As some users of WINDOWS LIVE will be aware, I have been running a Group on WINDOWS LIVE basically aimed at users being able to discuss all aspects of WINDOWS LIVE and its related desktop applications, the LIVE ESSENTIALS suite of programs. This has enabled me to get a first hand insight into the way that WINDOWS LIVE GROUPS work at this present time and therefore the current problems for anyone trying to form and run a GROUP.
Of course Groups have only just become part of WINDOWS LIVE having just emerged for the first time during the latest WAVE3 round of updates made to the whole WINDOWS LIVE site, so they are very much in their infancy at present. However, for those users trying to set up and run a Group it has become fairly obvious where the current shortcomings lie and what needs to be altered by the GROUPS team in the future.
1. So first of all at the present time if you begin a GROUP, the first stumbling block that you encounter is how to recruit members. At present, you are only allowed to invite members from your own NETWORK and then only via an e-mail invitation. As some users on WINDOWS LIVE tend to disallow being contacted via e-mail, then you are left with only being able to invite certain members of your own NETWORK and let them know about your GROUP’s existence. It’s therefore very limiting at the moment in enabling recruitment of members to your GROUP. So my first wish is that you can invite members to your GROUP in exactly the same way and using the same methods as inviting them to your NETWORK. Say I was either reading someone’s SPACES blog, or reading a comment or note that they had posted elsewhere, and felt that person might be interested in joining my GROUP or could add and contribute to the GROUP, then there would be a choice for me to either add them to my NETWORK and/or invite them to my GROUP.
2. Now the second big hurdle. How do you then gain more members? How do other WINDOWS LIVE users get to know that your GROUP even exists or what its all about? Well, this could be easily remedied by just including GROUPS inside the SEARCH feature at the top of your HOME page! Of course, this would mean that when a person created a GROUP they would need to supply some sort of criteria (such as TAGS for example, or information of a searchable type) so that the WINDOWS LIVE user could just input a word for whatever they were interested in, then select SEARCH GROUPS from the top of their HOME page to find all the GROUPS available (if any) about their chosen subject or interest. To illustrate this, say a user was interested in the program LOST for example, they would just type in LOST and any GROUPS formed and based around that program would then be found by the search, then all they need do is apply to that GROUP for membership.
3. All members of a GROUP need to be able to see ‘on the fly’ any updates to all conversations and discussions taking place in their GROUP. (Commonly referred to on other sites as ‘subscribe to watch this thread’ etc.) This could either come down as an alert, or an e-mail notification and if possible could be incorporated into their WHAT’S NEW WITH YOUR NETWORK. After all if a user is receiving updates about all other areas on their NETWORK it seems strange that they can’t presently keep tabs on what is being discussed or commented on in a GROUP they have joined. This then allows the member to ‘jump in’ to discussions as they are notified about something interesting that is currently being discussed inside the GROUP in their absence.
4. Any really good discussions taking place should be able to be made ‘sticky’ by the owner/s so that they stay visible to all members at the top of the discussion list. This would also apply to any announcements that the owners of the GROUP might need to make that they wish all members to take note of.
5. At the moment, if a member wishes to reply to another members comments, unless they select QUOTE, they cannot see either the person nor the original comment that they are replying to whilst giving their reply. This could be avoided by allowing the comments to display in a ‘expanded’ fashion as is used inside the LIVE Q and A site for example where a user can see all the answers given and then either give their own reply or alternatively reply separately to any one of the comments (answers) made. In fact that site has many attributes included in the way it works that in my view ideally lend themselves to the internal workings of GROUPS both in how users can view a discussion taking place, and also the choices to the users on how to be notified when any other member posts an answer. (comment)
6. Notice also how the Q and A site has an area which I have ringed which also would be very beneficial inside a Groups discussion page which shows related questions. This could if applied to GROUPS then show related discussions which have taken place in the past about similar subjects, so that GROUP members do not have to trawl through to find any other discussions on the same topic. For example, say they wanted to begin a discussion about a topic that they would like to discuss, but aren’t sure if that topic has already been covered in the past, then a search of the TAGS would really be very useful indeed, especially once a GROUP had become well established and therefore contained lot’s of previous discussions which would end up becoming a nightmare to wade through!
7. Of course, if a users intention is only to run a very small private GROUP then most of my wishlist will obviously not apply and naturally a WINDOWS LIVE user wanting to set up a GROUP on WINDOWS LIVE should be offered the choice of keeping it private or public during the set up stage.
If you are a member of a present GROUP and have already expressed dissatisfaction at the way that they work at this present time, then do take a look at the LIVE Q and A site. Ask a question or give an answer, and pay particular attention to the layout of the site and how it works both in the choices given to you regarding when anyone provides an answer to your question, when you provide an answer to someone else's question and also the whole layout and the way it all works. I think that some of the features on there would be an asset if applied to GROUPS in the future.
For more information about LIVE Q and A then please contact Mindy who will happily guide you on using the site and obtaining your first 1000 points on there. My grateful thanks to her for allowing me to use these screen grabs inside this wish list for GROUPS.
TG
