Using messages and private discussions limits your audience to only the people you want.
Messages and private discussions show up in the Inbox of only the people you send them to. These are useful features, but the power of Jive is that nearly all topics in the community can be helpful to others, so try to keep things public whenever possible.
To send a message to someone, click the Send Message button from
your Inbox or Message from the top of any of your attention
streams. Alternatively, you can click 
> Message or hover over the person's name in any of your attention streams and
click Message. After your message is sent, the receiver will see
it in their Inbox. From there, the receiver can respond directly.
To create a private discussion, click > Discussion and select Specific People.
Select the participants you want to include in the discussion. When you're finished drafting
the discussion, click
Post. Only the participants you selected will see a
discussion notification in their Inbox. From there, they can respond to
the discussion.