts’ tag will appear in the hover card to recognition colleagues for their contributions and expertise. In 2025, we’ll also bring content from Engage communities directly into M365 Copilot chat. Engage integrations into Viva Connections We are continuing to invest in deeper integration with Viva Connections including: Engage feed card for dashboard – The card will surface recent, relevant community discussions with the ability for users to quickly catch up, take actions or link directly to the community for deeper engagement. Engage announcements will start to show up in the Connections announcements banner. Spotlight – Bringing Engage campaigns and event content into the Spotlight carousel Check out the Viva Connections blog for more details. These are a few of the many new capabilities announced at Ignite and coming your way. Catch everything that is new in the Viva Communications and Communities on-demand session and keep an eye on the Viva Engage Roadmap for detailed timing on releases.
Introducing Community Experts in Viva Engage
We’re thrilled to announce the addition of a new role within a Viva Engage community, community experts. A community expert is a member of a community who is assigned by a community admin to serve as a subject matter expert within a specific community. Adding a community expert role to your community ensures additional support and engagement throughout the community. A community expert can mark the best answer, pin posts, and ensure valuable insights and accurate information flow within the community. However, a community expert does not have the ability to manage members, assign roles etc. like a community admin. Once designated as a ‘community expert’, that label will only show within that community. Note: This feature is available as part of your existing Microsoft 365 licensing. Community expertise is determined by community admins within your organizations, not Microsoft. Microsoft does not have the ability to define a community expert in your organization. Who can be a community expert? The role of community experts is to support peers, share valuable insights, and ensure knowledge flows across departments, making information accessible and reliable for everyone. Community experts aren’t limited to high-level executives—in fact, you should seek individuals who are deeply knowledgeable, actively engaged, and approachable. Below is a guide to identify potential community experts, with examples and scenarios to illustrate ideal candidates. Community expert capabilities today: Marking “Best answer”: With the new role, community experts can now mark an answer as the best answer on a question post. Pinning/Unpinning a post: Community experts can now pin posts that they want to highlight in a community. 1. Defining an effective Community Expert: Subject Matter Expertise: Has specialized knowledge in a field or topic that benefits others across the organization. They can answer technical questions or provide insights into niche areas. Active & Engaged: Participates regularly in community discussions, contributing thoughtful responses and guiding discussions constructively. Approachable & Helpful: Willing to share their knowledge openly, whether through direct answers or by directing people to the right resources. Trusted by Peers: Known within their team or department as a reliable source of accurate information, with a reputation for being insightful and dependable. 2. Examples of community expert personas by department Technical (Engineer): Someone who may not be the head of a department but has extensive experience in specific technical stacks (e.g., cloud infrastructure, coding languages, hardware troubleshooting). Scenario: A mid-level software engineer, often answers questions related to backend development and cloud computing in a 'teams' chat or via email or even in an Engage community, providing clear explanations and solutions. Their insights are practical and resonate with peers. Legal: A non-executive legal team member who has detailed knowledge of compliance, intellectual property, or contract law. Scenario: An associate in the legal team within a company has guided several product teams on compliance questions. While they are not in management or a senior level leader, their guidance on data protection protocols has become invaluable across departments. And they are likely to have the most accurate information or help verify what is accurate. Communications Management: A mid-level comms lead who excels in crafting messaging strategies, managing internal and external communications, and navigating crisis communications. Scenario: A communications manager frequently advises teams on tailoring messaging for key audiences. When the company has faced an issue, they have been involved and instrumental in responding to the crisis and can be trusted to speak on behalf of the organization/team. Supply Chain Operations: A logistics coordinator or mid-level operations manager with deep insight into vendor relations, inventory management, or distribution channels. Scenario: A logistics coordinator known for their in-depth understanding of vendor logistics and delivery timelines. They regularly share tips on optimizing supply chain processes, helping various departments troubleshoot and improve. Facilities Management: Someone with an understanding of facilities operations, maintenance scheduling, or building management systems. Scenario: A facilities specialist within a specific office location, consistently advises teams on equipment maintenance schedules and energy efficiency projects. Their