A digital bulletin board does what the corkboard in the hallway always tried to do, and then keeps doing it after everyone stops looking. Announcements, events, recognition, and reminders go on a screen, updated from a browser, scheduled so this week’s notices appear this week and disappear on time.
This page covers digital bulletin boards from the ground up, including the difference between bulletin, message, notice, and information boards, where they work, what belongs on them, and how to put one on any screen you already own. Compared to print, a digital bulletin board is easier to manage and update, and the right digital signage software keeps your virtual bulletin board fresh and relevant without anyone reprinting a thing.
What is a digital bulletin board?
A digital bulletin board is essentially a screen-based display of information. Instead of pinning paper memos or flyers to a corkboard, you can provide content on sleek electronic bulletin boards that can showcase an informative bulletin board full of text, images, or even video content. These electronic bulletin boards can act as a company bulletin board for employee announcements, a corporate bulletin board to share important business updates, or an e-bulletin board for individuals who need an easy way to show announcements to a large audience. This type of setup can also include a bulletin board website feature, where outside viewers can access and even contribute to a remote feed of updates.
Bulletin, announcement, message, notice, or information board?
The words vary by workplace and by country, and they describe the same thing with small shifts in emphasis. Here is how they line up.
Digital bulletin boards and digital announcement boards are the general-purpose screens for notices, events, and news, and they are the direct replacement for the corkboard. An electronic announcement board or an online announcement board is the same screen named for its job.
Digital message boards emphasize communication from a person or team to an audience, such as a manager’s updates, a welcome for visitors, or a rotating message of the day.
Digital notice boards is the common term in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and much of the Commonwealth for the same screen that North Americans call a bulletin board.
Information boards and digital info boards lean toward reference content that stays up, such as hours, contacts, schedules, and directions, rather than time-limited notices. A digital information board and a display information board are the same idea by other names.
Digital communication boards is workplace language for boards aimed at staff, combining announcements with metrics and recognition.
Whatever the label, the screen, the software, and the setup are identical. The difference is entirely in what you choose to put on it, which the rest of this page covers.
Why are digital bulletin boards important?
Digital bulletin boards are important because they bring flexibility and speed to your announcements. When a school needs bulletin board announcements about new events, staff can simply log in to their platform and update the digital bulletin board. Because these bulletin boards are online, there is no need to reprint anything or physically update the board. For businesses, digital bulletin boards reduce printing costs and make it straightforward to keep content up to date. When policies need changing or events require last-minute details, staff can make those changes on the fly with just a few clicks. This speed ensures that your content stays accurate and that viewers always remain in the loop.
Where digital bulletin boards work
Corkboards appear wherever people gather, and digital ones follow the same map. These are the settings where they do the most work.
Workplaces and company bulletin boards
A corporate bulletin board on a break room or corridor screen carries announcements, shift information, safety notices, recognition, and company news, all managed centrally with permissions so HR, operations, and local managers each post to their own board. Our guide to digital signage for company communications covers the broader employee-facing patterns. Because these screens live on the company network for years, security matters, and Screenly is ISO 27001 and SOC 2 Type II certified, built on a zero-trust architecture.
Campuses and learning spaces
Schools and colleges replace the paper-covered hallway board with screens showing events, deadlines, club news, and alerts, updated by office staff rather than reprinted. See our education use case for the wider campus picture.
Community organizations and places of worship
Congregations, community centers, and clubs use a digital bulletin board for service times, events, volunteer needs, and member news. Our church signage page covers that setting in depth.
Residential buildings and property management
Lobby and mailroom screens carry building notices, maintenance schedules, package alerts, and community events, with a digital directory often sharing the same screen.
Healthcare and public facilities
Waiting areas and staff corridors show visiting hours, wayfinding reminders, health notices, and staff announcements. Our hospital digital signage page goes deeper.
Across all of these, the pattern is the same. Any space that has a traditional bulletin board can benefit from a digital bulletin board application, from office lobbies to campuses to retail floors, and bulletin boards online reach the people who are not walking past. The board that gets updated is the board that gets read, and updating from a browser is what keeps it current.
