Spaces are the next evolution of Community Groups. They’re designed to feel more intuitive and familiar for students, with a scrollable feed, threaded conversations and a more visually-rich experience.
Spaces are different to Groups as they introduce a more social, feed-style experience. They are built for sustained engagement, not just bursts of chat.
Conversations are organised into threads, so replies don’t get lost.
Find answers instantly: Search makes it easy to browse past discussions, reducing repetitive questions.
Students can like and comment, lowering the barrier to engagement.
Multiple conversations can happen at once without becoming chaotic.
The experience supports both real-time and asynchronous participation.
✨ What’s coming next ✨
Community Spaces is evolving quickly, with ongoing improvements focused on making the experience simpler, more intuitive, and more engaging for users. Read on to see what’s already live, and what’s coming next...
Now Live
❗To use the new student-facing features below, Students and Ambassadors will need to update their Unibuddy app manually, or if auto-updates are enabled, it will update automatically via the App Store or Google Play❗
📊 Polls
Admins can now create polls directly within posts in Spaces, giving communities an easy way to gather opinions, spark conversations, and encourage participation. Students and Ambassadors can then vote and engage with polls directly from the post, helping to create more interactive and engaging community discussions.
📊 Ambassadors creating polls
Ambassadors can now create polls directly from the Ambassador App, making it easier to spark conversations and gather feedback from students within Spaces.
🎯 Ambassadors Spaces access
Ambassadors will now only see Spaces from Communities they are a member of, creating a more focused and relevant experience within the Ambassador App.
⏱️ Time tracking for Ambassador posts
Time tracking is currently available for private and direct messages within Communities. Time tracking has now been introduced for Ambassadors when creating posts, and is part of the “Conversations” column in timesheets.
📈 Analytics Dash to include Spaces
The Analytics Dashboard now includes Spaces activity within the headline metrics at the top of the page, giving teams a more complete view of overall community engagement at a glance.
Previously, Spaces data was only available further down the dashboard. This update brings key Spaces insights into the main summary metrics, making reporting and performance tracking more accurate and easier to interpret.
⛔️ Ability to leave a Space
Users can leave a Space at any time, giving them more control over their Community experience.
💡 "Requested" Spaces improvements
Requested Spaces will provide greater visibility into join requests. When a user requests access to a Space, their details are visible within the university dashboard, and admins will receive an email notification. The requesting user will also be automatically added to the Space, removing the need for manual follow-up or approval.
👀 Hide spaces from deactivated/archived Communities
Spaces belonging to deactivated Communities will now be hidden from users, ensuring they only see active and relevant community experiences.
🖼️ Restrict unsupported Space cover image formats
We have introduced validation when creating and editing Spaces to ensure only supported image formats can be uploaded as cover images. Supported formats are JPG, JPEG and PNG. If you have existing Spaces with cover images that are not displaying correctly, please update them using one of the supported formats above.
🔔 Push notifications for due To-Do's - live 3rd July
Users will receive push notifications for upcoming To-do's that have deadlines - with reminders one week before, and then again one day before tasks are due.
🔔 Push notifications when a new post is created - live 3rd July
Users will receive push notifications when a new post is created in a Space they have joined.
📃 PDFs in posts - live 3rd July
Admins and Ambassadors can upload PDFs directly into posts, allowing them to share important resources, guides, and documents more easily within Spaces. Students will be able to view and download these PDFs.
Improved image viewing on desktop - live 3rd July
We have fixed an issue to prevent images in Spaces from expanding when clicked on desktop.
🌞 System reminder - live 3rd July
To help drive Community adoption during the busy summer period, we'll be sending a reminder email to users w/c 6th July who have received a Community invitation but haven't yet joined.
Coming Soon
📝 Post Editing
Users will be able to edit their posts after sending.
💡 Spaces Requests
Admins will be able to see more information about the user requesting a Space, edit the Space before approving it, and decline requests with a reason that is communicated to the user via email.
🔧 Additional Changes
Users will be able to manage notification from Spaces and from Threads
Admins will have the ability to bulk remove community members
To-dos will have associated community names for improved context
The private group creation experience will be moved from the Inbox tab to the Connect tab
How do I create a new Space?
Creating a new Space for your Community is quick and easy. Simply follow these steps:
Log into your University Dashboard
Navigate to the Community tab in the left-hand menu
Select the Community you'd like to add a new Space to
Go to the Spaces tab
Click + Create a space
Give your new Space a title, description, and a cover photo.
The upload limit for a cover photo is 15mb, and accepted formats are jpgs, jpegs and .pngs.
Please note: Cover images will automatically resize to fit different screen sizes and devices. We recommend using a landscape image where possible. However, because the available display area varies across screens, we cannot guarantee a single aspect ratio that will display perfectly in all cases.To achieve the best results, use an image with some space around the main subject and avoid placing faces, text or logos too close to the edges of the image. This helps ensure important parts of the image remain visible when it is automatically resized and cropped across different devices.
Your title can be up to 200 characters - and should offer a clear and concise overview of what this Space is - i.e. Find a Roommate, or Life in Manchester.
Your description sets the scene - what can a student expect from this Space, and why should they join it?
Click Create space
🌐 Admins can also access Spaces via the web. This enables you to view and manage Spaces from your desktop, respond to posts, and oversee multiple Spaces.
What about my existing Community groups?
Your existing Community groups will not be affected. They will remain as Groups - but you will still be able to create Spaces, so your Community members can benefit. Students will still be able to find and join your current Groups.
You won't be able to create new Groups, but your existing Groups can still be managed in the Community tab within your University Dashboard - the tab will be relabelled as Spaces. Any Spaces you create will be displayed first in your dashboard, with Groups stacked underneath.
What does it look like if I have both Spaces and Groups in a Community?
Groups will remain editable, but new engagement will naturally shift towards Spaces.
This phased approach allows you to move at a comfortable pace without disrupting active Communities. Spaces will live under the Spaces tab, and Groups will still live under the Connect tab.
The below video shows that user experience for students in a Community with both Groups and Spaces.