practical experience makes him the go-to person for questions on facilities management within that office. Note: Self-nomination and peer nomination for community experts are currently in progress and coming soon. Managing community experts Assignment Assigning a community expert: Community admins in a community may assign community experts based on their knowledge and the abilities of members in that community. In the member panel in the right rail, community admins will see a new section called: “Community Experts.” In this section, there is a link to, “Assign.” Once an admin clicks on assign, it opens a modal where the admin may add experts by clicking the “Mark as expert” button. Removal Removing an expert: After assigning a community expert, an admin can remove the expert by doing the following: Navigate to the member panel in the right rail. Click on the “+” sign in the Community Experts section. Withdrawal Withdrawing from the community expert role: After being made a community expert, a user may withdraw from this role at any time by taking the following steps: In the member panel in the right rail, click on the number of experts in the community expert section. This shows all the experts in that community with the user at the top and an option to, “Withdraw.” This then opens a modal that informs the user of the action they are taking. And the user may withdraw. Community experts play a crucial role in fostering a knowledgeable and collaborative environment, enhancing community effectiveness within Viva Engage. Stay tuned for additional capabilities that will further empower community experts.Introducing Viva Engage Masterclass: Your Guide to the Viva Engage Essentials
Are you ready to transform the way your team collaborates and communicates with Viva Engage? Monday Masterclass: Your Guide to Viva Engage Essentials, is a comprehensive series designed to introduce new customers to the powerful features of Viva Engage. This masterclass is your gateway to unlocking the full potential of your organization's communication and collaboration tools. Why Attend the Viva Engage Masterclass? The Masterclass is specifically tailored for customers who are eager to explore the capabilities of Viva Engage or to go beyond what they are experiencing today. During these 6 sessions, you'll gain valuable insights into how Viva Engage can enhance your organization's employee engagement. Here are some key benefits of attending: Comprehensive Overview: Get an in-depth look at the core capabilities for all roles who will be using Viva Engage, including admin and governance, moderations to how to create and manage communities, start and participate in conversations, and organize virtual events. Expert Guidance: Learn from Microsoft experts who will share best practices and tips for maximizing the use of Viva Engage in your organization. Interactive Q&A: Have your questions answered in real-time by our product group experts, ensuring you leave the session with a clear understanding of how to leverage Viva Engage in your organization. Hands-On Experience: Participate in live demonstrations and interactive activities that will help you get comfortable with the platform's functionalities. What to Expect These Masterclass sessions are designed to be an engaging and informative experience. With expert guidance, interactive sessions, and hands-on experiences, you'll leave the masterclass equipped with the knowledge and resources needed to launch Viva Engage. Each session has a blog post with dedicated resources and information including the recording. You can choose to view all 6 separate sessions or just watch the sessions that interest you! Mastering Admin and Governance in Viva Engage Enhance your administrative and governance skills with our comprehensive Monday Masterclass. This session will cover the essential aspects of administration and governance, providing you with the knowledge and tools to effectively manage and oversee your organization's Viva Engage network. Learn best practices, strategies, and practical tips to ensure smooth and efficient governance. Whether you're a new admin or looking to refine your skills, this masterclass will equip you with the expertise you need to excel. Monday Masterclass: Week 1 | Viva Engage Admin and Governance Watch session: Mastering admin and governance in Viva Engage (Customer Hub) – Microsoft Adoption Community Management Overview in Viva Engage Join us for an in-depth workshop on community management within Viva Engage. This session is designed to equip you with comprehensive strategies and tools to build, manage, and sustain vibrant communities that foster collaboration, enhance employee engagement, and support diversity and inclusion. Monday Masterclass: Week 2 | Community Management Watch session: Community management overview in Viva Engage (Customer Hub) – Microsoft Adoption Corporate Communications, Campaigns, and Leadership Engagement Elevate your communication strategies with our comprehensive Monday Masterclass. This session will delve into the essentials of effective corporate communications, impactful campaigns, and leadership engagement with Microsoft. Gain insights into best practices and innovative approaches to enhance your communication efforts. Whether you're looking to refine your skills or explore new strategies and new technology, this masterclass will provide you with the tools and knowledge to succeed. Monday Masterclass: Week 3 | Corporate Communications Watch session: Corporate communications, campaigns, and leadership engagement (Customer Hub) – Microsoft