We're Beta Testing Daily Digest Email Notifications Here on Creators

[Eric Suesz]

Who’s up for some beta action? 

As we’ve been doing a lot lately, we want to share an upcoming feature before it's available for everyone with our most dedicated NCs — Network Creators. It’s our way of getting feedback on what we’re working on so it will be successful when it’s ready to be used on your network. 

This week, we’re turning on Email Digests here on the Creators Network. Obviously, this will not be available to your members on your network, but you can get an idea of how it will work for your members by turning it on. 

 

How to turn it on

• Navigate to the Email section of your Settings, which you will find on your own profile page. 
• Check the box next to “Daily” to start receiving Email Digests. You'll see this choice right at the top of the page.

 

That’s it. You’ll now receive a digest that summarizes the discussions you’re following instead of receiving email notifications every time someone responds in a discussion.

If you’re the type of person who is really active on Creators, this might not allow you to stay on top of all of the conversation, but if you simply want to be updated about the major happenings on Creators, Email Digests might just be for you. In any case, you are welcome to try it both ways. 

 

A few details to keep in mind about this beta: 

• Most emails you currently receive will be rolled up and sent to you once per day in an Email Digest email. 
• The Email Digest is a quick summary with links, similar in some ways to a Linked In style digest. All reply notifications and Group activity will be included.
• A few types of messages will not be included, in particular Broadcast Messages, private messages, and some lesser-used notifications (e.g., an error message if a video upload fails). 
• Which notifications we include or exclude may change based on our testing and the feedback we receive. 
• This Digest will not be a digest of general activity on the network. That could happen down the road, but it won’t be in this initial release.

 

Of course, we want to know what you think. Specifically, we want to know what you like and don't like about the Digest feature, as well as what options or controls you'd like to see. 

[lee ang]

since ning is working on this feature, it should include the Groupon Email strategy- one that targets interests /hobbies, related networking, shopping etc.

[Dan Olson]

I like the idea very much in theory, but in reality I've been receiving the daily digests on this thread for several days now and I have to say I find it hard to know what's new. In the email I have a choice of either clicking on a person's name -- which sends me to their profile-- or clicking on the thread name, which just takes me to the start of the thread. Finding out what was added to the thread is like solving a little mystery.

 

I can understand that if I had a lot of activity going on, keeping it simple is better. But in my case the digest isn't all that useful because it's not really digesting anything -- it's just saying, "There's been some activity by these people somewhere on this thread, see if you can find it."

 

Am I missing something?

 

[Rev. O.M. Bastet]

Dan, what you said is EXACTLY my comment, too. I am not asking for anything else wrt these digests, I don't even understand the stuff people are asking for. This digest simply does not work ON ITS OWN TERMS AS IT IS NOW, just with what it is attempting to do right now. Doesn't work. Thank you for articulating my view even more clearly than I did!!!

[Asha Bhide Cryan]

The one HUGE drawback of Ning relative to say the Yahoo groups is a lack of a daily digest of general activity to all members, and the inability of individual members to broadcast bulletin.   We're getting more and more frustrated and are looking at alternatives (BigTent) especially given we're paying a $200 fee.  Are we the only ones that feel this way. 

[Sofus Midtgaard]

Agree - we have to switch from NING to LinkedIN, Facebook or another platform soon if it not soon made possible to have a functional weakly digest like LinkedIn's... Make it happen please...

[The PL Team (d&e)]

We've turned ours off.

 

The quality of whats received is appropriate for a quick "Notifications" pulldown, not for an email digest. The loss of traffic to the site will hurt impressions, thus hurt ad revenue. 

 

Ning IS however on the right path, why not have this digest submit the data to a special page on everyones profile so people can check ON OUR NETWORKS what has happened since their last visit.

 

Enough with email notifications, when I'm driving and I get an email, the last thing I want to do when I get home to a computer and log into a network is to look up an email, if I ever remember it!

 

 

[Dan Olson]

I really appreciate the roll out of new features and the ability to provide immediate feedback. So to the Ning team, thanks.

For what it's worth, we're a new group but growing fast and our members are already complaining that they can't find what they posted and they can't keep up with all the new posts. The email 'alerts' on new posts are helpful but can get overwhelming. I was hoping the daily digest would have been a daily version of those 'instant alerts,' but they're not -- at least not yet.

We use the Group and Group discussion functionality exclusively (as opposed to Forums). We have learned that the big missing piece in Groups is "Discussions I've created." While this is available with forums, it's not available with Group Discussions.

The rapid ramp in activity caught us a little off-guard (good problem to have, I know) -- and we haven't even started promoting the network yet. But the two most requested features from our members have been 1) Where is the list of discussions I've started, and 2) Where's the list of discussions I am following?

Again -- posting here because I was hoping the email digest would solve some of this. Maybe other good things are in the works?

[Evan]

Hey Dan!

Thanks for your feedback. There's no way to see a list of discussions you're following, but you can see discussions you've started. Go to a member's page (or your own), click on Discussions on the left and then filter to "Show Discusisons I've started," like so:
http://creators.ning.com/forum/topic/listForContributor?user=3p173h...

/Evan 

[Dan Olson]

Hi Evan -- thanks for the reply. Your suggestion does work for forum posts but unfortunately we have chosen to use the Groups functionality (for various reasons) to manage our discussions. There's no way to find discussions you've posted in Groups.You can only see which groups you've joined. You can see this on my profile here.

 

But, what you suggest is exactly what we'd love to be able to offer our members. So if there's any way to add "discussions I've created in Groups" to the member profile page, that would be great. Or let me know if I'm just missing it.

 

Dan

[Dan Olson]

Hi Evan -- just wondering if I was missing something here. Is there some function that allows you to see your discussion posts in Groups? Or is that limited to Forums as I suspect? Thanks /Dan

[Sandra Jensen]

I'm late to this 'party'  - sorry, I was one of the people really pushing for better email notifications and in particular a daily digest. I'm not able to read everything that people have written, but if what I got today is 'it' :

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Creators digest

New Comments

Dan Olson replied to We're Beta Testing Daily Digest Email Notifications Here on Creators.

To control which emails you receive on Creators, click here.

 

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...then this is of no particular use to me.

 

What I need for my network as a cultivator and moderator and what I desperately want is a digest that gives me a link to the actual post (and not the thread name) AND the full text of the post. I realise not everyone wants this so perhaps it could be possible to opt for just a notification as above (but please, with a link to the actual comment/post not the top of the thread).

 

Because I travel a lot and because I often have a slow line, it's very useful for me to be able to read the posts in email form and then, if I need to address the post, I go to my network.

 

Also, having the full text of the post means I always have a back up of everything. As my network is a writing workshop, this is very useful. I was a member of Gaia, which folded, and having kept all my notifications from my group there, essentially I have a back up of everyone's work, which has already come in useful as not everyone could or knew how to back up from Gaia itself.

 

Also, I need - and my moderators need - to be able to have a digest of ALL activity, regardless of whether I have clicked on the 'follow this' link.

[Rev. O.M. Bastet]

Here I am chiming in again, on this issue, for the umpteenth time, yes yes yes, thank you Sandra!! No link to actual post, the digest is essentially useless. ESPECIALLY in threaded discussions. 

Lordy, what I wouldn't give to have a listing of ALL activities that was cumulative, and a daily digest would be one way, not the optimal way (the optimal way would be a cumulative Latest Activity visible only to Network Admins. I can't see this would be any programming challenge!)

 It is soooooo handicapping, as an NC, to know only the last 20 things which happened on my network. That is ludicrous limitation, it grossly interferes with my ability to manage my network!!!! Information is power!!!