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Yahoo! Groups

At a glance…

• Yahoo! Groups is a website where users can create and join groups dedicated to a variety of subjects.

• The site is part of the Yahoo! Network and is available to anyone with a registered Yahoo account.

• Users can read group messages on the web, via RSS feeds, or by email.

• Approximately 6.7 million people in the U.S. use Yahoo! Groups each month.

What is it?

Yahoo! Groups (YG) (groups.) is a free service allowing anyone to create a group and start a discussion around a topic of interest. Less customizable than a Ning network (link to Ning.doc) and more flexible than a Facebook group (link to FB.doc), Yahoo holds the solid middle ground. It also has the advantage of being email-friendly, similar to a listserv. Getting started with a Yahoo! Group is fairly straightforward, and you can literally be up and running in minutes. Users can view messages on the web, subscribe to email updates, or view updates using RSS feeds (link to RSS.doc).

Usefulness

Although the popularity of Yahoo! Groups has waned over the years due to the rise of large social networks, it is still a busy meeting place. Its casual atmosphere and broad base of users makes it ideal for a group focused on conversation rather than a full-fledged social media experience.

Yahoo Groups’ main draw is its listserv functionality. If your organization wants its group/listserv to be continually gaining members, being listed in Yahoo Groups is helpful because its listings are searchable.

Features

Posting Messages

The main feature of Yahoo! Groups is its message board. Posts look like a typical email message, except the writer only has to complete the subject box and compose his or her message. The “To,” “From,” and “Date” fields are automatically populated, and you have the choice to preview and re-edit your message before you send it.

Once a message has been posted, it appears in the message area for others to read and reply to. Messages can be viewed chronologically or sorted by topic.

Email Access

Members can also post new messages to the group by sending an email to a specified group email address. This email address is created by the group administrator during the group’s creation. Depending on settings, any user who sends an email to this address will communicate with every member of the group. This “email list” feature ensures group members are connected even if they don’t visit the site frequently. Each group member can choose how often to receive group updates.

Although the use of Yahoo! Groups requires each user to register for a Yahoo account, each user has the option to select an alternate email address to receive group updates.

Promote

In addition to inviting people already known to you to join your Yahoo! Group, you can attract new members by listing the group in Yahoo!’s directory. Beyond that, by navigating to the “Promote” button in your navigation toolbar, you can generate an embeddable link to glossary web or blog link to glossary button or subscription box.

Calendar

The group’s calendar allows members to schedule events and tasks. You can set events and tasks as recurring or one time only. If necessary, reminder messages can be sent to all members. Entries designated as tasks can be checked off, which provides a visual aid to help group members stay on the same page.

Photos and Photo Albums

Each group is given 100 GB storage allocated to photographs and photo albums. Users can upload .jpg, .gif, .bmp, and .png files. Privacy lets album owners control which users have permission to upload additional pictures to their album. All members of the group have access to view all the photos, but only the moderator and person posting can remove a photo.

Member Poll

A one-question poll, offering between 2 and 25 possible answers from a pull down menu, is available. A number of options are also available regarding how the poll operates. Results are presented numerically.

Applications

There are many add-on applications available to a Yahoo! Group moderator, including some that would be of interest to a professional group or organization:

• Address book—creates an online address book for your group.

• Favorites—creates a simple database of members’ favorite things with customizable fields.

• For Sale—includes name, description, price and contact information fields.

• Give Away— same as “For Sale”, minus the price.

• Group Profile—allows members to create a custom profile specific to the group.

• How To—creates instruction guides with title, things you’ll need, and steps to take.

• Jobs—creates a job classified section for your group.

• People Map—allows users to map their locations.

• Places Map—allows users to map places of interest to the group.

• Q & A—creates a dynamic FAQ list for your group.

• RSVP—allows users to create an event and collect responses.

Most applications’ settings can be changed by the group administrator, including what applications members have permission to update or create new entries.

Getting Started

Following are the steps you take to set up and maintain a Yahoo! Group:

• Navigate to the Yahoo! Groups (http:// groups.) section on your web browser.

• Click “Start your group.”

• Sign in with your Yahoo! account.

