Zocku Owners' Network

Are looks everything? Maybe not. But when it comes to getting the most out of your Zocku community, giving your members a professional looking network is important if you want them to stick around.

We've just opened up the Zocku Theme Store - jam packed full of amazing layouts that can be installed in minutes. Network looking a bit shabby? No problem. You can now give your members the slick, professional community experience they deserve. 

Thanks to our friend Ryan from go-themes.com, Zocku networks can now be completely transformed at the click of a button. Take a look at some of his work:

Woody Red


SocialBook


Rainbow

 

 

Want to get started? Here's how:

1) Log in to your admin centre (http://my.zocku.com) and head over to the Widget Store to grab Twitter Connect.

2) Move on over to the Layout Manager and find the newly installed widget in the 'purchased' section. Drag it over to the main admin column on the left. Once it's there, double click it to open the popup window and leave it open.

3) Now you need to register your network URL with Twitter as an application.  Don't worry! It's easier than it looks. Go to Twitter.com and log in to your account. Then visit the following link and click 'Register a New Application':

http://twitter.com/oauth

4) Fill out the form, guided by the information provided on the widget popup window from your Layout manager. Remember to double check everything when you've finished!

 

5) Once you have completed the twitter.com Application registration process, twitter will show you a number of keys. The only keys we're interested in are the "Consumer Key" and the "Consumer Secret". Paste both of these into the widget popup window.

Click "Save" and... that's it! A button will appear under the Login area of your network that looks like this:

Using this button, your users will be asked to confirm the connection, and will then be able to Login to your network using their Twitter accounts! Amazing!

 

The team has been super busy working on backend upgrades and modifications including implementing Zuora to manage the business side of the Zocku platform. Now that this is complete, the development team can swing onto making great features for your networks. This week is the first of many new-feature releases which we will be bringing you over the next 2 months.

FEATURED GROUPS

So perhaps you have 200 groups on your network but you want to give some of them the spotlight? Well now you can with Featured Groups. Simply head over to a groups profile (as an administrator) and hit the new Feature Group button.

Then simply go and drag the featured groups widget to the top of the groups list and your done!

VIDEOS IN GROUPS

A long-time requested feature is the ability to add videos to your groups. Again, you will need to drag the widget into your Group Profiles, but once that is done, your member will be able to upload videos galore to your group profiles. Simple!

MEMBER LEVELS + NEW MEMBER MANAGER

The Member Manager has been updated to allow sorting by column headings, better searching and easier navigation. In addition you will also find a new sub-tab called Member Levels.

In here you will be able to define sub-sets of members who have access to specific tabs, specific content and certain features.

When you edit a Tab's settings you will now be able to choose which member Levels can access it. If you leave them all unticked, anyone will have access.

We will soon be hooking this into our MEMBER BILLING system so that you can charge people to access premium areas of your site. This will be a fantastic way of generating serious revenue from your network by upselling your members from a free account to a paid account. We will also be introducing support for ClickAndBuy.com and revamping our PayPal support to give all network owners the opportunity to build profitable networks on SocialGO.

And finally.....

SocialGO is also working on some in-house widgets including an integration pack for BuyItSellIt.com, probably one of the best shopping carts around and a range of other heavily requested features which we will be getting out the door in the coming weeks.

The Lab is also producing new and exciting widgets and we have 30+ new and improved themes coming to the Theme store.

I am excited and i hope you are too! As always we are here to help at support@zocku.com. We will be doing a Workshop today on these new features if you want to come and take a look or if you have any questions.

Cheers!

ARE YOU TO CHECK OUT THE NEW FEATURES & WIDGETS OF ZOCKU? Tune in for this exciting & unique workshop to find out whats to come!

On Thursday, August 6th at 5:00 p.m. GMT (12:00 p.m. EST, 9:00 a.m. PDT), we will be running this unique workshop

• Network Store
• Lab Connect
• LabAds
• WordPress Plugin
• ...and more

We cannot stress enough as to how revealing and informative this workshop will be - it's something you can't afford to miss! If you would like to be a part of this unique workshop, please email us at workshops@zocku.com or click the link below for more info!

Dear Network Owners,

We recently launched the much anticipated 'Layout Manager'; an advanced system that gives you, our network owners, a vast degree of control over your network's pages. The system is brand new, and, as such, requires feedback as to what you feel you need from it. We appreciate any and all feedback on the system - and we certainly appreciate your interest!

The Layout Manager has been designed to allow maximum flexibility with the minimum amount of fuss and confusion. This is a very fine line to walk, and certain design decisions have been made to make the network lives of our owners easier to manage.

Here is a list of the most commonly asked questions regarding the Zones and Widgets:


Why am I not able to resize the zones on the default pages?

The Zocku display pages have been created with a specific purpose in mind; this and the fact that some specific HTML does not scale well unfortunately limits the zone re-size capability on our default pages. Enabling re-sizing on all pages would mean that certain widgets would not display correctly, and you, the network owner, would need a way to modify the html for your specific requirements. This is one of the items we are looking for feedback on.

Why can't I move Widget X into Zone Y?

Due to the nature of HTML, certain widgets will not display correctly when placed in a zone that is a) too small or b) too large for its specific display requirements. That being said, all widgets can be re-ordered within the zone that they are in as well as be disabled, so, if you dont like it where it is, you are able to disable it or change its position in the list.

