All changes in brief:

• Launch of the new community function in the open beta version
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Software version 6 - Community function

You asked for it, we made it happen 😉

The community function is here! 🎉

Over 125 votes (upvotes in the Feature Request Board) voted for it, and now you can try out the function in the open beta version.

What is the community function?

The community is a forum, similar to a Facebook group.

The difference to Slack or Discord: It is better suited for thoughtful posts.
What it is not is a group chat tool for live exchanges.

This is what the Community interface looks like:

Use of the community function

Advantages

Using the community function offers various advantages:

1. Courses and community are in one place, which creates a good learning environment.
2. The platform does not need to be changed.
3. The exchange in the community is much more interactive than just limited comments under lessons (these are like small data silos, they are rarely used).
4. On Facebook, members are often distracted by other posts or ads from other companies.
5. Facebook groups are not individual, but the various Spaces in the community can be customized and branded as desired.
6. Personal data is handled in compliance with the GDPR and stored on servers in the EU.
7. your community = your contacts -> It can happen that Facebook blocks you for any reason, sometimes completely unfounded. In your own community, you can be sure that this won't happen.

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Who is the Community function suitable for? - Intended use

Added value as a coaching group

It offers a safe space for networking, promotes exchange and can provide collective information about dates and events. Worksheets can be filled out, sent off and shared with the group. You can obtain group feedback and thus bring about or accelerate transformation.

Added value for online course sellers

The community function enables online course sellers to change their business model. Away from the one-off sale of the course towards a subscription model. One-off revenues can be turned into monthly recurring revenues.

Employee onboarding and process training

The community can function as an intranet, as a group in which questions are asked and answered centrally. Companies can share their information and news via the community. Employees have the opportunity to exchange information about carpooling, various joint activities such as group sports or private matters. The community can also be used as an internal marketplace. All these examples strengthen togetherness and the feeling of being a team; team building is promoted simply and effectively at the same time.

Added value for training courses of all kinds

But the community can be used for more than just employee process training. This concept can be applied to training courses of all kinds. For software training, for example, the community can be used to answer feedback and questions from customers and employees in different spaces.

The benefits are obvious: users help each other and this takes the pressure off the support team. In addition, training participants can continue to be supported after the training by being able to express their questions and suggestions in the groups.

This pushes the service performance, customers see greater added value through the comprehensive support, which in principle does not represent any additional expense for the provider.

Operation of the community and functions

Activate the community as admin - step-by-step instructions

Activate the community and obtain the consent of your members:

1. Click on Spaces in the navigation bar on the left under Courses and then on Activate Spaces.
2. Under Settings (at the bottom of the navigation bar) you can click on Spaces.
3. For data protection reasons, you should always obtain the consent of your members.

➡️ We have already written a help article explaining all the steps in detail.

You can access the article at the following link:

👉🏽 https://help.memberspot.de/de/articles/6441715-spaces-einwilligung

4. You can see what such consent can look like in the help article. This serves as an example, you can copy it under Settings -> Spaces, then paste it into the text field below and individualize it (adjust company name, link to imprint and data protection information and insert e-mail address for possible revocation of consent).

5. Another option is to have your members sign your terms and conditions or privacy policy externally when they sign the contract. You can then deactivate consent by activating the slider for Consent is obtained externally. This way, we will not obtain the consent of your members.

➡️ We therefore offer you the option of either managing this yourself or using our settings (you can also adjust this later under Settings ).
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Setting up the community - step-by-step guide

The community function is hidden under the Spaces function. This allows you to offer your customers the perfect opportunity to interact with each other and with you.

Options for admins:

Create Space and Space group:

1. Go to Spaces: You can create a Space and Space groups directly using the plus sign in the top right-hand corner.
2. Create a Space group (e.g. entry).
3. Then create a Space (e.g. Introduce yourself), select the Space group and decide whether the group should be Public or Secret.

➡️ You can customize everything, even emojis are possible. -> Let your imagination run wild! ✨

A detailed explanation of how to create Spaces and Space groups can be found in the help article at the following link:

👉🏽 https://help.memberspot.de/de/articles/6442593-spaces

Opportunities for members:

Posts can be easily created using the blue Create post button at the top right:

• Posts in text form (including bullet points, various headings, etc., i.e. all the formatting options you are familiar with from common text editors)
• Text posts with cover -> i.e. upload images that are displayed above the post (also shown in the example screenshot above)
• Add additional videos (Vimeo, Wistia, YouTube, Loom)
• Integrate emojis
• insert a Spotify link, this is automatically displayed as an embedded player (for podcasts)

➡️ content can be added not only via the editor, but also very intuitively via copy + paste.

