Weekly Release for April 15, 2009

Hey everybody,
For our release on Wednesday, April 15th, we’ve got a big new change to the way Meetup works, which gives you a lot more flexibility. Plus some other new stuff this week, too. Take a look …

Create your own topics
Meetup Groups are organized by topic on Meetup, and picking the right topics is essential for helping people find your group. Topics decide who is notified about your Meetup Group, where it’s listed on Meetup.com, and how it’s indexed on Google.

Until now, Meetup HQ managed topics based on your suggestions. But Meetup is about making sure there's a Meetup everywhere about most everything, and we don’t know your groups as well as you do. So today we're opening it up and letting organizers create new topics themselves!

Now you can create topics that you think best promote your group to potential members. Choosing the right topics drives people directly to Meetup Groups that are perfect for them.

Topics can also be used as a way for your Meetup Group to connect with similar groups to share information and ideas, collaborate, and build community. You can use a topic to indicate that your group is a part of a larger organization or interest (for example: Beppe Grillo or Hip Mama).

When you create a new topic, there's a corresponding topic page and map where all groups associated with that topic are listed. When you want to reach out and talk to others interested in your topic, there’s also the topic message board.

We've also increased the topics you can have from four to seven. This way, you can still have the topics that have been working for you, and add three more of your own if you like.

You’ll see the option to create new topics when you start a new Meetup Group or when you’re managing topics within your existing group.

How to create a new topic
To create a new topic within an existing group, go to Group Settings >Manage Topics. Click on a field and start typing. If we can’t find a match, click on “Create this Topic.”



We’ll double-check for any similar topics. Consider picking a similar topic as they often already have people on a waiting list ready to hear about new Meetup Groups.



Click “Add topic” and hit submit on the Manage Topics page. That’s it! Your Meetup Group is now listed under your new topic, and the topic you created will be made available for other organizers to use.

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Embed cool topic maps
If you're into maps and want to showcase how many groups exist under a certain topic, you can now embed a map onto your website. If you're really, really into maps, play with the topic's Timeline - you can watch groups pop up as they form around the topic over time. To see the map and timeline, go to any topic’s page: http://writers.meetup... , for example.

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Photos
We have made a few modifications to the photos section to address some previous issues w/ usability around the section.

• We heard from some that the browse bar popping up when you moused over the photo was jarring. We have added a control to allow it to come up or down on an explicit action.
  
• We added a link (above the photo) to view all photos in an album in a full on grid view.
  
• Finally, we added a long requested feature to the photo section; the ability to run an automated slideshow.
  

And as usual, we fixed some other bugs, too:

• Fixed private groups’ members photos (anonymously shown with member comments on the Group home page) saying 'no photo yet', because it’s really just a hidden photo
  
• Fixed Assistant Organizers sometimes having access to edit Topics via Group Settings
  
• 'Maybe' rsvps in the attendance tool changed back to default 'not attended'.
  
• Fixed Assistant Organizer display of Manage Custom Domains in Group Settings
  
• Fixed photo uploader sometimes not working for member names with apostrophes.
  
• Cleaned up our API Demo page a bit.
  
• Fixed deleted discussions showing up in groups’ 'What's new' feeds.
  

And other behind-the-scenes bugs, of course.

Thanks,
Viviane.

Hi, Great work.

When you said: 'Maybe' rsvps in the attendance tool changed back to default 'attended'.


did you mean "changed back to default not 'attended'."


Just wondering and thanks.

Good catch Tammy -- once this release is live all people who've RSVPed 'Maybe' will be presumed absent in the attendance tool and come up as 'not attended'. I've edited the original post.

I appreciate you fixing the browse bar and can't wait to see the slideshow feature. Have you thought about putting a random posting feature for sponsors' ads so that they automatically rotate vs. us having to manually move them? Rich

I'm very excited about the ability to create a new topic! One of my groups is specific to a topic that doesn't yet exist... it should hopefully help generate even more traffic to our group. Thanks!

I'm new to Meetup, and was just trying to add more than 4 topics this morning, and then decided to see what the update is all about - THANK YOU! How cool to have something I was just trying to do only hours away!

overall, I'm looking forward to messing about with changes later today.

I am disappointed that despite all requests, HQ chooses to ignore the request to move the pop-up scroller OFF the photo. If there's a reason this can't be done, just tell us instead of appearing stubborn about the way you chose to implement the scroll.

KarenL

'Maybe' rsvps in the attendance tool changed back to default 'not attended'.
Thanks,
Viviane.

Now we need to know if the 'Maybe' rsvps that we added as attended will still be there?

New members no longer show up in the What's New section even though it is checked off in Group Settings. www.rdutennis.com and www.rdudads.com