We are close to getting started with a redesign of the community. We have grown a lot in the past year (since we last redesigned) so some of the things we thought back then may no longer help you the way they were intended to.
SO, we would like your feedback. If you can think of these questions for a few minutes, it will be a big help as we start putting design ideas together:
Do you feel the site promotes a favorable member experience? Why? Why not?
What specific areas of the site do you feel are successful? Why are they successful?
What shortcomings exist with the current site and what three things would you change on the site today, if you could?
What is the primary “action” you take when coming to the site? What do you do next?
Use a few adjectives to describe how you perceive the site today.
List any URLs of sites you find compelling. What specifically do you like about these sites?
Additional comments.
Thank you so much for taking the time to share your opinion.
Do you feel the site promotes a favorable member experience? Why? Why not?
I do, but then I’ve been here almost every day for a year, so I know how things work. I also think that there’s a great core group of members that are huge “givers” (thank you Sandy)
What specific areas of the site do you feel are successful? Why are they successful? I agree with Renee, discussions and welcoming. I’m also giving a big shout out to our admin team, for keeping us safe, PG 13 (for the most part) and positive. Let’s all take a look at “Our Values” under the “About Us” tab at the top
What shortcomings exist with the current site and what three things would you change on the site today, if you could? I don’t follow all the groups I belong to, it would be too much. I think newbies might join a group, and then feel like they’re talking in an empty room. There is so much action going on with discussions, too, that an important discussion can get quickly “buried”. I also think that since a lot of members (esp new ones) don’t know how to search the forums, a lot of discussions are repeats. I’d like to see more old timers to TuD referring with links to old discussions. There are some great ones out there!
What is the primary “action” you take when coming to the site? What do you do next? I always look at the discussions, and the blogs, and if there is an important one, or distress call, that has no comments, I try to find something to say to help the person, even if I don’t know anything about the problem. Then I look to see if there are new members who live in my area (long shot) or use my brand of pump (another long shot) or who might have my same interests.
Use a few adjectives to describe how you perceive the site today.
supportive, non-judgmental, inclusive, diverse, intelligent
List any URLs of sites you find compelling. What specifically do you like about these sites?
Additional comments.
I love the fact that all ages, cultures, type 1, 2, and 3, male , female, can get together.
Do you feel the site promotes a favorable member experience? Why? Why not?" Yes I do. Because there is so much support here for different point of views, ages, and how it affects them."
What specific areas of the site do you feel are successful? Why are they successful? “I feel that the Forums are the most successful, Groups are great, but sometimes fall silent, and the Blogs (wow that pretty much covers it all right?). They are successful because if you need help, people are right there within min, if you just need advice, you get almost every angle. IF you just need to vent, people listen and give their support, Anything you need you can get here.”
What shortcomings exist with the current site and what three things would you change on the site today, if you could? “I would like to see the chat come back, I totally understand why it went away, but it was nice, especially if you had an emergency and needed help asap. Maybe make it blink on the tab (at the top of the browser like facebook does, when someone is talking to you). Other than that I love the site.”
What is the primary “action” you take when coming to the site? What do you do next? “My Primary action is to check out the main page - it has everything, who’s birthday it is, I love to wish happy bdays, who is new, where the action is, and whats upcoming and blogs … I think its a great start, then I go to my page and check out my groups, comments, and email.”
Use a few adjectives to describe how you perceive the site today. “complete - supportive - friendly - family”
List any URLs of sites you find compelling. What specifically do you like about these sites? I dunno.
Additional comments. “I so love this site. I feel so close to everyone. They have been so supportive and helpful to me during my times of need and to my daughter. I couldn’t imagine belonging anywhere else. I want to give more back to help out here with other people, to give back what has been given to me. :)”
Okay, this is not my list of suggestions; not yet anyway. I want to comment on what I’ve read so far from Renee . I never knew I had an inbox until Renee mentioned hers. So maybe the site’s features could be more intuitive?
Yvonne, you will get an email notification if a friend sends you a personal message. I send and receive lots of personal messages, and I hardly ever use my inbox. (there’s probably a lot of old stuff I should delete in there!)
Do you feel the site promotes a favorable member experience? Why? Why not?
Yes, very! The personal touch of the Welcome Committee. This made an immediate positive impression when I joined. The respectful, warm & always informative atmosphere is unique. Members are quick to help, quick to offer support. Incredible group of people. Diversity is a big factor, too. You’ve created an amazing venue. Agree with Marie’s kudos about the admin team–great work.
What specific areas of the site do you feel are successful? Why are they successful?
Discussions due the the highly participatory nature & videos as a way to get info out. I don’t usually read blogs, but I think it’s wonderful to have this feature.
What shortcomings exist with the current site and what three things would you change on the site today, if you could?
How about just one:) If there was a way to do this without it being cumbersome, I’d like to see an expanded version of discussion listings. Know I miss some.
What is the primary “action” you take when coming to the site? What do you do next?
Discussions & then I check out if there are new videos.
Use a few adjectives to describe how you perceive the site today.
