What does it mean to Follow a profile?

After you make a sign-in and follow other profiles on Plants Map your Home page content will become customized based on profiles you are following.

The Home page is an informational landing page until you make a sign-in.
Once you sign in, the Home page sections will be empty until you follow another profile that has content such as posted news, plants, collections, events.
As you Follow more profiles, your Home page becomes customized based on what interests you.
You can follow both individual profiles and organization profiles.
To follow another profile is a simple social action that allows you to connect with others. It does not require approval from the other profile.
If you have an individual account and own or admin an organization account, you can select different profiles to follow depending on which account you are acting as using the profile menu.
Look for the green FOLLOW button on the top of a profile page.

What’s the difference between the Explore page and the Home page?

The Explore page can be seen without being signed in as a user and this page shows all content that is updating on Plants Map.

The Home page is only seen when you are signed in as a user. News and updates are added to each section as you follow other profiles.

What’s the difference between Connect and Follow?

You will only see the option to Connect or Follow on an Organization profile. Individual profiles only have a Follow option. When you follow another profile, the connection is made automatically without approval from the other profile.

Organization profiles have the Connect option to allow them to show their members, volunteers, supporters or other affiliations within their profile Network section. A user on Plants Map can click ‘Connect’ to send a request to join an organization’s network. The admins of that Organization can approve a Connection request based on their own criteria for connecting. Not all Connection requests may be approved. You may need to be a paying member, certified volunteer, participating partner, etc. Organizations can set their own criteria for approving these connections.