Yuku
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| URL | http://www.yuku.com/ |
|---|---|
| Commercial? | Yes |
| Type of site | Message Board System |
| Registration | Required |
| Owner | ezboard, Inc. |
| Created by | Robert Labatt |
| Launched | 9/2005 |
| Current status of site | beta |
Contents |
[edit] History
The name "Yuku" comes from the aboriginal word for "tree".
Yuku is the latest version of ezboard, Inc.'s Internet forums, which utilizes Ajax techniques along with PHP. Yuku has been in development since 2005 and was revealed as being "available now" at DEMOfall 2005 in September 2005, although it was at Alpha release stage at that time. Yuku staff have stated that a full release should be available by the end of 2006. As of September 1, 2006, internal stats show that almost 15,000[1] members of the ezboard community have voluntarily begun beta testing the Yuku product.
At the DEMOfall launch, ezboard, Inc.'s CEO Robert Labatt’s presentation explained that advertising revenues will be shared with the individual board owners. Labatt estimates that "an average large community" could receive $3,000 to $5,000 (speculated) a month, however no details on revenue sharing have been released thus far. The launch was reported on by media as Computerworld, USA Today, Bloomberg, CNN Money and several blogs.
More demos were given at the New York City Blogon 2005 event where it was selected as a "BlogOn 2005 Social Media Innovator". Another demonstration was more recently given in November 2006 at a monthly technology networking event in San Francisco: SFWIN 1.10. Instead of the revenue feature only the integral approach of combining message boards and blogs with multiple profiles per person were now highlighted.
As with ezboard, Yuku will be available in two formats: the free Yuku boards will be supported through advertisements. Paid message boards will not show advertisements. As of October 8, 2006 ezboard, Inc. has not released details of its pricing model for paid boards; paid ezboard message boards are charged according to page views, but the Ajax architecture presents content in a different way.
On March 7, 2006, ezboard's CEO stated that all ezboards would move to Yuku when it is ready and that they anticipate this will be in late 2006. While still in development, Yuku will give ezboard users access to both platforms (Yuku and ezboard).
On August 21, 2006, ezboard, Inc. have asked for an ezboard message board administrator to volunteer their board to be the first one imported into the Yuku system.
In September 2006 the traditional help forums were replaced with a wiki. This was met with mixed feedback from users. [2] After a short discussion amongst volunteers [3] a volunteer-run help forum was set up, GetHelp.
[edit] Features
[edit] Message Boards and Social Networking Features
ezboard, Inc. has stated that the new message board platform would allow its registered users to utilise social networking and media sharing, amongst other unannounced features that are due to be released when the system goes live. ezboard, Inc.'s CEO, Robert Labatt, has also announced that there will also be a non-JavaScript version of Yuku.
[edit] Message Boards 2.0
Yuku is described as "Message Boards 2.0". [4] This name was probably derived from Web 2.0, as some features are similar to those of other Web 2.0 sites (tags and RSS in particular).
Key features include:
- tags
- topic subscriptions (RSS / Email)
- pre-made skins
- custom skins
Custom skins are notable for providing numerous CSS options. Although this may be off-putting to those unfamiliar with CSS, Yuku can be customized far more easily than ezboard can, and to greater length. For instance, it is possible to color certain posts differently depending on username or user group. This makes it possible to make an administrator's posts stand out.
[edit] Yuku Profiles
Yuku's user profiles are similar to those at other Social Networking web sites. Friends can be added or removed, comments can be posted, and private messages exchanged between users.
Profiles can also be personalized via pre-made themes in the skins library, or custom-built using HTML and CSS. Profile blocks can be selected from a pre-defined list, moved up and down, or removed.
The following profile blocks are available on Yuku. Each block can be removed or set to private, with the exception of Mini Profile, which allows each piece of information to be removed or set to private.
- Mini Profile - Basic user information, e.g. name, location, date of birth etc
- My Location - The location of the user. Google Maps provides a more precise location, although non-US residents have to select a US state, thereby rendering the map useless.
- My Favorite - Links.
- My Media Block - Allows media files to be embedded.
- My Tags Block - A user can tag their profile to aid searches. Other users can also add tags to someone else's profile
- My Friends - Displays the Top 10 friends with a link to view the rest.
- My Recent Posts - Lists the Recent Posts made by the user.
- Comments About Me - Comments made by other users, which the owner can reply to. A shoutbox can be simulated by disabling the approval option, so comments appear immediately.
- 5 Small HTML Blocks and 6 Big HTML Blocks - Blank canvas. Users can choose what to add to these blocks.
[edit] Feature Voting
During the summer of 2006, Yuku staff launched a polling device known as the Feature Voter. [5] The Feature Voter was created to give Yuku members a chance at deciding what features would be developed in the future. Photobucket integration is an example of a feature that was developed ahead of other features based on user feedback.
[edit] Kudos
Kudos appears in a number of places on Yuku. "Kudos" is used as the plural of "kudo". "To kudo" is a verb on Yuku; for instance, "you can kudo this topic". The past tense is "kudoed", e.g. "he kudoed that topic".
Users can "kudo" the following things on Yuku:
- topics
- users
The Yuku Hall of Fame shows the top 100 profiles on Yuku, ordered by Kudos. Profile kudos is broken down into a number of horizontal bar graphs:
- User popularity - Popular users get more points here. The calculations are not specified, so the definition of "popularity" is ambiguous.
- Bringing friends - Inviting new users to Yuku will increase this bar.
- Interaction - This is measured by a user's "participation". As with popularity, this is not explained in detail.
- Quality content - If a user posts topics that others enjoy, this will increase. Enjoyment is measured by the number of other people who "kudo" a topic that the user starts. A user can "kudo" their own topics, though, and it has not been stated whether this adds to the Quality Content value.
- Direct kudos - By default, a "kudos" link appears in all Yuku profiles. Clicking the link will increase the direct kudos value by 1. A user can only "kudo" another user once, and this cannot be retracted.
- Charisma totals - This is made with a "secret recipe", the ingredients of which are not known.
[edit] Technology
Server-side processing is handled via PHP. On the client-side, Yuku makes heavy use of Ajax. As a result, some features are quick and simple to use, such as reordering forums with Drag and drop.
[edit] Yuku FAQ
The full FAQ as to what Yuku is can be found in the FAQ section of the Yuku web site as well as the other links set out below.
[edit] Useful Yuku boards
- Yuku Help Wiki - for help FAQs (Official board)
- The Lobby - for general discussion (Official board)
- Developer Blog - occasional updates from developers (Official board)
- Skins & CSS Help - for design queries (Official board)
- GetHelp - help forums (volunteer staff but yuku endorsed)