Adoption Effective Training and Adoption Strategies to launch Viva Engage Kickstart your Viva Engage journey with our focused session on training and adoption strategies. Learn how to effectively implement and promote Viva Engage within your organization, ensuring a smooth transition and high user engagement. This masterclass will provide you with practical tips and proven methods to drive successful adoption. Monday Masterclass: Week 4 Training and Adoption | Microsoft Community Hub Watch session: Effective training and adoption strategies to launch Viva Engage (Customer Hub) – Microsoft Adoption Create Captivating Events with Viva Engage Discover the secrets to hosting engaging events with our Monday Masterclass. This session will guide you through the essentials of planning, executing, and enhancing events to captivate your audience. Learn best practices, innovative techniques, and practical tips to make your events stand out. Whether you're new to event planning or looking to re-ignite your community with events, this masterclass will provide you with the tools and knowledge to create impactful and engaging events. Monday Masterclass Week 5: Mastering Live Events and AMAs in Viva Engage Watch session: Create captivating events with Viva Engage (Customer Hub) – Microsoft Adoption Data and Analytics Deep Dive Unlock the power of data and analytics in Viva Engage! This session will provide you with an in-depth overview of how to leverage data to drive engagement and make informed decisions. Whether you're new to data & analytics or looking to enhance your skills, this masterclass will equip you with practical examples and working sessions to help you master the essentials. Monday Masterclass: Week 6 Analytics in Viva Engage Watch session: Data and analytics deep dive (Customer Hub) – Microsoft Adoption Recordings and resources! Watch the Masterclass: Your Guide to Viva Engage Essentials and take the first step towards a more connected and engaged workforce. With expert guidance, interactive sessions, and hands-on experience, you'll leave the masterclass equipped with the knowledge and skills needed to transform your organization's communication and collaboration landscape. Thank you for your participation at the masterclass! Stay tuned for what's next!Embracing a Fully Modern Viva Engage Experience
As part of our ongoing mission to deliver secure, modern, and integrated employee experiences, we’re excited to announce the final step in our evolution to a fully unified Viva Engage platform. This milestone marks our complete transition to a streamlined, future-ready environment that enhances performance, usability, and security across the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. This shift enables Viva Engage to scale with organizational needs and meet the highest standards for security, compliance, and performance. By retiring legacy components and embracing modern architecture, we are aligning with Microsoft design principles and operational best practices. Here is what’s new: Modernized User Settings and Communities Experience We've introduced a redesigned user settings experience with clearer navigation, and simplified notification controls. Users will enjoy a more intuitive layout that mirrors other Microsoft 365 experiences to manage profile information and communication preferences. In addition, the experience for updating community information and managing membership approvals has been overhauled. Community admins can now more easily edit descriptions through a streamlined flow, and member approval processes have been improved with enhanced email notifications—making it faster and simpler to manage community participation. Streamlined Admin Experience The refreshed Engage admin center offers a centralized way for admins to customize tenant options, set usage policy, manage sentiment analysis and feature analytics, and more. Additional capabilities are on the horizon, including tools for reporting conversations and assigning network and verified admin roles. Retirement of the Legacy Yammer Admin Center The legacy Yammer admin center will be retired, and its core functionalities are being moved into the Engage admin center. This unified admin experience will serve as the single destination for network admins, corporate communicators, and Engage admins to perform all their administrative tasks. External Networks Modern external networks are coming soon! These networks are a crucial component for many organizations that collaborate beyond company boundaries, such as working with partners, customers, or alumni. Because of the breadth and complexity of changes involved, we’ll be covering this topic in more detail in a separate, dedicated blog post to provide clearer guidance and support for customers navigating the transition. Features being deprecated As we continue modernizing Engage, some legacy features will be phased out. These features were originally designed for an older Yammer architecture that no longer supports our modern communications and leadership platform or meet our current security standards. Notable features include private content mode and the third-party application registration experience. This transformation will be complete by end of June 2025. This is a pivotal moment in our journey to empower people and teams to connect and engage in meaningful ways. With Viva Engage, we're laying a modern foundation that enhances user experience and management capabilities and ensures stronger security and compliance posture across the board. We appreciate your partnership as we bring this next generation of Viva Engage to life. More updates and resources will follow—including our deep dive into the external networks modernization—so stay connected!Copilot Adoption Community Now Available for All Viva Engage Customers