What to put on a digital message board
The best digital bulletin boards mix time-limited notices with content that refreshes itself, so the screen always looks alive. Announcements and events with end dates are the core, and scheduling retires them automatically. Recognition, welcomes, and celebrations give people a reason to look. Reference information such as hours, contacts, and schedules anchors the board. Live elements such as weather, time, and news come from digital signage apps and need no upkeep at all. Most of these pieces exist as ready-made digital signage templates that you configure rather than design.
The rule that keeps a board alive is simple. Nothing should be on the screen that someone has to remember to take down, because scheduling and apps can do the remembering.
Online and virtual bulletin boards, and how they relate to screens
Some people searching for an online or virtual bulletin board want a web page rather than a screen, meaning a shared board that staff or members open in a browser. That is a reasonable tool, and it pairs naturally with screens rather than competing with them.
Any web-based board can be displayed on a screen as a live web page, so the same content that people open on their laptops can run on the hallway display without maintaining two versions. Many teams build their board in tools they already know, and our Google Slides guide shows the simplest version of that approach, where editing the deck updates every screen.
The practical distinction is reach. A web board reaches people who open it, and a screen reaches everyone who walks past. Most organizations that start with one end up wanting both.
What you need for a digital bulletin board
At Screenly, we provide a cloud-based digital signage platform that allows you to control every screen in your network from a single web dashboard. A Screenly Player ($219) or Screenly Player Max Mk3 ($699) drives any screen with HDMI, or Screenly Anywhere turns a smart TV you already own into the board with no new hardware. Our software takes care of the heavy lifting behind the scenes, so you can focus on your business rather than on digital signage. Our digital signage cost guide breaks down what a setup like this costs.
With Screenly digital signage, you can create a digital bulletin board for different departments, offices, or storefronts, and you can manage all your corporate bulletin board messages in one place. If you have a large organization, you can group screens for easier management so that you can schedule bulletin board announcements on multiple screens in just one click. Screenly has built-in support for live webpages, which makes it easy to include feeds from a bulletin board website service.
Screenly also makes it easy for users to ensure that their digital bulletin boards are running with remote monitoring features. Users will know when a screen is malfunctioning immediately, rather than finding out days later that your electronic bulletin board was stuck or offline. You can even keep recent content cached on the player in case the device loses internet connection. This setup ensures your visitors always see a working online bulletin board, even when your internet connection experiences issues.
How to launch a digital signage bulletin board
Creating a digital bulletin board with our platform requires no technical expertise. You can upload your bulletin board images or add the URL, drag and drop your content into a playlist, and assign that playlist to your chosen screen or group of screens. You can also set up a schedule so that different online bulletin boards appear at certain times or days. If you only need to show a digital bulletin board in the mornings and want to run ads or other announcements after lunch, you can do that effortlessly.
Get started with your first digital bulletin board
If you’d like to see how digital signage can power your own bulletin boards online, take a look at Screenly’s free 14-day trial. Testing out an e-bulletin board setup is the best way to get a feel for what you can accomplish. You can simply sign up for an account and start displaying a virtual bulletin board quickly and easily.
Frequently asked questions
What is a digital bulletin board?
A digital bulletin board is a screen that shows announcements, events, notices, and information, managed remotely through software instead of pinned paper. Content is updated from a browser and can be scheduled to appear and disappear automatically.
What is the difference between a digital bulletin board and a digital message board?
Mostly emphasis. Bulletin boards are general-purpose notice screens, and message boards emphasize communication from a person or team to an audience. The screen, software, and setup are the same.
What is a digital notice board?
It is the same screen under its common name in the UK, Australia, and other Commonwealth countries. Digital notice boards and digital bulletin boards are interchangeable terms.
Can non-technical staff update a digital bulletin board?
Yes, and they usually do. Updates happen in a browser, content can be as simple as a Google Slides deck, and permissions let each team post to its own board.
What does a digital bulletin board cost?
A screen you may already own, a Screenly Player at $219 or Screenly Anywhere on an existing smart TV, and a per-screen subscription listed on the pricing page. Single-board setups routinely start for a few hundred dollars.
Can a digital bulletin board show content from a website or online board?
Yes. Any web page can be displayed as live content on the screen, so an existing online board or intranet page can run on the display without a second version.
The board everyone actually reads
From a single break room screen to boards across every site, Screenly keeps digital bulletin boards current, scheduled, and simple enough for anyone to update.