Innovative, supportive, inclusive, informative, friendly. I love the physical design, too. Beautifully designed! It’s great the way you change the home page frequently to keep it fresh & interesting.
List any URLs of sites you find compelling. What specifically do you like about these sites?
It is important for participants to feel accepted. Just like a huge family, there are members with whom I have more in common. There are also members with whom I don’t identify. The other day I witnessed a bit of a spat when comparing pumps. As long as the language doesn’t get fowl, I think that should be allowed. I thank you, Manny, for overseeing these things.
If I could change one thing it would be to make it so that the most recent entries are easy to find in every forum and group.
My favorite philosophy is “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
OK, I am relatively new here, but I have to say that, compared to other social networking communities that I am involved with, or have been involved with since I began using the internet in 1986, and the World Wide Web in 1995, TuDiabetes is, by far, one of the most well-thought-out, well designed, user friendly, aesthetically appealing, and worthwhile online social networks ever! Upon my first visit here at TuDiabetes.com, I was immediately impressed by how clean, uncluttered, and visually appealing the site was. MySpace is cluttered, ad-riddled, like Walt Disney collided with 50 Cent or something. Facebook, while extremely useful for staying in contact with friends and family, has the visual appearance of a medical bill, and the plethora of “apps” are beyond annoying. ShoutLife, though a very fun site to be a part of, lacks the finesse that is obvious everywhere here at TuDiabetes. So many other social networking communities, all doing their best to serve the users’ needs, all fall short in one way or another. I am sure that there is no “perfect” social networking community online, but TuDiabetes, is a wonderfully designed social networking site that is brilliantly set up to serve the needs of the growing number of members.
All of that being said, I will try to answer each of your questions, Manny.
Yes, I do believe that the site promotes a very favorable member experience, and for many of the reasons I mentioned above.
I haven’t used many features of the site as of yet. I’m still dealing with swallowing the fact that I have diabetes. I CAN say, however, that the groups, the discussions, and the member profile pages are very successful. They’re all easy to use, and they all encourage interaction, which is what community is all about.
I find it difficult to create photo albums, arrange my photos, and navigate through the whole photo area. It’s probably just me. I have severe adult ADHD so adjusting to different interfaces at different sites can be a challenge for me from time to time. Also, I get mixed up in the Inked Diabetics group on where to post my photos, whether I am to post them in a specific area, or in replies to other users’ posts. Again, that is probably just me and ADHD. As for what I would change today, if I could, I would probably add a live chat feature to each group, as well as a “general” live chat for the entire site with audio and video capabilities.
When I first come to the site, I check messages and profile comments. I then visit various discussions and groups to see if there is any info pertinent to my current needs or situation. I find TuDiabetes VERY useful to me each time I visit.
I guess that I already put my “additional comments” in at the beginning. I will add, though, that I am extremely grateful to have found TuDiabetes.com! It has already been a major blessing to me! Thank you so very much for creating this remarkable site where those of us with diabetes, as well as those who live with and support us, can all have a community together to support and encourage one another. God bless you!
Overall, I like the site. But please, please, please get rid of the thread-based forums. It’s incredibly difficult to keep up to date on a discussion, because the new posts don’t just go to the end, they’re all through the thread. The newest post may be on page 2 of a ten page discussion, for example. Makes it much more difficult to follow the entire discussion.
YES, there are ton of ways to connect with people: email, groups, videos, photos, links, blogs. You got it all covered
The forums and blogs are always active, because it’s an easy way for people to comment on subjects or help fellow diabetics out
shortcomings: groups aren’t up to date, but that’s the fault of the group. 3 things to change? have “chat” times or bring back the tab chat, maybe contests?, maybe a match up program to find people out there just like you. It would be cool to have something to unite us all like a tshirt or bracelet.
What is the primary “action” you take when coming to the site? What do you do next? I go straight to the forums, then check out the blogs to leave comments. Then i might check my page.
Bright? New? Cool?
I like diabetic rockstar’s motto and programs to help people get meters and strips, their goals (mentor program) and i like their fund raising events.
Everything is pretty good. This place makes it the place it is because of all the cool people, i would like to see everybody connect even more! In whatever way, fund raising, contests, chats, mentor programs, etc. But i understand it would take alot from the people to properly set up this stuff the right way.
Also i like having my own page, similar to a myspace page, but it means so much more here because everybody has something to connect over. While a site like myspace is fun to go to and connect with people it will never compare or compete with tudiabetes. Because tu diabetes actually uses it interactiveness and it values what people have to say and what they are all about.
The main thing that would make the site more valuable to me would be using a standard UBB style message board which would let us go immediately to the last unread message and most importantly, show us many more of the active threads.
The design here makes it a lot of work to see any but the most recent threads. The discussions here are very helpful, but I suspect a lot of visitors miss most of the past messages, which is a shame.
Beyond that I really appreciate the community you’ve built, especially the way it’s reached out to younger people and Type 1s. There was a huge need for something like this that you’ve filled.
