Hack69.Build Skype Communities


Hack 69. Build Skype Communities

Create a directory of Skype users who share similar interests, therefore building a community.

Works with: all versions of Skype.

Figure 7-8. Native Russian speakers willing to talk with other Skype users


Are you passionate about a particular area or subject? Then why not build your own Skype community around that interest to share information, talk and chat, and generally form a community of like-minded Skype users!

You first encountered Skype communities in "Learn to Speak a Foreign Language" [Hack #68], where Jyve (http://www.jyve.com/) was introduced. However, Jyve is far more than just a community for language learners, as you can use it to create your own interest groups. Here's a step-by-step guide to creating your very own Skype-centric community:

  1. First, you must register with Jyve. To register with Jyve you must either be a Skype user, or commit to installing Skype and becoming a user in the near future. Jyve, after all, is an online community that uses Skype as the "glue" that binds the community together. During the registration process, you must give up some personal information (see Figure 7-10); but no one checks the accuracy of this information, so you don't need to divulge anything you don't feel comfortable with.

  2. Next, go to the Group area in Jyve and select from one of the top-level categories listed. For example, click on Computers & Technology.

  3. Below the top-level categories, you will usually find a number of subcategories that further subdivide the interest area. Continuing our example, click on Software.

  4. The Software category is further subdivided into additional categories. Let's click on the Mobile Computing category.

    Figure 7-9. Jyve has built communities of Skype users around specific interests, including learning a foreign language

  5. Under Mobile Computing, there are no more subcategories. For our example, let's now create a new group called Hacking Mobile Devices. On the web page at Home Computers & Technology Software Mobile Computing, which is where weve navigated to so far in our example, there's a Start New Group for Mobile Computing button. Click on it and you'll be presented with a web page in which to set up the new group (see Figure 7-11).

    Figure 7-10. Information captured by Jyve during the registration process

  6. Once you've created your new group, you can customize it with such things as your own logo, invite others to join the group, and otherwise manage the group's activities (see Figure 7-12).

Now you have a new Skype community whose members are free to call and chat with each other using Skype, as well as use other Jyve online features such as community forums, a shared calendar of events, and much more.

Figure 7-11. Creating a new Jyve interest group


Figure 7-12. Newly created Skype community for Hacking Mobile Devices


7.6.1. Hacking the Hack

Jyve is currently the most Skype-centric community available for Skype users. But other such communities are sure to follow. In addition, you should perhaps not overlook alternative ways of forming Skype communities.

Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com/) and Google (http://www.google.com/) have their own group features: Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups. A search of either using the search term "Skype" shows groups and activities that are centered on Skype users (see Figure 7-13). Yahoo! Groups and Google Groups are not as Skype-centric, or as well integrated with Skype as Jyve. But they've been around longer, have a larger user base, are probably more familiar to most people, and in many ways have better and more mature tools and features for managing online communities and groups. If being Skype-centric is not that important to building your online Skype communityremember, anyone can make their Skype name available by including it with their ordinary name in message postingsYahoo! Groups or Google Groups is worth considering.

Figure 7-13. Yahoo! Groups already has several active Skype communities





Skype Hacks
Skype Hacks: Tips & Tools for Cheap, Fun, Innovative Phone Service
ISBN: 0596101899
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2005
Pages: 168

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