Design
Don't make me think, but...maybe hold my hand a little
The connection experience was moved out of individual product settings and into a centralized location for managing accounts, billing, and other organizational settings.
![Mockup of channel connection screen](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/601c739ef6ccad397a0d8914/60cd4cf8d0238c1e9e393fbd_Channels-Empty%20State.png)
Screen for choosing a new channel to connect.
Reduce cognitive load and guide users through the experience. First, simply ask which network they'd like to connect. Then, if necessary, ask more granular questions like, Facebook Page or Group? Let them know when we're sending them away from Buffer to authenticate, and why that's important (security!).
![Mockup of second step in connection flow for Facebook](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/601c739ef6ccad397a0d8914/60cd4cf83fb64cd8c9264dde_Channels-Select%20Type.png)
Once a user selects Facebook, ask which type of account they want.
![Mockup of modal telling users we're taking them away from Buffer](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/601c739ef6ccad397a0d8914/60cd4cf92b49363fda4ff98c_Channels-Transferring.png)
Give users a heads' up when leaving the app, and explain why.
![Mockup of screen to select Facebook Pages](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/601c739ef6ccad397a0d8914/60cd4cfa2b2de2cd8c93a62d_Channels-Select%20Pages.png)
After authenticating with Facebook, users can select one or many Facebook Pages to connect.
Help users understand the status of their connections. The authentication tokens generated from social networks when a channel is connected don't last indefinitely — they'll periodically need refreshing, which breaks users' workflows. Reinforce when the connection is good, and make it clear when it needs attention. In a future iteration, we'll use data to nudge customers to attend to the connection before it expires.
![Mockup of channels list screen](https://uploads-ssl.webflow.com/601c739ef6ccad397a0d8914/60cd4cf9195f0e3c0e6d7820_Channels-List.png)
Connected channels display in a list view to visually differentiate from the Connect screen, which uses a tiled layout.