Yahoo Finance Slack is rolling out a Stories-like feature for sharing work updates
You'll be able to share audio, video and screen recordings in channels and DMs using Clips.
Slack has announced several updates as parent company Salesforce's Dreamforce event gets underway. Among those is the rollout of its Stories-style feature, which will let users share audio, video and screen recordings in channels and direct messages. The company said last October it was experimenting with the idea.
Rather than sharing snippets from your life or whatever's on your mind (as you might on Instagram Stories), Clips is more about sharing work updates. You might use them to share a briefing so colleagues in other timezones can catch up later, or to offer some feedback on a project without having to type out all of your thoughts. Clips could help teams avoid trying to find a time that everyone's available for a meeting and instead let folks watch recordings when it best suits them.
Slack says it designed the feature with inclusivity and accessibility in mind. Along with changing the playback speed, you can read live, automated captions. You can also use a transcript to skip the preamble and get to the parts of the recording that truly matter, and respond to a Clip with text, audio or video. Unlike Stories on other platforms, Clips won't automatically disappear and the transcriptions will be searchable.
Slack is rolling out Clips now. The feature should be available to all paid teams this fall.
One of the other things you can do with Clips is share them with people outside of your team through Slack Connect. That feature lets users interact with external partners and customers, and the company has some news on that front too. With Slack Connect sponsored connections, Enterprise Grid teams will be able to invite anyone else into channels, even if they aren't paid users.
Until now, only organizations on paid plans have been able to work in channels together through Slack Connect. (All users can DM each other regardless of what plan they're on.) The company suggests sponsored connections, named so because Enterprise Grid plans cover the cost of Connect, will help teams move forward with partners and customers faster. Enterprise Grid teams will have access to the feature this fall.
Elsewhere, Slack announced a version of the app for the public sector called GovSlack, which is designed to meet government security needs and certifications. GovSlack will be available next year. In a major surprise, the company is also working on deeper integration with Salesforce products.
