How is external sharing in SharePoint used?
As with every platform, there are pros and cons to external sharing. But when it comes to maintaining security, some scenarios are as beneficial as performing training. For example, let’s say you have a monthly activity that requires the attendance of all participants. If you simply post a presentation video on your website, anyone can view and share it.
However, if you create an internal Slack channel where team members can discuss their presentations with each other directly from their work computers, that reduces the risk of someone else seeing the presentation and taking action on behalf of an unauthorized party.
This also has implications for employees who want to use external forums such as Google Hangouts meetings with clients. If all staff is charged with setting up these sessions themselves, the number of possible breaches diminishes dramatically.
What is external sharing in SharePoint?
Remote access tools like Zoom, Google Hangouts, and Microsoft Teams let you host virtual meet-and-greets with clients or colleagues. You can also use these tools to create and manage hangouts with colleagues inside a company. When you use external sharing in SharePoint, you can distribute presentations and other content from your on-premise server or a third-party webinar platform to your external audience.
How to use external sharing in SharePoint
You can enable external sharing on a per-site or per-theme basis. To allow external sharing per site, go to Settings and select the Per-Site option. This will allow you to choose which site(s) you want to share content with. To enable external sharing on a per-theme basis, go to Settings and select the Theme option. This will allow you to choose which theme(s) you want to share content with. Moreover, there are a number of sharepoint external sharing best practices that you can use to make your confidential documents more secure.
When to use external sharing
Sharing presentations and other content is a great way to support your community and encourage engagement and discussion. However, you should only share content that you are willing and able to share with all of your community.
For example, if you have a monthly community meeting where everyone brings their presentations, you should only post the presentations from the meeting to your site. But you should also make sure to remove the presentation from your computer when the meeting is finished so that other members of the community cannot take it and use it for their presentations.
It is a good idea to hold a training or webinar every so often. You can schedule these events to occur on a random or predetermined schedule. Attendees can also post questions during the event so that other participants can interact with each other.
Pros of external sharing
Greater control – You can decide how, when, and to whom you want to share your content. For example, you can set up a subscription model where you automatically share content to your member subscribers’ email accounts when they purchase a certain number of credits.
More impact:
If you have large numbers of users and a lot of content, the advantage of external sharing is clear.
More efficient:
Because you don’t have to manually manage distribution or take the time to create and manage a social media schedule for the event, you can focus on the content and have a much more successful event.
Cons of external sharing
Reduced number of leads:
You are still required to provide a lead magnet, such as a free eBook, but not all leads will be possible to generate through social media.
Wrapping up
The pros of external sharing in SharePoint can’t be stated enough. Sharing content with the world is a great way to maintain security and protect your data. You only have to think of situations where sharing is a good idea, and then you will see how easy it is to implement. Using external sharing, you can also create internal Slack channels for specific teams or individuals so that they can collaborate directly.