We’re excited to announce a major update: the Copilot Adoption Community is now available to all Viva Engage customers. This means that whether you’re exploring M365 Copilot, leveraging Copilot Chat, or simply seeking to build Copilot fluency, you can now deploy the Copilot Adoption Community and enable a new level of peer-driven AI learning and support within your organization. What is the Copilot Adoption Community? The Copilot Adoption Community is a ready-to-use experience within Viva Engage. Originally, access required a M365 Copilot license, and now available to every employee on your Viva Engage network. With the expansion of Copilot Chat and the broader availability of Microsoft AI-powered tools, organizations need a central, easily accessible space to: Discover what Copilot tools can do Exchange best practices, prompts, and success stories Ask questions and get peer or expert support Track what’s working and where further support is needed What’s Included? Community banner and easy setup checklist Welcome post and suggested Copilot adoption content to jumpstart engagement Suggested members based on M365 Copilot licenses Scalable Q&A capabilities via Answers in Viva Analytics to monitor reach, activity, and unanswered questions Real-World Impact Organizations who have enabled the Copilot Adoption Community report: Significantly higher Copilot adoption rates compared to those without a community Increased sharing of helpful prompts and creative use cases Faster peer-to-peer learning and more confident experimentation Lower support overhead for Copilot and AI-related questions Customers using Copilot Adoption Communities have a 35% higher M365 Copilot adoption rate than those who don't. How to Enable the Copilot Adoption Community Follow the instructions here: Microsoft 365 Copilot adoption community in Viva Engage | Microsoft Learn Get started today: Check your Viva Engage admin panel Look for the Copilot Adoption Community Activate, welcome your members, and start posting Want to learn more and see the Copilot Adoption Community in action? Watch the info video or the recording of the Training and Adoption Masterclass (one of our six Viva Engage Masterclasses). Check out other Copilot adoption resources: Create a Viva Engage Copilot passport campaign Read how Microsoft is using the Viva Engage Copilot Community Use the Copilot Champs Community Framework Microsoft's guide to deploying Copilot for Microsoft 365Introducing the new Engage app for Microsoft Teams mobile
We are excited to announce the launch of a new integration for Viva Engage within Microsoft Teams. As part of our ongoing efforts to enhance collaboration and engagement, this integration brings a seamless experience when using Teams and Engage together in the mobile app. New Integration Highlights The new integration is built from the ground up using Teams styling and brings our top features to your fingertips, including: Home feed: Stay on top of conversations from public and private communities you’re a part of. The rebuilt feed now includes storyline posts from leaders and people you follow and enables corporate communicators to feature conversations for greater visibility and lifespan. Check out our post about how we keep your feed personalized and fresh. Community feed: Connect, share ideas, ask questions, and collaborate on shared interests. You can post questions, share updates, give shoutouts, or make announcements—and even upvote or highlight the best answers. Leadership Corner*: Leaders can connect directly with their employees, share updates, and foster a sense of community and culture within their organization. Employees gain direct access to leadership updates and activity, keeping them included every step of the way. Campaigns*: Join and participate in campaigns while on the go. Organizations use campaigns to build company culture, community, and belonging. Answers*: Answers in Communities is available for both iOS and Android. On Android, you can also ask questions, share knowledge, and foster cross-organization collaboration in a dedicated Answers tab. Notifications in Activity: New reply and reaction notifications integrate with existing notifications in the Teams app, ensuring you don’t miss anything across your chat, channels, announcements, and communities. Why This Matters The integration of Engage within Microsoft Teams is a significant step towards creating a more connected and engaged workplace. By bringing together the best of both platforms, we are empowering employees to communicate and collaborate more effectively, share knowledge, and build stronger relationships. Get Started Today We invite you to explore the new Viva Engage integration in Teams and experience the benefits firsthand. The new app will be rolling out over the next few weeks—make sure you’ve updated Microsoft Teams from the app stores to the latest version. You can add and manage the new experience as you would with the existing Engage app in Microsoft Teams. Simply pin the app and start receiving notifications. As an admin, you pin the app for your entire or part of your organization and rename the app to better suit your organization, such as to “Communities”. Later in April, the Engage app will be pinned as a part of the tailored apps for the frontline. Stay tuned for more updates and features as we continue to integrate Viva Engage and Microsoft Teams experiences. We look forward to hearing your feedback. * requires a Viva Suite or Viva Communications and Communities licenseCalling Legacy Viva Engage (Yammer) APIs via an Entra application
