Canonical: https://www.skillhive.com/en/user-guide/following-a-swarm-and-a-skill
Language: en
Updated: 2026-09-16
Parent: Skillhive User Guide (https://www.skillhive.com/en/user-guide/skillhive-user-guide)

# Following a Swarm and a Skill

> Following a swarm allows you to stay informed without active participation.
Followers receive notifications about activity such as new comments. You can follow a swarm without being a member if it is visible to you. Restricted swarms can only be followed by users who have access rights.

## What Does Following a Swarm Mean?

Following a swarm means receiving notifications about activity within that swarm, such as:

-   New comments
-   New content
-   Updates

Following does not require active participation.

It enables users to stay informed.

## Notification Settings

Users can define in their personal settings whether they wish to receive email notifications immediately when activity occurs in a swarm.

If the setting is enabled:

-   Users automatically follow a swarm when they
-   Create a swarm, or
-   Join as a member

If the setting is disabled:

-   Users may follow individual swarms manually by clicking the **Follow** button in the swarm action menu

## Managing Follow Status

-   Users may stop following a swarm at any time
-   Users may follow a swarm without being a member
-   Provided the swarm is visible to them

Following is a personal setting and does not affect swarm visibility.

## Why Following Matters

Following supports passive awareness and organizational learning.

Not all learning happens through active commenting or posting.

Equally important are:

-   Observing best practices
-   Discovering ideas
-   Applying insights to one’s own work

Following enables knowledge to spread where it is intended to spread.

## Visibility and Restrictions

Some swarms are intentionally restricted.

-   Invite-only or restricted swarms are visible only to authorized users
-   Users without visibility cannot follow such swarms
-   Not even Admins can follow swarms they do not have access to

This ensures both transparency and confidentiality within the same system.

## Following Skills

Users may also follow individual skills.

By clicking **Follow** on a skill page:

-   Users receive notifications when new swarms are linked to that skill
-   Users receive notifications when new users add the skill to their profile

Following skills supports awareness of developments within specific competence areas.