Set restrictions on what content people interact with and share on Google+

Google+ is a great tool for helping employees discover and engage with external content that can be relevant to work. From an administrative perspective, we’ve heard from you that having more controls around content and commenting rights for your users would be helpful. That’s why today, we’re making this possible by adding new content restriction settings in Google+.

To change Google+ sharing settings for a specific organizational unit (OU), you can go to Apps > G Suite > Google+ > Advanced Settings in the Admin console, where you can first select the appropriate OU.



Depending on your preferences and the needs of the people in that OU, you can then pick one of three options:

  • Public Mode - View/comment on internal and external content. This mode allows G Suite users to view/share/interact with content that is both inside and outside of the domain. This is similar to how Google+ operates today. This mode is best for specific OUs (e.g. those used for outward-facing roles like marketing and support) who should be able to interact with customers and external partners via Google+.
  • Private Mode - View/comment on internal content only. This setting offers the most control over Google+ activity, as it restricts G Suite users to viewing/sharing/interacting with only people inside their domain. Please note, G Suite users can still view content outside of their domain if they get a direct link or had joined/followed an external community/person/collection prior to being placed into this mode.
  • Hybrid Mode - View external content (e.g. industry news), but only engage with it internally. This setting offers moderate control over Google+ activity, as it allows G Suite users to view content outside their domain, but only share/interact with it internally.
The table below outlines what G Suite users can do under each setting:


Since these settings can be customized at the OU level, you’ll have the opportunity to differentiate permissions. For example, you can use the Public setting only for OUs that need to interact with people outside of the domain, whether that be the support team, marketing team, or others in customer-facing roles.

For more information on the impact to user experiences at each level of this setting, please review this Help Center article.

Launch Details
Release track:
Launching to both Rapid Release and Scheduled Release

Editions:
Available to all G Suite editions

Rollout pace:
Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility)

Impact:
All end users

Action:
Admin action suggested/FYI

More Information
Help Center: Manage Google+ content sharing

Launch release calendar
Launch detail categories
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