Snapzu Release 5.1
It gives us great pleasure to announce that release 5.1 is now live! For those of you who are dedicated community leaders this update has been a long time coming and is just one of the many releases planned for this year! In this release we introduce an exciting new referral program for tribes as well as additional tribe related updates and general usability improvements.
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In release 5.1 we focus on the fundamental belief that Snapzu was created to serve as a platform for thousands of member created communities. It is with this notion that we are releasing functionality that focuses specifically on giving you, the tribe leaders, the needed tools to grow and expand the very communities you founded. Tribes have always been an important part of our core identity, as they serve as places of intellectual refuge where we express the ideas we have, share the things we love, and discuss the topics that fascinate us.
You may have already noticed Snapzu has been an invite-only platform for some time now, and the few invites that our members get are great for inviting a friend or two but are obviously not enough to effectively promote and grow a newly founded tribe. Over the past few months we have received numerous feedback from some of you making it clear to us that it is difficult (if not impossible) to grow a tribe without having access to specialized tools for a friction-less member referral process for their tribes. We also feel that with all the time and effort you put into it, you should be rewarded.
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Introducing the Snapzu Referral Program
The Snapzu referral program is a partnership that empowers our community leaders to grow their tribes unrestricted by Snapzu's invite system. You are now the gate keepers of your own tribes and ultimately the rest of this community.
Every tribe chief now has access to new and powerful promotional and management tools that will help with the growth and expansion of your tribes. Those of you interested in knowing more about this functionality can visit the referral program introduction where we outline how the program works and what opportunities await for those who use it.
If you already have a Snapzu profile you can access your referral program home page (must be logged in) to view qualifying tribes or tribes that have been pre-validated. Please note that everyone wishing to take part in our referral program needs to read and agree to our terms of service agreement as we have every intention to strictly enforce ethical tribe promotion practices. Anyone that does not agree to our TOS cannot participate in the referral program.
General Program Details:
Below we list the highlights and general concept of the referral program and how it will tie into the tribes functionality, as well as the rest of the Snapzu community:
All new and or established tribes must first meet a set of visual and minimum content requirements to become eligible for the referral program (empty tribes are baaad!). This criteria is listed below:
- Select and upload an appropriate tribe flag
- Select and upload a suitable tribe banner
- Fill out your tribe name
- Reach a minimum of 20 content items posted within this tribe
This criteria's status is shown on all tribes that have not yet been validated to assist in the validation process.
A specialized "Tribe Welcome" system message will be sent to all new members joining via tribe specific invite codes or dynamic tribe invitation links promoting that specific affiliate tribe. In addition, all referrals will automatically join the tribe and follow the affiliate's account.
All validated tribes have a "Referral Program" tab containing unique tribe specific promotional tools. All tribe chiefs and their appointed moderators will have access to a personalized set of tribe specific invite codes and dynamic tribe invitation links to use in their promotional efforts.
A dedicated frequently asked questions post covers all popular questions our affiliates may have. We highly urge all potential affiliates to read this document as it contains a wide variety of important details about the referral program.
We are offering a limited space pre-launch 50/50 partnership to the first 500 affiliates who validate their tribe prior to the launch of our upcoming credits platform. Those of you who join at this time will rightfully earn half of everything generated by any of your tribes, for life. This status will be attached to your Snapzu account, so all future tribes you run or moderate will also apply.
A number of guides are available to help tribe leaders get started. We recommend anyone wishing to become a tribe chief to read the following:
The referral program terms and conditions specify who is currently eligible to become an affiliate. You can validate as many tribes as your Snapzu level allows.
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Additional Features & Updates:
Below is a list of additional functionality released with 5.1.
Release 5.1 Feature Notes / Updates
Tribe chiefs can now appoint moderators
An additional sub-tab under tribe management allows tribes chiefs to add/remove moderators.Additional Tribe Levels
We have raised the number of tribe levels from the previous maximum level of 5 to 15. This allows us to create new unlocks and level specific tribe perks that we will be adding in future releases.Additional Statistics
Tribes now display additional information in the right-bar. Visitors can now see how many posts a tribe has (Snaps + Text Posts) as well as comment count and active moderator count.Updated Side Navigation
The updated side navigation area allows for larger top members lists as well as more space for rules, tribe cross-links and other general information.Markdown Corrections
We have corrected a markdown issue that made the"tribe rules" area break when cross-linking tribes, we also fixed a number of formatting issues that made certain markdown appear incorrectly.Updated "Home Feed" Navigation
Based on feedback from the past year we have overhauled the home feed navigation functionality located within the right area of your feed. The following changes have been made:- We have moved and converted the "Feed Selection" drop down into a selection list of 3 available feeds. All 3 feed types are now clearly in view which allows for better navigation between them.
- We have removed the little used "Activity Calendar" from general view and made it part of the filtering tools area that can now be expanded with the "show filters" link. Experienced users can choose to have these filters always showing by not clicking on the "hide filters" link(Your preference will be saved).
- The calendar is now a drop down function that shows a breakdown of activity from the last 7 days. This activity can be further sorted using the provided filters which remain unchanged.
- Due to popular demand we have brought back the "Subscribed Tribes" area which displays tribes the user is most active in based on tribe mastery.
