Definition
In Salesforce Chatter Answers, a question posted privately that is visible only to support agents and the question author, not to the broader community, used for sensitive or account-specific inquiries.
Real-World Example
When a business analyst at Clearwater Inc. needs to streamline operations, they turn to Question, Private to improve how the organization tracks relationships and interactions. By setting up Question, Private properly, the team gains better visibility into their customer base, which leads to more informed decisions and stronger customer relationships across the board.
Why Question, Private Matters
In Salesforce Chatter Answers, a Private Question is a question posted privately that is visible only to support agents and the question author, not to the broader community, used for sensitive or account-specific inquiries. This supports scenarios where customers have questions that involve private information or are specific to their situation and wouldn't benefit the broader community.
Private questions maintain the community Q&A model while respecting privacy needs. Public questions benefit the whole community by being visible to future searchers; private questions protect sensitive information. Mature community programs offer both options, letting users choose based on the nature of their question. Most questions should be public for community benefit; private should be the exception for sensitive content.
How Organizations Use Question, Private
- •CloudNine Solutions — Offers private questions for customers with account-specific concerns while encouraging public questions for general topics.
- •BrightEdge Solutions — Uses private questions for sensitive support scenarios that wouldn't benefit from public visibility.
- •ShieldGuard Security — Treats private questions as the exception, with public questions being the default for community benefit.