Following Records and People is a powerful productivity feature in Salesforce that enables users to stay informed about important updates without constantly checking individual records or relying on reports. This collaboration tool is central to the Chatter functionality within Salesforce.
When yo…Following Records and People is a powerful productivity feature in Salesforce that enables users to stay informed about important updates without constantly checking individual records or relying on reports. This collaboration tool is central to the Chatter functionality within Salesforce.
When you follow a record—such as an Account, Opportunity, Contact, or Case—you automatically receive updates in your Chatter feed whenever changes occur to that record. These updates include field changes, new posts, comments, and other modifications. This keeps you informed about critical business developments in real-time.
Following people works similarly. When you follow a colleague in Salesforce, their public posts, updates, and activities appear in your Chatter feed. This fosters collaboration by keeping team members connected and aware of each other's work and insights.
Key benefits of Following Records and People include:
1. **Increased Visibility**: Stay current on accounts, opportunities, or projects that matter most to your role.
2. **Enhanced Collaboration**: Build stronger team connections by staying informed about colleagues' activities and contributions.
3. **Time Efficiency**: Receive relevant updates in one centralized feed rather than manually checking multiple records.
4. **Proactive Engagement**: Respond quickly to changes or opportunities as they arise.
Administrators can configure which objects support following through Feed Tracking settings in Setup. They can specify which fields, when modified, trigger feed updates. This customization ensures users receive meaningful notifications rather than being overwhelmed with minor changes.
Users can manage their followed items through their profile or the record's detail page. Salesforce also offers auto-follow features where users automatically follow records they create or own.
For administrators, understanding Following Records and People is essential for optimizing user adoption and ensuring the organization leverages Chatter effectively for improved communication and productivity across teams.
Following Records and People in Salesforce
Why Following Records and People is Important
Following records and people in Salesforce is a fundamental productivity feature that helps users stay informed about important updates. It enables collaboration by allowing users to track changes to records they care about, such as opportunities, accounts, or cases, as well as updates from colleagues. This feature reduces the need to manually check records and ensures users receive relevant information in their Chatter feed automatically.
What is Following in Salesforce?
Following is a Chatter-based feature that allows users to subscribe to records or other users to receive updates in their Chatter feed. When you follow a record, any changes made to that record (such as field updates, comments, or file attachments) appear in your feed. When you follow a person, their posts and updates become visible in your Chatter feed.
Key Components: - Following Records: Subscribe to accounts, opportunities, cases, leads, and other standard or custom objects - Following People: Subscribe to colleagues' Chatter posts and activities - Auto-Follow: Administrators can configure automatic following for records users create or own
How Following Works
1. Manual Following: Users click the Follow button on a record or user profile to start receiving updates
2. Feed Tracking: Administrators must enable feed tracking on objects and specify which fields trigger feed updates when changed
3. Following Limits: Each user can follow up to 500 records, people, and topics combined by default
4. Auto-Follow Settings: Found in Chatter Settings, administrators can enable automatic following for records users create
5. Unfollow: Users can unfollow at any time by clicking the Following button again
Administrator Configuration
Administrators control following behavior through: - Chatter Settings: Enable or disable Chatter and auto-follow features - Feed Tracking: Configure which objects and fields are tracked in feeds - Profiles and Permissions: Control user access to Chatter features
Exam Tips: Answering Questions on Following Records and People
1. Remember the 500 Limit: Users can follow a maximum of 500 items total (records, people, and topics combined)
2. Feed Tracking is Required: For record updates to appear in feeds, administrators must enable feed tracking on the object and select specific fields to track
3. Auto-Follow Configuration: Know that auto-follow settings are managed in Setup under Chatter Settings, not on individual object settings
4. Chatter Must Be Enabled: Following functionality requires Chatter to be enabled in the organization
5. Owner vs. Follower: Record owners do not automatically follow their records unless auto-follow is enabled by the administrator
6. Private Records: Users can only follow records they have access to view based on sharing settings
7. Distinguish Between Features: Understand the difference between following (Chatter-based) and other notification methods like email alerts or workflow notifications
8. Scenario Questions: When presented with scenarios about keeping users informed of record changes, consider whether following and feed tracking would be the appropriate solution
9. Look for Keywords: Questions mentioning Chatter feed, staying informed, or tracking updates often relate to following functionality