Updated: April 7, 2011

Audiences in SharePoint Server 2010 are groupings of users that can be used to target content on a SharePoint Server Web site. SharePoint Server 2010 allows targeting to the list-item level or to the list level. Groupings are determined by membership in Microsoft Exchange Server distribution lists, membership in SharePoint groups, or rules that are configured by an administrator. Each audience must be compiled before content can be targeted to that audience. Compilation identifies membership in an audience by crawling the data most recently reported from the identity management system. For more information, see Compile an audience (SharePoint Server 2010).

Important:
Audience compilation cannot run during user profile synchronization.

In Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010, audience rules can be based on the following information:

• A user profile
  
  
• Membership in an identity management system, for example, Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) or Microsoft Business Connectivity Services
  
  
• An organization's reporting structure
  
  

Audiences are defined and contained in User Profile service applications. For more information, see User Profile Service administration (SharePoint Server 2010).

Security Note:
Do not use audiences as a substitute for configuring permissions for SharePoint users and groups. For more information, see Security planning for sites and content (SharePoint Server 2010)

In this section:

• Add, edit, or delete an audience (SharePoint Server 2010)
  
  This article explains how to add an audience, edit audience properties, and delete an audience.
  
  
• Add, edit, or delete an audience rule (SharePoint Server 2010)
  
  This article explains how to add an audience rule to an existing audience, edit the properties of an audience rule, and delete an audience rule.
  
  
• Schedule audience compilation (SharePoint Server 2010)
  
  This article explains how to configure an audience compilation to run at specific times.
  
  
• Compile an audience (SharePoint Server 2010)
  
  This article explains how to perform a one-time audience compilation.
  
  
• View audiences (SharePoint Server 2010)
  
  This article explains how to view a list of the audiences that are currently configured.
  
  

See Also

Change History