A quick tip or two

At the moment, it's a bit of a long-winded and quite cleverly disguised process to accept a friend request on Youniverse. The Friends page is, I'm afraid, still under construction, but in the meantime you can accept a friend invitation by following these steps...

1. Log into Youniverse and click the "Friends and Groups" tab in the header.

2. Scroll down the grid of thumbnails of your Youniverse friends to the "Find More Friends" link, and click this.

3. Select the "Invitations" tab to confirm your pending Friend requests.



Also, there are also some issues right now regarding the Facebook Connect feature- we're working on this, so don't panic if it doesn't work when you try it. You can always write to us HERE and we'll get in touch to help you out. We're nice like that.

To end on a more positive note... keep a lookout for the release of feelings on Youniverse. It's coming...

Youniverse Central: what's new, what's fixed, what we're up to next...

Apologies to all who had problems uploading photos or editing profiles the last couple of days- we've fixed that bug now, so things should all be back to normal on that front.

As always, give us a shout if there's anything you want to let us know or to ask us!

There are yet more things we're planning on releasing on Youniverse soon- one thing we're going to be improving is the search filter on "Discover People" so that you'll be able to search for people based on their moods. Exciting stuff! Watch this space...

100 not out!

Here it is... the 100th post on the Youniverse blog! Only a millionth of the way to the number of Susan Boyle video views...

Speaking of Susan Boyle (and jumping merrily onto a bandwagon all in one go), how amazing was she on Britain's Got Talent? It's quite nice to hear a voice that's as pleasant to listen to as hers coming out of one of Simon Cowell's shows. I know Leona Lewis and Alexandra Whatshername also have belting vocals, but there's a warmth and depth to Susan's that they don't quite reach- Leona can be just too shrill at times.

But Boyle's not the only one to shine in that talent competition so far: there's been all kinds of press coverage about Shaheen Jafargholi, a Welsh boy with a "Motown voice", who is tipped to be a big challenge to her.

My personal favourite so far is Flawless, a dance troupe with amazing choreography reminiscent of Thriller-era Jacko, whose team play and hard work show through in visually breathtaking routines.

I'm aware that right now I sound like I've spent every evening on the sofa doing nothing but watch this show, but actually I've just selected clips from youtube and followed links from there. Thankfully, such is the wonder of social media, I've been able to do this show in bitesize chunks, selecting the best bits (can 100 million people be wrong?) and foregoing any cringeing. Ace.

One other routine I thought was brilliant (not quite flawless, though) was Stavros Flatley... Trust me, you just have to see it.

Getting better...

OK, well the chat function's back up and running now. We've also fixed the Private Message and Block functions, and made them more obvious and part of the new UI.

I hope that makes everyone's Youniverse experience go more smoothly over the weekend... Have a good one!

A few things you should know... TGIF, eh?

Unfortunately our IM Chat client Toksta is down at the moment, which is having knock-on effects on Youniverse: while that's down there's obviously no instant messenger function on the site. Apologies for this- we rely on them to provide this service, so for now we just have to wait for them to fix it...

Thanks to all who've sent in their feedback about the new upgrades so far- if there's anything you'd like to say or to ask, just give us a shout or come talk to me. We always love to hear from you- what you like about Youniverse, what you miss from the old version, what we could implement to make it a special place for you... anything and everything.

Already, we've heard people's views on sending messages, deleting comments, the format of the comment box, the news feed... If you've got anything to add, don't be shy!

Hints and tips...

How to send mail:  The icon to send someone a private message is quite small and hard to spot at the moment (it will be improved very soon, trust me!)... it's the small speech bubble icon on the left of the profile page, under someone's photos and to the right of the links to see "More Photos" or "Movies" (if they've recorded a video profile). The Mail feature is still to be upgraded to the new UI.

How to see who's just joined the Youniverse community:  The Feed page is still under construction (it's going to be more integrated and interactive, which will be ace), but you can still see the old features of who's just joined, who's online now and who's most popular by clicking the "The Youniverse" tab on your Feed page. It's also on the "Me" tab of the Feed page, but that involves more scrolling... (Lazy? Moi???)

How to delete comments from your Comment box:  Ok, we've made this quite easy actually, by fixing it so that there's now a "Delete" link by each comment on your page. Next...

How to see old comments that have disappeared off your profile page:  Wait and see... there will be a release at some point today to fix this so that you can scroll back through your old shouts.

How to block a user:  Again, this is a fix that we're working on. I'll keep you posted, as always...

How to explore your VisualDNA more thoroughly:  We've redesigned the header bar to make it clearer to navigate your way around the site. So...

1. Clicking the Youniverse logo or the "What's going on? Feed" tab will take you back to your news feed page, where soon you'll be given all kinds of updates about what your friends are up to on the site.

