In 2009, ADDA’s communication module primarily started as a replacement of Yahoo Groups and Google Groups.. these were email based groups.
ADDA even brought the email group + Forum functionality together.
As you know, such email groups are now extinct, so is the technology outdated.
The current private social network technology is that of an Online Forum (over App and/or Portals), supported by Email Digests.
ADDA is moving towards the same.
So Goodbye Email Forums! We will miss you!
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We all loved the Email Forum back then.
It was convenient in its own way. Our users loved it. Every communication would send an email right into the inbox. Users could also reply or create conversations directly from emails. Most of us had the habit of checking emails frequently, and hence through the emails we would be able to keep ourselves updated about what is happening in our Community.
As ADDA’s Email Forums came integrated with User management, helpdesk, etc. it became the product of choice for Community related communications.
Onset of Issues..
With the onset of new technologies and increased user expectations, communication platforms itself evolved. Experiences like tagging users, putting replies on specific replies, option of edit/delete posts, etc. were built into the communication platforms, and they were not possible to replicate them in Email Groups.
There were other issues as well with email groups. Email groups would send out a lot of bulk mailers for each conversation and reply, which started getting flagged by Email service providers. Also, there were multiple operational challenges. For example, while posting from email apps/browsers, users sometimes put various formatting in the content being posted. While rendering such content in the App/Browser based portal, often anomalies would seep in.
Alternatives…
Most social networking platforms faced similar challenges and understandably Email Groups have seen a steady decline in usage and most Email Groups like Yahoo Groups have since been discontinued.
Some platforms chose to move their conversations completely from emails to the online portals or Apps. In these platforms, emails would be used just to send a notification. For the actual conversation users would have to visit the App or the portal.
Some other platforms chose to send a daily digest, which would contain a summary of all the conversations for the day. We chose this later approach.
Community Forum Now..
So below is how the ADDA’s Forum (or Community Buzz) will work:
- For Users who just like to stay informed of the goings on in the Forum, they will receive a Daily Digest with ALL posts and responses. They do not have to log in to ADDA at all to read these.
2. For Users who like to participate in the Forum, please log into the ADDA app or Portal and post/respond.
Through the ADDA App, everything related to the Community, including Conversations, can be easily accessed.
One would only find information related to their Community in the App. No Spam.