Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board vs. Slack

Overview
ProductRatingMost Used ByProduct SummaryStarting Price
Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
Score 10.0 out of 10
Enterprise companies (1,001+ employees)
Social Squared is a SharePoint Discussion Board App that can be deployed across SharePoint Online and Microsoft Teams. Social Squared improves productivity and efficiency by providing structured discussion forums for employee and student discussions. For Microsoft SharePoint Social Squared is a SharePoint discussion board application where users can post questions within relevant forums and receive answers to their questions from subject matter experts. The…
$1,950
per year per installation
Slack
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Slack is a group messaging or team collaboration app that aims to simplify communication for businesses. Features include open discussions, private groups, and direct messaging, as well as deep contextual search and message archiving, and file sharing. Slack integrates with a number of other tools, such as MailChimp, Dropbox, and Google Drive. Slack was acquired by Salesforce in December 2020. The product is free to use, and also has paid plans with more features and greater controls. The…
$0
per month per user
Pricing
Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion BoardSlack
Editions & Modules
Social Squared Discussion Board
From $1950
per year per installation
Social Squared Discussion Board Plus (includes Charts / Data Viewer)
From $2500
per year per installation
Social Squared Discussion Board Enterprise Edition
POA
per year per installation
Free
$0
Pro
$7.25*
per month per user
Business+
$12.50*
per month per user
Enterprise
Contact Sales
Offerings
Pricing Offerings
Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion BoardSlack
Free Trial
YesYes
Free/Freemium Version
NoYes
Premium Consulting/Integration Services
NoNo
Entry-level Setup FeeNo setup feeNo setup fee
Additional DetailsPrices stated are minimum per installation for "stock" products. Enterprise editions can be amended to suit business needs if deemed necessary, additional costs incurred and TBD. All packages include free technical support. Free upgrades available to latest versions of tool as they are released.*Per active user, per month, when paying once a year. Pro is $8.75 USD per active user when paying month to month. Business+ is $15.00 USD per active user when paying month to month.
More Pricing Information
Features
Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion BoardSlack
Project Management
Comparison of Project Management features of Product A and Product B
Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
-
Ratings
Slack
7.9
400 Ratings
0% above category average
Task Management00 Ratings7.8252 Ratings
Gantt Charts00 Ratings7.061 Ratings
Scheduling00 Ratings7.8208 Ratings
Workflow Automation00 Ratings7.9227 Ratings
Mobile Access00 Ratings9.2387 Ratings
Search00 Ratings8.2385 Ratings
Visual planning tools00 Ratings7.3150 Ratings
Communication
Comparison of Communication features of Product A and Product B
Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
-
Ratings
Slack
8.6
410 Ratings
7% above category average
Chat00 Ratings9.7410 Ratings
Notifications00 Ratings9.0406 Ratings
Discussions00 Ratings9.2397 Ratings
Surveys00 Ratings8.1249 Ratings
Internal knowledgebase00 Ratings7.7249 Ratings
Integrates with GoToMeeting00 Ratings8.5111 Ratings
Integrates with Gmail and Google Hangouts00 Ratings8.5184 Ratings
Integrates with Outlook00 Ratings8.4122 Ratings
File Sharing & Management
Comparison of File Sharing & Management features of Product A and Product B
Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board
-
Ratings
Slack
8.4
384 Ratings
4% above category average
Versioning00 Ratings8.0185 Ratings
Video files00 Ratings8.5340 Ratings
Audio files00 Ratings8.6335 Ratings
Document collaboration00 Ratings8.1269 Ratings
Access control00 Ratings8.2250 Ratings
Advanced security features00 Ratings8.2213 Ratings
Integrates with Google Drive00 Ratings8.8213 Ratings
Device sync00 Ratings9.2273 Ratings
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Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion BoardSlack
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User Ratings
Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion BoardSlack
Likelihood to Recommend
-
(0 ratings)
9.3
(410 ratings)
Likelihood to Renew
-
(0 ratings)
9.4
(20 ratings)
Usability
-
(0 ratings)
9.9
(29 ratings)
Support Rating
-
(0 ratings)
1.0
(65 ratings)
Implementation Rating
-
(0 ratings)
10.0
(2 ratings)
User Testimonials
Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion BoardSlack
Likelihood to Recommend
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
I would definitely recommend Slack to everyone who needs a messaging platform for work. The thing that I most appreciate on Slack is the possibility of talking to my coworkers without using my personal number or personal apps. This way, I can separate what is work and what is not. Slack even has the option to mute notifications after work hours. I'm able to keep track of every project and discuss them in an easy and fast way. Another great thing is that you can keep and check the history of channels and groups, this way the discussions are never lost when someone joins the project in the middle of it or someone leaves, the history is always there. The only thing that bothers me in the platform is the system of threads, where you can easily lose the messages cause they look kind of hidden. If you have multiple subjects with someone and the person only responds in threads, it's very common to lose their messages.
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Pros
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
  • Organize threads of project content - WAY easier than having multiple emails
  • Provide the ability for others to observe communication on projects or topics that they aren't directly involved in
  • Create a space to share universal business announcements
  • Create spaces for topics that are fun
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Cons
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
  • While threads exist to keep conversations organized, managing and finding threads within channels can be cumbersome. Enhancements in thread management and search capabilities could be beneficial.
  • Slack has a limit on the size of files that can be directly uploaded. Increasing this limit or providing smoother integration with external file-sharing services could be beneficial.
  • Managing guest access can be cumbersome, and simplifying the process for inviting and controlling guest users would be beneficial.
  • Slack primarily operates within individual workspaces, making it challenging to collaborate across different workspaces. Enhancing features for inter-workspace communication could improve collaboration for organizations with multiple Slack instances.
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Likelihood to Renew
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
As useful as Slack has become within our company, I feel fairly confident we will continue to use Slack as a communication tool. They continue to improve their software and add value to its use within our office. Customer service delivers, which is an absolute must. Looking forward to how they improve.
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Usability
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
As long as you use the basic chat features and nothing more, it really is super easy to understand and use. Once you want to take advantage of some of the more advanced features and capabilities, that's when things get complicated. Anyone who has use SMS or a chat program before will be able to figure out the basics though, so rolling this out should be relatively straightforward and not required exhaustive training. Teaching chat etiquette is something else though.
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Support Rating
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
I've never had to contact support for Slack which is a great testament to its ease and use. Adding people outside of the organization takes a little getting used to, but ultimately allows for greater collaboration between FTE and contractors. There is no clear alternative to this software, so it's the best we can do for now.
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Implementation Rating
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
It always helps if you communicate to everyone in the organization how important it is to drop whatever other chat tools they are using and jump quickly to Slack. They will all fall in love with it.
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Alternatives Considered
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
Microsoft Teams got very confusing for me with all of the tabs and different things to learn how to use it. I felt that Slack has a much cleaner look and makes it easy for anyone to learn how to use. I also like how it integrates seamlessly into our Google/mac workspace!
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Return on Investment
Lightning Tools
No answers on this topic
Salesforce
  • Allowing our team to communicate, especially in a remote-first environment is invaluable
  • Sharing sensitive information securely is a great feature so we don't have to rely on other software
  • Direct communication with our clients through Slack Connect helps us reach a larger audience and therefore increases our opportunity for revenue
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ScreenShots

