Zocku Owners' Network

We have made significant progress with the new video encoding servers and are in the progress of rolling them out in the next 2-3 hours. We are sorry for the problems caused by this and please feedback if you are still experiencing problems on Saturday morning onwards! 

Update Monday 5th October
We are now seeing considerably better video quality too. Please continue to report any ongoing issues you may be having.  

Hi Guys, 

We are aware that there are some ongoing issues with video encoding which is affecting the success of uploaded videos to your networks. Please be assured that the team is working round the clock to get this fixed and we will update you once it is.

Thanks for your patience in the meantime and sorry for the problems caused with your members. 

Update 1st october 2009 : We are making good progress today with our testing of the updated service. 

Hi Guys, 

In this release we limited the number of Photos and Videos that the Vidoes>Browse tab showed to the last 1000 to dramatically improve the speed of this feature. No videos, photos etc where removed from your network and all are still available. 

A couple of you have asked to restore this the way it was and we will look to do this to avoid any confusion.  

Cheers 

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!

Hey All!

We are pleased to have pushed another release this week which fixes some known issues with the Member Billing system. Specifically that the Member billing system was getting mixed data back from PayPal so it will no longer be disabling your members. It will be up to you to contact your members on their cancellation and decide what to do.

This is a stop-gab measure in the interim while we get ready to begin work on the next-generation adult member billing system.

If you haven't already explored the widget store and installed the new Member Video Chat then please do so. It uses P2P video serving so the quality is really great. It will be replacing the standard video chat system in the coming week and will be fully white labeled for Zocku networks.

We experianced a couple of network outages this week due to our host based in Texas, USA. They have isolated the problem and tell us they have taken measures to make sure it will not happen again.

Finally, we will also start featuring networks on Zocku.com. If you would like to be featured on Zocku.com then please drop me a message!

Cheers!

Courtesy of the EvilGenius over at WidgetLaboratory, we present you with a comprehensive video explaining the functionality of the new Admin Toolbar. In the video, Spence will illustrate its ease of use and how to stylize the toolbar to blend nicely with your page.

It's going to be a busy holiday weekend here at Zocku and the WidgetLaboratory, and we appreciate the time you will take to try out this feature - feel free to provide us with your valued feedback!

Have a safe holiday, everyone, and here's to the success of your networks and future launches!

Note - To change the color of Background, Underline, and Text of your Admin Toolbar, use the following (change colors to suit your taste):

ul#admin-bar-navigation {
background-color:#FFFFFF !important;
border-bottom:2px solid #222222 !important;
}
ul#admin-bar-navigation li a {
color:#222222 !important;
}

Creating and enhancing your Zocku network will be even easier with the launch of our “How to…” online workshops. To be featured regularly, each video will focus on an aspect of the service that will enable you to maximize the benefits of your network. Live and interactive, both new and established network owners are invited to participate - feel free to simply observe or ask questions related to the topic.

The premiere workshop will be ‘How to set up your network’ and will broadcast live on Tuesday, March 24 at 6 p.m. GMT (2 p.m. EST, 11 a.m. PDT). To be notified of all future workshops, please click this link and enter the required details. If you want to register to be a part of the first workshop, please write to workshops@socialgo.com. There are 20 spaces available, and they will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis. Should more wish to take part than the spaces allow, we will schedule a repeat of the workshop to accommodate those people.

One of our goals is to provide you with the most comprehensive instruction on how to make your network a success, and we hope our “How to…” series does just that.

We look forward to welcoming you - see you then!

Loads of owners have asked over the last few weeks for network owners to have greater control over who can upload content and and if members can upload content can the owners approve that conetnt before it goes live.

So yesterday we added some new functionality to give owners the ability allow or dissallow members to (see A):

a) send global bulletins,
b) create groups
c) create events
d) create blogs
e) upload video
f) upload music 

Once you have set any of the above permissions to "allow", you then have a further choice to approve any content that members add.  So now you can approve the following before they are displayed (see B):

a) member photos
b) member videos

You will find these new permissions in the Admin Centre > Access Settings, right alongside the original permissions that allow members to invite friends, require approval for sign-ups and require approval to create groups/events/magazine submissions.



We hope this will give owners the extra controls they have been asking for to carefully shape the content that ends up on your networks.

Enjoy.

Doody