Introducing Clans

Here's a short 'how to' guide to get you up to speed with the latest feature on the BudgetPixel platform - Clans About Clapping: Rewards for blog posters and viewers are based on clapping. For the viewer you receive a daily reward for 'clapping 10 blogs' for the poster it is based on 'claps received'. Viewers, you can clap a single blog to receive your reward, simply do so slow and steady: clap & clap & clap ... 10x. Posters require first 100 and then 500 claps. A viewer can clap up a blog to 20x. So if and when you clap this blog, please clap 20x, not once or twice, as claps may have been intended to serve as a measure of blog quality, value, enjoyment but in reality are simply a means to a reward. Let's start with the 'why'. Some time ago the idea of the QT (Quote Tweet) was introduced, in which a creator posts an image based on a specific theme and invites others to create their own images inspired by the theme and link back to the originators image. In order to improve and ensure visibility the originator would tag a large group of users. These users would receive a notification based on the 'mention'. To ensure their post was seen, they in turn would tag the same or an equally large group of users. The result - a flood of notifications. This became a frustration for many users, impacting the overall effectiveness of the notifications. BudgetPixel's solution, the 'what' The Clans capability is a set of features intended to provide a focused means to enable the idea of the QT. It provides users with the ability to create a so-called clan, which other users can join as members. The owner of the clan can create a theme and then add an initial post to illustrate the theme. Other members can then add their own posts to the theme. Getting started - the 'how' You will find the Clans feature in the top menu bar along with all the other existing capabilities Naviagte to Clans home page and you will see all the created Clans with a button to create your Clan. Users can create a single Clan. Note that you need to be a user with a paid subscription to create a Clan. Navigating to Create clan presents a screen in which you can title your clan, add a short description and a cover image. When visiting your own clan you can you can create a theme using the button and providing details. Note that themes are timeboxed, much like challenges, not open-ended as was the case with the QT free-for-all. Complete the details and launch the theme. You will then be presented with a nudge to create the first post. When you visit a clan you have the option to join, visit themes, and make new posts. New posts are made directly from within the theme, not by linking to an existing post. You will also see breadcrumbs top left which you can use to navigate back to the specific clan's page or to the Clans homepage. You can also set up notifications by clicking on the bell icon. You can choose to be notified for all activity which would include new themes posted in the clan and new posts added to a theme, just for new themes, or no notifications. Initial impressions It is early days but overall I consider it a good start. The navigation is simple enough and you can now easily see all the posts in a theme to visit that post and from there the user's page to see all their recent posts. I think we may need further refinements to the notifications. The risk exists that this addresses a need to see all the posts inspired by a theme and does provide more control over the notifications but if I want to be notified rather than making a routine visit then I may still be flooded by notiications. In addition, in my case not every post is related to a theme, either mine or in another clan. In order to ensure visibility of those posts I may still be tagging in the post comments. BudgetPixel has limited the number of users tagged in a comment to 5. All that means is multiple comments made to tag the group you wish to mention 5 per at a time. The BudgetPixel team are responsive to suggestions. I think this is a great new capability and am sure over time the features will be refined to continue to improve the user experience About Clapping: Rewards for blog posters and viewers are based on clapping. For the viewer you receive a daily reward for 'clapping 10 blogs' for the poster it is based on 'claps received'. Viewers, you can clap a single blog to receive your reward, simply do so slow and steady: clap & clap & clap ... 10x. Posters require first 100 and then 500 claps. A viewer can clap up a blog to 20x. So if and when you clap this blog, please clap 20x, not once or twice, as claps may have been intended to serve as a measure of blog quality, value, enjoyment but in reality are simply a means to a reward.