• posted articles can also be pinned, then they will always be displayed at the top
• If you have created a post yourself, you can also edit and delete it
• You can follow contributions from other members under the 3-point menu
• you can react to other people's posts, i.e. not just like them, but select different reactions
• you can remove your own reaction by clicking on it again
• you can comment on the post
• it is also possible to reply directly to comments (these are then displayed indented)
• You can also delete your own comments and replies

Add members to Spaces as admin

When you create your Space, you can make further settings:

Public space: Anyone who is a member has access.

⚠️ Users can join public spaces independently; if this space is subsequently converted into a secret space, the member still remains in the space!
Members can also leave the Space independently.

Secret space: This is done via a separate account, i.e. the space must be added to an account and this account is then passed on to the member concerned.

Create access to secret space:

• You create the access in the navigation bar on the left-hand side of the screen under Access (i.e. not directly under Spaces!)
• click on New account in the top right-hand corner, enter the individual name of the account and then select your Space from the drop-down menu under Spaces in the window that appears and save
• Now go to Members (directly under Accesses), select the relevant member and select Activation
• click on Activate new access, select your Space and save

⚠️ If a member does not have access to the Space, they cannot see the Space group.

There are two types of notifications for new posts, which can be freely set:

1. In the app: Member gets a notification icon with info about the new post.
2. As an e-mail: Member receives an e-mail with information about the new post.

➡️ Spaces can also be edited afterwards, moved in the view (define the order yourself if there are several Spaces) and deleted.

Roles can also be created, i.e. authorizations for admins can be distributed or restricted, similar to Microsoft Teams.

You can create a preview user/preview user (click on the eye at the top right of the screen). There you can select a display name, add a profile picture and preview your Spaces and Space groups.

There you can also check whether the settings you have selected with regard to the consent of your members are correct.

If active consent is required and you do not accept this, you cannot interact, i.e. you cannot post, comment or make other changes and you will not appear in the member list, but you can view everything.

⚠️ Note: However, it makes sense to create an extra member account as an admin and use it to post something on a trial basis. To do this, log out as a preview user and log in as a member. This way you have the same view as your members and can see whether everything works as you imagined.

The next steps in software development and the tariff structure

That was a big project, so we're taking some time off now. 😎
But after our summer vacation, we'll get straight back to our development work.

But now it's your turn first. Test the community function for all it's worth and give us your feedback!
What are you still missing and what do you like?

Because your opinion counts! You provide us with new bases for decision-making and we build exactly what is really important to the majority of you! 🏗️
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What else is planned for the beta version? 🤔

We didn't want to keep you waiting any longer, so we have now released the community. However, a few additions to the beta version will be added soon:

• in the member administration, in the member's accesses, the Spaces are not yet displayed -> this will follow shortly
• there will be profile pages for members, with links to social media that can be filled in and a description
• The mobile layout is still being fine-tuned
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What happens after the beta?

Larger functions in the community will be individually adapted to your feedback and then built; there are currently no exact dates for this.

We know that some of you need certain features and that there are platforms that can provide them. We would therefore like to give you a brief insight into the topics we would like to tackle in the future:

• Dashboard
• Member chat
• Member board (leaderboard, for engagement and gamification)
• the possibility of communication between the lessons (comments), which run into a Space group and are displayed there in a bundle
• Customize display in groups (list view, tile view, current post view), which enables the construction of internal wikis and reference works in which the comment function can also be deactivated
• there will be the role of moderators
• a search within the groups (currently the search only works within the courses)
• Live streaming is not yet planned; these will continue to be displayed via Zoom
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The tariff structure

The Community function is currently available to all customers completely free of charge and without restrictions, regardless of the selected tariff.

It is not yet clear how the tariffs will be structured in the future.

Possibilities:

• Each tariff includes a limited number of Spaces and is limited by memory consumption. More community performance can be booked as a package.
• Community is being developed into a stand-alone product and can be used completely independently of courses.

The exact tariff structure is therefore not yet 100% fixed.

⚠️ First movers take note!

If the community is actively used, these customers will receive a 50% discount on all community extension tariffs that we will introduce.
By using the community intensively, you can also help shape our tool individually with the feedback you provide, adapted to your own use.
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‍Note: Moving the community from other platforms is currently not yet possible, as the post structure and date cannot simply be copied.‍

Simply test the Community function yourself! No matter whether you are already a customer or have been waiting for a suitable software solution.

Log in now

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We wish you a great summer. 🌞

As always, we look forward to your feedback.

Continued success with Memberspot!

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Your Memberspot team