Five great reasons to use Yammer.

Author: Colette Fuller

What IS Yammer? Many staff ask this question so if you are feeling a little confused you’re not alone! Yammer is part of the Office 365 suite of applications and is like a private social network – just for UCLan. It works much like Twitter or Facebook, but it differs in a couple of key ways. Firstly, not everyone can join Yammer. You must have a UCLan email address to access it. The second difference is that Yammer is a professional network and all of the posts are intended to allow collaboration between people to work on projects or stay up to date.  

Here are five reasons why you might want to give Yammer a try: 

1. You can set up and join public and private groups for different needs of staff and students. Groups can be created for team collaboration and communication, special interest groups such as research groups and social groups. 

1. With Yammer, you can connect and ‘follow’ your colleagues directly so you not only keep in the loop with what projects they’re working on and content they’re sharing, but you can also instantly engage with the click of a button. This is a good way to stay in touch with colleagues, especially if you work remotely and rarely see anyone. 

1. Yammer provides students and staff with a place to ask questions, share resources, discuss topics and collaborate. It creates a support structure and lessens the reliance on the tutor (and email!). 

1. It can build social presence among students, helping them to feel a part of learning community if they don’t meet face to face. 

1. Yammer allows staff to share ideas quickly across all levels of the university. Rather than emails, many people can participate in an ongoing discussion. 

For more information, see the UCLan Quick Reference Guide: QRG Yammer