Lightning Tools Social Squared Discussion Board Screenshots

Screenshot of MODERN, RESPONSIVE SHAREPOINT DISCUSSION BOARD
Discussion Forums can be created for a variety of different reasons. This example is a Forum Group for the Microsoft 365 technologies such as Teams, Planner, and SharePoint. Forums are then created within the Forum Groups for more specific discussions. Under the SharePoint Forum Group, there is a Forum for SharePoint On-Premises and SharePoint Online. Anyone looking to ask a question regarding SharePoint 2019 for example would be able to post their question under SharePoint On-Premises rather than SharePoint Online. This also allows subject matter experts to focus more on the questions that they can respond to and provide value.Screenshot of SHAREPOINT DISCUSS BOARD – TOPICS VIEW
When navigating into a forum, the topics and discussions that are taking place are shown. Any new topics that not yet read will be highlighted. It also displays whether topics have been answered, their average ratings, how many views and posts are within the topic, and also provides the ability to subscribe to the forum to be notified of new posts within it.Screenshot of READING DISCUSSIONS AND PROVIDING FEEDBACK
Social Squared offers a threaded discussion view with the ability to provide feedback to other users.

Posts can be rated, voted upon, or liked by users in order to give feedback to the user creating or responding to a post. Additionally, replies can be marked as answered or marked as featured, which gives readers of forums assurance that the response they are reading is validated to be the correct answer.

Users also receive feedback through the earning of badges. The more users post or mark posts as answered, the more points are rewarded. This makes it easy to spot subject matter experts.Screenshot of SUGGESTED TAGS
Social Squared provides a rich text editor for creating and replying to topics. The Rich Text toolbar provides functionality such as inserting images, YouTube videos, Stream Videos, Formatted Code Inserts, as well as font formatting.

While typing, suggestions on how to tag a post appear. Selecting an existing tag will provide consistency in the tags used making it easier for other users to discover the post.Screenshot of SOCIAL SQUARED TAG CLOUD VIEW
The Social Squared Tag Cloud view makes it easy to navigate to posts within a specific category even if they span multiple forums. The more a tag appears in different posts, the more prominent it will be in the tag cloud. Users can navigate to posts with the tag in one click.Screenshot of DISCUSSION BOARD WITHIN MICROSOFT TEAMS TAB
Social Squared is a Discussion Board App for Microsoft Teams Tab’s and Microsoft Teams Personal Apps. Social Squared provides information workers the ability to post questions within relevant forums, and receive answers from their team. The Discussion Board layout for posts makes it easier to find answers to questions that may have already been asked before. Through features such as “Mark as Answered”, “Forum Moderation”, “Post Rating”, “Post Likes”, “Post Voting”, users will be assured that the answers they are reading are validated.