After those 2 limitations, the Layout manager gives you vast control over your custom pages and, with the following powerful tools, provides you with a new horizon of customisation:


Custom HTML Text-Boxes

The Custom HTML text-boxes allow you to add all kinds of html & 3rd party media almost anywhere on your site.

The feature allows you to copy and paste valid html of your own creation or from 3rd parties and use it within your network. Everything from video embedding, javascript, images, mp3 players, scrollers, tickers to Google Gadgets can be placed here.

Limitations: 5 per page. Due to the high security and page load time-risk, and the fact that the more Javascript you add to a page the slower it will load, you are currently only able to place 5 Custom HTML Text-Boxes.

Required Tech Level: Basic-Advanced. This widget is incredibly powerful and as such will allow you to be as advanced as you like; however, if you're a more basic user you can simply use it to paste in videos, music, or even custom announcements, tips, and advice.

Security risk: Low-High. This depends on what you paste into the widget, as some javascript is malicious by nature and could cause problems for you and your users.


iFrames

The iFrame Widget allows you to link in an entire 3rd party website (that allows iFrame linkage) which can then be navigated from within your network.

The website that you select to load in the iframe will load in its entirety; after your main network page has loaded, bear in mind that it will also load in the 3rd party website's javascript.

Limitations: One per page. Overuse of 3rd party sites and the nature of iFrames may cause your page to load more slowly; therefore, only one is allowed per page.

Required Tech Level: Moderate. Selecting the right website to embed in your site can be a challenge; if you don't need to, then you probably shouldn't overuse this widget.

Security risk: Moderate. This depends on the 3rd party site that you link to. We advise that you ONLY link to sites that you have direct control over or are on face-to-face speaking terms with the owner.


RSS Feed Widget

The RSS Feed Widget allows you load in a 3rd party RSS feed and display it in almost any zone; you can even customise the HTML used to display the items in the list.

Requires a valid RSS feed URL.

Limitations: 2 Per Page. As the lists can be quite long (depending on how many items you choose to display) only 2 are allowed per page.

Required Tech Level: Low. Simply enter a valid RSS feed URL and select the number of items you want to show. More advanced users can modify the default html used to display each list item, thus giving you an unprecedented degree of control over your lists

Security risk: Low.

Static SocialGO.com widgets

Some of the default widgets can be customised - you can tell this by clicking on a widget; if the "Edit Widget" button becomes available, you will be able to modify some aspect of that widget's properties.


Coming Soon: The Widget Store

We are currently hard at work developing the Zocku.com Widget Store - this is very tightly integrated with your site, and, as such, provides developers with the power and flexibility to create the features that are most often requested.

Such tight integration with your site means that developers can seamlessly build extensions, addons, and even full-on applications that integrate so tightly with Zocku.com that they appear to be (and in fact are) part of your network and not merely appended on.

This is a tough requirement and requires much testing and design. We're proud to say that Zocku.com and the team at WidgetLaboratory are developing an initial batch of widgets to get you started, with many more widgets to follow as they pass testing and integration requirements.

Today's release includes a new tool for admin's only. The "Admin Toolbar" shows when you are logged into a network that you own, your users do not see it...ever!.

At the moment it only includes links to your admin center but we are looking to use it as a way to give people more control over their networks.

We will shortly be adding an option to hide it and additional functionality as well to keep you better informed.



Today's release also includes a much anticipated premium feature which you will find in the admin system. Full blog post on this coming Tuesday.... Please report any issues you find with it to support@socialgo.com. The WidgetLaboratory guys will be around this weekend as well to help you as well at www.widgetlaboratory.com

More details coming soon.......

The updates are abundant in this week’s latest release. From improved functionality of custom questions to better navigation of long lists of pages, we’re pleased to announce network owners and users should see noticeable improvement in various areas:

• You can now navigate the first and last pages of photos and videos, a most requested feature that allows you to leap to the end of a long list of pages.

• Validation of required custom questions now prevents users from signing in without entering an answer in the required field.

• We are running a new caching layer in the networks to improve speed at peak times.

• Video Ratings are now working as expected, there was an issue in the release last week that has since been resolved.

• There’s been a dramatic improvement to the video player - we’re aware some users were having difficulty loading videos in IE6 and various browsers, and this should now be mended.

• You should now see the correct numbers for items that are pending moderation. On some networks, moderation counts were out of synchronization - this has been resolved.

• Radio buttons now remember answers - answers are no longer lost when personal information is updated.

• Embedding of videos has been improved -  issues reported where videos on YouTube had disabled embedding are now fixed.

• Multiple choice custom questions has been implemented - select ‘Checkboxes’ in the dropdown menu to utilize this - see picture below:

What it looks like to those signing up with your network:

Our gratitude to all our users whose feedback has been invaluable to the improvement of the Zocku Network. If you notice any discrepancies, please email us at support@zocku.com, and we’ll investigate the issue as soon as possible.

We are in the midst of exciting times here at Zocku, and improvements and added features will only get bigger and better with each new deploy. Stay tuned for for the Layout Manager as well as many new design templates that will be launched in the near future.