The Yammer application platform that enabled access to legacy Viva Engage (Yammer) REST APIs via OAuth2 tokens will be officially retired on June 30, 2025. To ensure uninterrupted access, all customers must transition to using Microsoft Entra applications as soon as possible. The good news? The legacy Yammer APIs are fully supported through modern, secure Entra apps — and getting started is easier than you might think. This blog provides a step-by-step walkthrough for calling Yammer APIs using an Entra application with PowerShell 7, leveraging MSAL for interactive authentication. We will call /users/current.json - Yammer | Microsoft Learn API to fetch the details of the user, who completes the authentication flow. Note: The examples in this post assume you have PowerShell 7 and the MSAL module pre-installed. If you're looking for a Postman-based guide to access Yammer APIs, you can find detailed instructions here. Let’s dive into how you can make this transition smoothly and start using Entra-authenticated API calls today. Step 1: Register an Entra App For detailed information on Entra application registration flow, refer to this guide. Go to Azure Portal: https://portal.azure.com Navigate to: Azure Active Directory → App registrations → New registration Fill in the form: Name: e.g., Yammer API Test Supported account types: Choose based on your org (e.g., "Accounts in this organizational directory only") Select platform: Choose “Public client/native (mobile & desktop)” Redirect URI: Set the right redirect url, e.g., http://localhost Click Register Step 2: Configure the App Authentication Go to the Authentication tab Under Advanced settings, set: Allow public client flows → Yes Click Save API Permissions Go to API permissions Click Add a permission Select Yammer Select Delegated → access_as_user Click Add permissions to save Step 3: Prepare the PowerShell Script Save the following as YammerAPI.ps1: # Clear MSAL token cache Clear-MsalTokenCache # Define app credentials $clientId = "YOUR_CLIENT_ID" $tenantId = "YOUR_TENANT_ID" $redirectUri = "http://localhost" $scopes = @(" https://www.yammer.com/.default") # Trigger interactive login $authResult = Get-MsalToken -ClientId $clientId -TenantId $tenantId -RedirectUri $redirectUri -Scopes $scopes -Interactive $token = $authResult.AccessToken # Call Yammer API $response = Invoke-RestMethod -Method Get -Uri "https://www.yammer.com/api/v1/users/current.json" -Headers @{Authorization = "Bearer $token"} $response Now, replace YOUR_CLIENT_ID and YOUR_TENANT_ID with values from your app registration. Step 4: Run the Script In PowerShell 7: > pwsh "C:\Path\To\YammerAPI.ps1" You will be prompted to sign in interactively. Once authenticated, the script will call the Yammer API and return your user info. We’re looking forward to hearing your feedback and thoughts about using the legacy Viva Engage (Yammer) APIs via modern Entra-based authentication and how you’ll use it to better manage users, conversations, and communities within Viva Engage. Stay tuned! Aditi is a product manager at Microsoft
Introducing Verified Answers in Viva Engage
We are pleased to announce the introduction of "Verified Answers" in Viva Engage. Viva Engage leads the way among community platforms by fostering trust with advanced features such as "Verified Answers," which enhance credibility and facilitate knowledge sharing. This new functionality enables community experts and administrators to designate certain responses as "Verified," offering an easy and reliable way for employees to find trustworthy information. Key Benefits of Verified Answers: Enhanced Credibility: With verified answers, users can confidently rely on the accuracy of responses, knowing that they have been reviewed and endorsed by designated experts. Streamlined Knowledge Sharing: Verified answers are highlighted and pinned at the top of discussion threads, making it easier for everyone in the community to quickly access key information. Robust Community Engagement: This feature not only recognizes the expertise within your community but also fosters a culture of trust and thorough knowledge exchange. Who can mark an answer as verified? Only assigned community experts and community administrators have the ability to mark an answer as verified. This ensures that the verification comes from users with recognized expertise and authority within the community. Learn more about community experts and how to assign them here. How does the verified answer appear? Once an answer is verified, it is automatically pinned to the top of the answer list, making it the most visible response in the discussion. This helps users quickly identify the most reliable information. What happens to previous markings like 'best answer'? If an answer is marked as verified, any previous 'best answer' marking is overridden. To keep the interface clean and prevent confusion, only one label will be shown at a time—either 'verified' or 'best answer', but not both. Is this feature available to all users? Yes, the Verified Answers feature is available in your existing Microsoft 365 license, which means it is available to all users of Viva Engage. We are continuing to invest in additional capabilities building on trust, reliability and knowledge sharing within your Viva Engage communities. Make sure to check out our Masterclass series and stay tuned for more!