Updated "Tribe Overview" Management
We have redesigned the navigation area within your tribe home page to allow for more compact display of the tribes you own as well as the tribes you are moderator in. The following changes have been made:- A new listing of "Moderated" tribes has been added
- Displayed tribes are more compact thus making it easier to manage the tribes you own or moderate.
- The level progress bar from each tribe has been removed (this functionality will be reintroduced elsewhere in release 5.2).
- Clicking on any tribe will now lead directly to the tribe home with "Newest" being the default sorting option.
- To help members distinguish between snap thumbnails and tribe thumbnails all tribe thumbnails are now rounded at the edges. This follows our recent decision to show profile avatars as circles.
- Miscellaneous visual updates have been applied
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Planned Functionality for Release 5.2
Tribe Leadership Lounge
A private area for tribe chiefs and appointed moderators to discuss rules, relevant events and the future direction of their tribe. This area will support discussion topics, as well as additional statistics on growth and user engagement. The leadership lounge will serve as a place that helps leadership focus on running a great community.Snap Mirroring
Tribe leadership will gain the ability to mirror snaps directly into their tribe if the tribe was not included in the original post. This will allow new or established tribes to build up their content as well as provide additional engagement to the snaps being mirrored. Functionality protecting snap posters will assure any tribe leadership abusing the snap mirroring feature can banned from mirroring additional snaps. (More details on this will be released as we get closer to its completion)Tribe Front Page grid-view
Tribes level 9+ will unlock the ability to show top content in the same manner that Snapzu's front page displays it. Because this is a resource intensive feature, only established tribes will be able to take advantage of this feature for the time being.Expanded Tribe Management
There will be additional tools that help leadership expand and customize their tribe.- Ability to ban a spam domain for a set amount of time
- Ability to to remove tribe from the "Tribe Recommendation" results during snap creation (allows for better control of incoming content)
- Set a minimum user level to post / vote (Maximum Level 10)
- Set a minimum reputation to post / vote (Maximum Rep 70%)
- Toggle option ON/OFF to require tribe membership before posting Snaps / Text Posts
Dynamic Domain Whitelist
The dynamic domain whitelist will allow Snapzu to track established and reputable domains based on user feedback from up/down votes to curb spam and stop abusive users from continuously posting self serving content and breaking Snapzu's 10% share rule. As we near the completion of this functionality we will divulge full details on how it will work, until then we can say that this functionality should do a fantastic job at keeping spammers at bay.Improved Tribe Discovery
Across the Snapzu platform we will be making improvements to help new and experienced members to discover new and unique tribes. We will be expanding the tribe index area to include expanded filtering and sorting options, as well as creating dynamically updating categories for users to check out.
We feel the gamification concept for profile levels and reputation will play an important role in the future expansion of tribe functionality as well as the Snapzu platform as a whole. As we move towards creating a vast community of web communities, these gamification elements will help protect against spam and promote the kind and helpful interaction that most "Snapzites" have come to expect.
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Release 5.1 ushers in an exciting era of opportunity! We hope that you will be our partners in turning this platform into something unique and inspiring. We have compiled a list of all important links below, so feel free to check them out if you're interested in learning more about the referral program.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!
Oh, and as always: With all new updates, there may be a bug or two that we may have missed, and if so, please report it the comments section or email us at support@snapzu.com. Don't forget to do a hard refresh by pressing CTRL+F5, or better yet, try clearing your browser cache if you spot something weird or glitchy.
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Referral Program Introduction
For those who want to learn more about Snapzu's referral program should check out this introduction. -
Referral Program Home (Must be logged in)
For those of you who are already Snapzu members you can follow this link to view an overview of the tribes active within the referral program. -
Referral Program - Frequently Asked Questions
The most asked questions about the referral program compiled in one place. Please be sure to read through these questions to find answers before contacting us directly. -
Referral Program - Terms of Service Agreement
All Referral Program affiliates are asked to read the terms of service agreement.
Join the Discussion
Gotta say, this is a lot of info to take in all at once. But I like what I'm reading.
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Maybe I should finally start a tribe... I've never really cared to.
Do it up. You're missing out.
Hey, what are you waiting for? Do it!
It is wonderful that there are new things although most are only for tribes. I look forward to snap mirroring - it will be great.
Yeeah the mirroring sounds like a crazy useful feature in the effort to keep the re-posts down
I was almost surprised it didn't exist, but the powerful tribal key-wording seemed like another way to get those cross-linkages going; with both functionality in place, whee!
It seems the timing is right for me to cross platforms. My ears already perked up when I saw there's a "blogging" function that unlocks at higher levels; I have a few ideas about that already.
The referral program is a great idea! It gives people an incentive to share more. Great for people in the social media industry like me!
It's really is quite clever.
Great to see tribes finally get a little love.
Just read the terms and conditions, US and Canada only? Is the a permanent requirement?
Actually we have just updated the terms of service removing the requirement. From this point onward geolocation will not be a factor.
This is really great news
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Excellent work as always. It's been a treat watching this place evolve to what it is today.
I'm really enjoying this. It just gets better and better.
Good stuff :-)
In what Language its Snapzu written?
Its open source?
Can I help?
Are you hiring?