• Or create one by following these steps:

o Complete the “Tell us about yourself” information.

o Select an ID (username) and password.

o Submit security prompts in case you forget your ID or password.

o Enter the text verification code.

o Agree to the terms of service and privacy policy.

o Click “Create account.”

• Select the Yahoo! Groups category that best fits your group.

• Complete a description of your group, and choose a group email address (e.g. Communications_Made_Easy@.)

• Select the Yahoo! profile and email address to associate with this group

• Enter text verification and click “Continue.”

• Click “Customize your group” or “Invite People.” Try to finish much of the group page design before inviting others to join. Once you have clicked “Customize,” a wizard will start to take you through the process. Some of the options you can select are:

o Choosing to list the new group in the Yahoo! Groups directory or keep it unlisted and private.

o Choosing whether to moderate membership or make it available to all.

o Specifying who can post messages to the group. If you plan to use the group only as a means of distributing information, click “Only group owner.” Otherwise, choose “Only group members” or “Anyone,” depending on your needs.

o Choose whether to moderate all messages, provide no moderation, or choose to moderate messages from new members only. New members are defined as anyone who joins after the option is selected. If you select this option before you’ve invited or attracted any members, you are essentially choosing to moderate all messages.

o Indicate whether message replies should go to all group members or only to the message sender. For an active discussion forum, the “All Members” selection is best, allowing all members to benefit from answers to individual questions.

o Choose whether or not to enable web-only features like file attachments or the ability to poll group members.

o Decide who will have access to message archives or whether to archive older messages at all.

o Set access preferences for other features like the member listing, group database or calendar.

o Click ‘finish’ and return to the invitation area or go to the group home page.

• Invitations can be sent to up to 50 people at one time, using either their email addresses or Yahoo! IDs from the group’s home page, you can promote your site as described above and customize the description and appearance (i.e. background colors, the main photo).

• Take the time to customize your “Welcome” message in the Group Settings menu and add any other standardized letters you want to have on hand.

• Add a variety of useful applications to your group.

Managing your Yahoo! Group

Depending on the level of moderation you have established and the purpose of the group, being in charge can be a very small commitment or a time-consuming one. If the group is loosely defined (“Parents of sick children,” for example), the members of your group may generate most or all of the conversations and the variety of topics may be quite large. However, if your group is organized to engage the group around something specific (like “Educating Parents – how to prevent infection”), you will want to allocate more time to create threads of discussion and keep people on track.

Defining and Measuring Success

There are no analytics built into Yahoo! Groups. However, you can look at membership numbers over time to see how your group is growing, and evaluate the activity within your group by frequency and number of posts.

Pros and Cons to Starting a Yahoo! Group

Pros:

• The Yahoo! Network comes equipped with:

o a built-in audience

o infrastructure

o user-friendly tools

• A popular alternative to hosting a group on a social network.

Cons:

• You can’t host a Yahoo! Group on your own website as you could with forum software.

• Each user must sign up for a Yahoo! account even if they simply want to access your group.

Best Practices

• If you haven’t opted for email notification, check your Yahoo! Group a few times a week to monitor latest activity, messages, and new discussions. However, receiving email updates is the best way to stay on top of new activity as it occurs.

• Use your individual account to network with similar groups and users interested in similar topics.

• Use the same rules for social media communication and etiquette you would for any other forum, social media page, profile, and email exchange. Even if the group is private, treat every discussion as a professional experience.

Time Requirements

The time necessary to maintain a Yahoo! Groups account depends on how active your organization’s group is. If your group is popular and has a large pool of active members, it is likely that you will need to spend a significant amount time moderating and participating in discussions. If your group functions primarily as a host for an email list, you will need to only visit the site infrequently, as most of your group’s activity will occur through email.

As previously mentioned, many large social networks and social media link 2 to glossary sites have incorporated group features into their infrastructures. Unless your organization or group already has a significant presence on the Yahoo! Network, it may be a better use of resources to establish presences on other sites. Evaluate your program goals and determine which outlets would be a best use of your social media time.

Please see the Yahoo! Groups video tutorial link to tutorial for detailed information on how to use this social media tool.

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