SquidU

Hi Lensmasters,

Since the new transformation of groups, there have been a lot of questions about how new groups going forward will function. We asked for your top questions about groups, and have answered them here. If you are a former groupmaster, or wanted to start a group, or were a member of groups, here is the information that relates to you with groups going forward.

What was done with groups?
Groups as we know them are no more. This means the old format of a formal group with members, and a HQ page, and an admin structure no longer exists. But don’t worry! We haven’t dumped your old groups info. If you had groups set up you’ll now find them as a regular lens with a populated Plexo, and we have dozens of great lens tools to help you keep up the “groups” tradition if you so choose. In fact, creating lenses about lenses can be a very effective tool to promoting the best of what Squidoo has to offer.

Questions related to the new format

Where is the list of members/lenses? I have to have it in order to pick and choose what will be featured.

It’s preserved right on your group lens — there’s a top 100 list of lenses in the group, and if you group had more than that, then there’s a “see all the lenses” link list featuring the rest. You can edit and pick and choose from there.

It looks like I have to show every lens in every group. Is this necessary? I’d much prefer to at least group them, sort them, highlight them, recommend them. This is really problematic for larger groups.

We automatically put those big lists of every lens, on your group lens, in order to provide you with your membership list. But you can curate however you want. Featured Lenses modules are great for spotlighting standout lenses in your group.

Did I hear something about tabs for the lenses so they won’t be 20 miles long? If the lens takes too long to load, no visitor will stay long enough to really look.

We’re working with select Giants on something called a MultiPageLayout (MPL). This test is using a tabbed approach to help lensmasters break down their really long lenses and organize them into clear headers. We’re seeing some decent results from it so far, but we don’t have enough data yet for us to confidently say for sure whether we’ll release this feature as something permanent and available to everyone. In the meantime, agreed– insanely long lenses and long load times are no good for visitors. As with every lens, it’s up to you to make decisions on how best to present modules and data on your group lenses. Make choices, stay specific, and give visitors a roadmap for what they can expect on the lens.

Something to distinguish my groups on my dashboard would be helpful, and i used to check my groups tab fairly often. I enjoyed looking at groups to see how they were doing, how many members, and also knowing which groups my lenses belonged to. Is that info available to me anymore, anywhere?

Good questions, but the features requested here are still thinking of Groups with a capital G. For all intensive purposes, we have rolled back “SquidooGroups” and deactivated them. That means membership features and special Group stats and tools are gone too. We’re focused right now on the concept of “groups” with a lowercase g, meaning, people grouping up around topics and conversations and ideas, doing so naturally and right on existing lenses, using the regular lens tools at their disposal to do so. Instead of overengineering solutions for Groups proper, we’re scientifically watching the ways that people and lenses group together on their own, so that we can eventually offer you all a toolset for making those predispositions easier and more successful.

is it necessary for me to have the ‘top 100′ plexo or can I do something different- I really don’t like that, it is ugly and takes forever to load. I also would prefer to pick and choose which lenses are put into the link list. The lens will do much better with pictures, and so I preferred to use the featured lens/ featured lensmaster modules.

You can edit out anything you want, but please be sure to save (even just copy and paste and save on your own computer) the list of lenses in your group lens. That’s the only place we offer your complete roster of participating group lenses right now. And yes, you’re right, lenses with pictures and handpicked featured lenses and lensmasters will be great!

Is this the last major design/orientation change in group pages or will there be more? Can we get a special header like other categories do?

Never say never. But as above, we’re really not planning to “save” or redesign Groups as they were. Instead, we’re moving onward, taking what we learned from how people used the old version of Groups, and creating something entirely new. It might not be one big product that we’ll launch with bells and whistles, but rather, small features that all support the concept of people grouping up and following each other and running conversations and sharing traffic and helping each other’s lenses. That’s what groups do, even if SquidooGroups™ didn’t successfully achieve it.

Are groups able to be found as groups like before and if not, will there be any special way squidoo will promote them, or do I have to find a way to do that myself?

Nope. A Group is now just a lens. No special tricks or tools or sections of the site for it. Up to you to embrace whatever spirit of grouping you want, and make it happen on the lens, with the host of tools you have at your disposal already. Imagine if someone started a Best Business Books of 2010 ‘group’ lens. You could have a Plexo for submission of book review lenses. You can set whatever rules and criteria for inclusion you want. You could add a Guestbook for people to chat and reply (and ask them to follow comments by email so they come back whenever someone makes a new post). You could set up a specific Twitter profile just for that lens and tweet updates and news and highlight lenses that you accept into the lensgroup. You could set up a Facebook fanpage for that lens. You could then promote both the twitter feed and the facebook page right on the lens. Use the featured lenses module to spotlight 5 great lenses every week. Run your own Business Book Lens of the Day on a blog. And on and on and on. The tools don’t need to be proprietary to Squidoo — the web at large has provided an awful lot of smart, easy, social tools you can use to host groups, so to speak, and Squidoo is a great place to integrate them all together.

Groups where I was a co admin (esp because they were virtually abandoned) are completely lost to me?

Since groups are now regular lenses, they don’t have a co-admin function.  But you can always set up accounts for more than one person to have access to, so you can still maintain large group-style lenses.

Restrictions about monetizing the groups have been lifted because they are now lenses, is that correct?

I don’t know that there ever were restrictions against monetizing Groups. We saw a lot of lensmasters do it poorly and a few do it well. But yes, now you can monetize your lens however you want. Beware that if you want to run a lens like a group, as a central watering hole for people to participate and talk and share their related lenses, grossly monetizing it with affiliate links will probably be at cross-purposes. Up to you.

Will we get a function whereby we can contact all members of the group with an email, or is that still out?

Nope, just a lens now.

Is it true that every lens that wants to be part of the group must be approved, and I can’t have any group that people can just join?

You can run a group on your lens however you want. You can set your own submission and approval rules. Make people submit and apply for inclusion by sending you an email. Make them do it by posting a link in a Guestbook. Make them do it by adding a lens to a Plexo. You’re in control.

Would we be able to change our Bio’s at the group level? That could be handy, as we group together our lenses and want to use a certain bio format.

Since a group is just a regular lens now, for the most part, yes. You can edit any lens’s bio to be unique to that lens.

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Whew!  That’s a lot of great questions.  To see more organized information about the old groups structure, visit the Groups Mentor lens. We’ve added these tips and more to the lens, to help you choose how to manage your group-style lenses going forward.

Think your new group-style lens is really something special? Share it with us.

Keep on keeping on!
~Kimberly Dawn Wells
YOUR Community & Charity Organizer
Enjoy morning coffee with me.