July 18, 2013

  • Improving Communication Lines

     

    There's been a lot of discussion on the various facebook groups, comments on blog posts, and of course various people expressing their opinion on the lack of communication from the Xanga team to us Xangans.

    I had a very good conversation with @marc regarding a good communication work flow today - primarily due to the concerns over the past couple of days due to people not being able to sign in to their accounts.

    With @myxldove, @thetheologianscafe and I assisting in the oversight on Xanga's facebook page, we came across several dozen people who had some serious issues regarding signing in.

    Being on Xanga as long as we have, the first assumption that popped into our minds was that it was a server issue - but we needed to confirm that this was the case before we responded to people.

    Of course, during this time, the rumor mill started spreading some of the weirdest rumors out there... and believe me - I've heard some odd ones.

    Suffice it to say, in the midst of a fundraising campaign - it's not good that any technical issues crop up - but it does show some significant limitations on what this platform can accommodate.

    The challenges with signing in, along with slow loading of a xanga blog was mainly due to the servers being pushed to their limits.    With a lot of people at this time requesting and downloading their archives - bandwidth and servers are being worked to their maximum.   I was assured that the team is addressing this issue.   For some folks, it shouldn't be a problem now to sign in - when previously they were having issues.

    But that was just one issue - and not really a communication solution.   We then discussed how we are going to pass along some information while John and the Team are working hard on Xanga 2.0.

    It was also expressed to me that they are very confident that the fundraising goal will be met - and so their major focus is ensuring that Xanga 2.0 is ready for the transition at the end of the month.   So the migration of data and getting things set up is what they have been working hard on - and because of this serious focus, blog post updates from John and the team have been delayed.    

    I figured this was the case, but it's good to hear it nonetheless.

     

    Now we know what's happening, but how does this help in future communication to the general Xangan population?

    Well, because @myxldove, @thetheologianscafe and I are helping out on Xanga's facebook page - Marc and I agreed that when a situation happens, or if there are official announcements from Xanga that they need to quickly get out there - we will be helping them in getting that information out on Xanga's Facebook page.

    Of course, the facebook page status updates are also now pushed to Xanga's twitter account as well.

     

    When something 'official' comes through these channels - expect to see '-The Xanga Team' on those status updates.

     

    A couple of updates have already been shared earlier today - and these are status updates that were directly from @thexangateam

     

     

    So - please 'like' Xanga's facebook page here:   http://www.facebook.com/xanga

     

               (if you're not on Facebook, you can still view the page - but won't be able to comment unless you join)

     

    Follow Xanga on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/xanga

               (if you're not on twitter, you can still view the status updates)

     

    We're also working on getting Xanga set up on other major social media outlets as well.   

     

    The Xanga Team has proven to me time and time again that they are willing to provide the information and resources necessary for us to do what we want (and need) to do.

    Help make Xanga 2.0 happen - and join in by making a pledge - 

     

    https://xanga.crowdhoster.com/relaunch-xanga

     

    #WeAreXanga

     

Comments (16)

  • I don't follow either their Twitter or FB.  I didn't realize the updates are over there now instead of on the main site (where, imho, it belongs).  Thanks for sharing the info - as always, it is appreciated.

  • @ElusiveWords - Major regular announcements will still be on their blog - as they should be.   But there are items that deserve a quicker response as well - and sometimes sitting down and generating a blog post isn't on the top of the list.  So, they will also share quick updates on the facebook page as well.    Good to keep in touch with both.   (we tend to highlight their blog posts on the facebook page as well).

  • Thank you for this update -- I, too, do not follow either FB or Twitter -- but will do so for the next couple of weeks as needed. I wonder if the same posts could be added to Xanga as well -- afater all, that's the site we're trying to save! I'm glad to learn that the team is truly working on code and data migration as well as the requests coming in from all of us. Perhaps the Xanga Team could provide you with a daily paragraph update to include in your daily updates -- I'm not asking for screen shots or detail, but a paragraph saying the things that were conveyed in the twitter and FB feeds would be helpful.Once again, thank you so much for all you are doing to help raise the needed funds, and to relay communications from the Xanga Team!

  • I'm happy about the announcements on FB, but I feel like even little things like that should be posted HERE. If I want to know a major thing going on on Facebook, I shouldn't have to log on to Twitter to see it. I mean, the pulse is basically the same as a Tweet or a Status update on FB.

  • @leaflesstree - Good point, but we're working on getting information out faster than before - and something is better than nothing. Besides, more people are are attached to the FB page than they are to thexangateams blog at the moment (In my opinion)  :)  I'm sure as things progress more updates will happen from the blog itself.

  • I just liked Xanga on FB.  Thank you for the updates.  I'll make sure to update others on Xanga who haven't heard yet.  

  • I am not a regular on fb. I would really like to see something on the main page here on Xanga. please keep that in mind. Thank you for your efforts Joel.

  • @ZSA_MD - This I'm well aware. There is a serious segment of Xangans that don't do facebook.   Just trying to keep the information flowing.

  • "It was also expressed to me that they are very confident that the fundraising goal will be met - and so their major focus is ensuring that Xanga 2.0 is ready for the transition at the end of the month.   So the migration of data and getting things set up is what they have been working hard on - and because of this serious focus, blog post updates from John and the team have been delayed."Just a little "update blurb" like this from them would make a world of difference and could be done in under five minutes. If they think all updates have to be detailed and comprehensive, that is a mistake. Two or three sentences every few days beats a detailed update after weeks of silence hands down.

  • not sure if this was addressed, but why is it that there is nothing of an update or even the mention of the xanga fundraiser on the xanga.com front page? why is it through facebook and twitter, other sites that are only reach xanga users who are going specifically to the xanga pages on those sites?

  • I also didn't know Xanga was updating on Facebook & Twitter, but was thrilled to find it and see responses when I was unable to log in to Xanga for better than a day. I am not connected to the Xanga Team blog (not even sure where to find them?) and have been missing many updates, but I do glance at FB & Twitter when I have no time to read at length.Thanks to all of you - much appreciated!

  • @SoullFire - "Just a little "update blurb" like this from them would make a world of difference and could be done in under five minutes."   - exactly.   This is what we discussed.   However, being that many on thexangateam are not focused on blog post updates, we discussed how we can quickly get the word out.Granted, it should be on their blog posts - but at this time it allows for quicker updates - as not all of us have access to their blog to type this stuff in.   We're working on improving these lines of communication through the tools we have.   It should get better (including more posts from their blog) as we move forward.@happyobligations - it has been discussed.   Since their primarily focused on Xanga 2.0 and migrating data, they just haven't had the chance to get a lot on the main page redone.   I brought up this suggestion as a reminder as well.     @maggie_mcfrenzie - the xanga team blog is at http://thexangateam.xanga.com   :) Glad to be of help.   :)

  • @edlives - They probably should have done that a long time ago. Have they put out any sort of alpha? Still waiting on that before I throw money at people who aren't really that good at this.

  • Thank you for this! I was wondering why I was still afloat!Sail on... sail on!!!

Comments are closed.

Post a Comment