Would love your feedback about a third-party toolbar

[Eric Suesz]

Some Network Creators use third-party apps and widgets on their sites. Maybe you use a few or have tried a few over time. Some are undoubtedly better than others. These toolbars and  can help you offer members an alternative to functionality that Ning provides, provide something Ning doesn’t provide, or maybe offer unique ways for your members to connect around your community. 

I was doing some research into a few of these, and I am curious what you think about Conduit. It’s a toolbar that you can customize and offer to your community as a way to extend the reach of your site or just keep your core members more connected. I want to get some feedback from people here on Creators about what this toolbar is, what it does, and whether or not you think it would be something that would interest you and your members. If you’ve used Conduit before, I’d love to hear your thoughts about it. If you haven’t, I’d still love to hear your thoughts. 

What is it, exactly? It’s a toolbar that you can customize for your community. You can add links, RSS feeds, games, gadgets and apps to the toolbar. These can point back to your community, or you might even put affiliate links in them if you think that is something your members would use. The idea is to create an extension of your community that perhaps your most fervent users would want to use. They talk about their toolbar here.

What do you think?

• Have you ever used something like this with your network? 
• If you have, did you see increased activity or engagement? 
• Did you ever make any money? 
• Do you see it as something for money-making potential or something that’s more geared toward boosting activity?
• Do you think your members would be interested in using something like this? 
• Are there any similar toolbars you would recommend like this one?  

We created a very basic, rudimentary toolbar just to show you a stripped down example you can check out here.

So, what do you think? Is Conduit something that sounds interesting to you and your members? 

[Jacob Ryan Hughes]

Conduit is an AMAZING developing site! I have used it for all my mobile sites, toolbars, and websites! This will be a great partnership!! Not to mention there acquire with Wibiya.com!

[Shy Matsi]

Conduit is a nice option, that said, when I used it I didn't care for it.. it bogged down MSIE so much and disabling it was near impossible, I finally had to uninstall it.. some of my members use it currently.. It was created by a moderator.. I'm not sure if he made anything off of it, not many members jumped on it when we announced it.. 

This was back in 2009 though.. now closing in on 2012, I wouldn't mind looking at it again to see what it has to offer now.. 

[Jo Young]

Hi Eric,

I have also investigated Conduit - and really like the concept of having our name "up there" on people's screens.  I like the options of adding social media to the basic search tool, etc etc.  Its a neat idea.

However, I also couldn't get rid of the darn thing after I installed it - and decided I didn't want to potentially damage our brand by promoting something to our members that would irritate them.

Cheers, Jo

[Eric Suesz]

Thanks, Jo. I have heard about the difficulty of removing it, which doesn't sound awesome. Appreciate the feedback!

[Stefaan Boel]

I have this for a year or so: http://inventorwizard.ourtoolbar.com/

People can use this as shortcuts to parts of the site, also RSS and twitter are included.

I like the way you can add icons to your menu's, easy to recognize!

Oh, and you can make a little money with it...

 

One point, I believe I had to make the RSS feeds through feedburner to be able to work

[soaringeagle]

i wonder if the 14 ppl that still use the jensocial one are just 14 who were unable to get rid of the damn thing

im glad i didnt install the creators version to test it

 

[Jen]

Not all, but good question.

Do keep in mind, I completely stopped supporting the bar, just didn't delete it. Although on the flip side of that comment, there are some great links and auto feeds that never stop being useful. Which kinda tells me it's not the best tool for continuous popularity. Unfortunately mine is not the best example. When members saw Ning Directory instead of JenSocial, a lot of them wrote and assumed it was defunct. And for future updates it was.

Best,

Jen

[Rowald]

Safari not supported. Firefox 7.1 not supported. No install for me i guess..

[Walter]

I do not recommend conduit, is a traumatic experience to remove the bar

 

[Chazz]

Removing this bar is very easy. Just open your Add On Manager and scroll down. You can delete it and remove it with a single button click.

[Alexander]

We use Wibiya (FREE) http://www.wibiya.com and whosamungus http://whos.amung.us (subscription based). Wibiya is being acquired by Conduit - so already have this.

[Chris Comish]

Yes I don't like forced changes to sites. I like that everything is optional. Forced changes to all sites was why I left MySpace and why I will be leaving Facebook soon if they continue.