Learn how to use Slack, which is an instant messaging app that uses cloud technology and is useful to companies.
Slack is a backronym for “Searchable Log of All Conversation and Knowledge.”
It had been an invention of the company, Tiny Speck, during the creation of the game Glitch. Slack has mobile apps for smartphones running iOS and Android. This is in addition to its Web browser client and desktop clients for macOS, Windows, and Linux (beta).
Slack is also available for the Apple Watch, users can send direct messages, see mentions, and make simple replies using the device.
How to use Slack on PC
- To get started, visit www.slack.com
- Then, tap on the Try Slack tab.
- Next, if you are not joining an already existing team, tap on the My team isn’t using slack yet tab.
- You will need to enter an email you want to use and type in the confirmation code sent to its inbox.
- After this, you will be required to type a URL you want, usually your team or company website.
- Once this is done, you will be able to invite team members to join the workspace you have created.
- You can skip the process using the Skip For Now option.
- Once in, you can create channels (basically topics of discussion) by clicking the ‘+’ sign beside Channels.
- Tapping on Apps you see different apps that can be integrated and you can also install them.
- Notifications allow you to set up how you want the alerts to work.
To use Slack on mobile, the setup process is the same and you can also sign in to an already created workspace using your smartphone. All you have to do is download Slack from the appropriate stores.
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Features that come with the app include persistent chat rooms (channels) that can be organized by topic, private groups, and direct messaging. Shared contents like files, conversations, and people can all be searchable within Slack.
Users can also add emoji buttons to their messages which other users can then click on to express their reactions to messages. The Slack free plan allows only the most recent 10,000 messages to be viewed and searched.
Using Slack teams communities, groups, or teams can join a “workspace” via a specific URL or an invitation from a team admin or owner. Initially, it was developed for organizational communication many have adopted it as a community platform. More in use than message boards or social media groups like Facebook, LinkedIn or even WhatsApp.
How to use Slack Channels
It has different messaging channels. Public channels allow team members to communicate without the use of email or group SMS (texting). Everyone in the workspace can use public channels.
Private conversations between smaller sub-groups go on in private channels. These private channels can also be used to organize large teams.
The direct message feature allows users to send private messages to specific users rather than a group of people. Direct messages can include up to nine people. You can use Slack to turn a direct message group into a private channel.
What sets the Slack paid plan apart from the free plan is that with the later one can search more than 10,000 archived messages and add unlimited apps and integrations.
Slack works with many third-party services and also supports community-built integrations. Some major ones are Google Drive, Trello, Dropbox, Box, Heroku, IBM Bluemix, Crashlytics, GitHub, Runscope, Zendesk, and Zapier. The free plan allows the addition of only 10 such services
It also provides an application programming interface (API) for users to create applications and automate processes. This allows the following:
- sending automatic notifications based on human input
- sending alerts on specified conditions
- automatically creating internal support tickets.
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