2. Clicking the "Discover yourself: VisualDNA" tab will show you your quiz results in greater detail than before, and you can still read your full report in the notebook for each quiz. Also, you can see friends and people who match your VisualDNA. There's also a link to discover more people...

3. Your profile page is accessible via the "Express yourself: My Profile" tab, or the link with your username in the top right corner. Here you can edit your personal info/stats, see who's left you a comment, upload photos and tell the Youniverse more about you.

4. The "Friends and Groups" tab shows you the groups you've joined, as well as giving you the option to search for and join more, or create your own. The Groups pages are still to be upgraded to the new UI. 

Your friends are now also displayed in a cool grid format on this page, so you can see them by their thumbnail photos. Clicking "Find more friends" will take you to the old Friend lists, but we're working to update this asap.

5. "Discover People" has got really cool! Now you can see people and also see how their VisualDNA matches with yours. Plus, you can search for people based on a specific element of VisualDNA (maybe you just want to see people who like the same sort of movies?), gender, relationship status, age and country...

6. There are links in the top right of the header bar to take you to your Account Settings page, the Widget page (if you want to publish your VisualDNA on MySpace or a blog) and your Mail inbox. 

I hope all that helps you find your way round a bit- you can get in touch here or at anna@youniverse.com if there's anything you'd like to ask us or say to us. We love hearing from you!

New profiles... how hard can it be?? Well...

Ok, we've finally released the new look of the profile pages! (Could you tell? Ahem.)

This is still a work in progress for the next day or so, I'm afraid, but you can rest assured that our team are working round the clock to get things fixed and ready again on the site. Trust me- you could do a week's shop using the bags under the eyes of our developers. (Bit of an exaggeration, and far too unflattering, but they've been working that hard).

So... here's a bit of a breakdown of how the new Youniverse should work...

The Feed page (where you land once you've signed in) is unfortunately still under construction- when it's finished, your friends' Youniverse activities will be integrated into a more interactive news feed and you'll still be able to see who's online and who's visited your profile.

We've put a lot more detail into, and hopefully made much clearer, the VisualDNA matching- you can go to the "Discover Yourself- VisualDNA" tab to see your quiz results and the friends who match you closely. Also, when you visit someone else's profile, you'll be able to see a clearer breakdown of your VisualDNA and how you compare.

On your profile ("Express Yourself- My Profile"), you can now see all your photos and friends in a grid of thumbnails, and we've given more space to the public comment box.

At present, unfortunately, the comment boxes still need work and improvement. You can check out here or my profile page for updates on how those releases are going.

As always, LET US KNOW WHAT YOU THINK!

After all, it's your Youniverse, so have some say in shaping it!

More cool stuff you can now do on Youniverse, and we *still* haven't pulled out the big guns yet... Cor blimey.

So, as my rather long and quite enthusiastic title for this post should make clear, there are a few more Youniverse updates for me to tell you about. This time around, they're just little ones, but they'll still make a difference to how your profile looks...

Now, if you're in the USA, you can select your home state to show up on your profile, should you want to. Also, if you've been hesitating to edit your profile because all your smileys or brackets become a mess of &, #, 4, 0 and ; when you do, then fear not! That little bug has been banished to ancient Youniverse history, so profiles can now be edited with abandon! Woo!

Also, the menu column on the left of the homepage and profile pages has been updated to show (as much as you want published of) your personal info- age, location, relationship status etc etc. At the moment, you can also see the last 10 visitors to your page (in the "Recent Visitors" link at the bottom of this column) but we''l be increasing this number soon too.

Keep an eye out (or both, if you feel so inclined) over this weekend, because we'll be unleashing more (and bigger) updates and releasing more features of the new look. As always, your feedback is very welcome- we read and reply to all queries and comments, so don't be shy!

I for one am very excited about it all- I think it's all going to look great when it's done! 

Happy Easter, everyone, from all the team here at Youniverse!

More updates on the new-look Youniverse

Thanks to everyone so far who's got in touch to let us know your thoughts on the redesign of Youniverse. After all, this is your Youniverse, so we want your input into how it works. You can email me (anna@youniverse.com) or use the feedback links at the bottom of the page to get in touch with any thoughts or opinions... and when I say any, I mean any. We can take it. 

Ok... so on Friday night we released some improvements to the homepage. You might have noticed the return by popular demand of the 'Recent Visitors To Your Profile' section on the homepage. (So telling us what you think might actually work. Cool, huh?)

You can still download our widgets to put on a MySpace page or blog- in the info bar on the left of your profile (under your picture), you can simply click 'Download Widget' to... well.... download the widget. If you're reading this and you've got a blog, let me know about it in the comments- I'm always on the lookout for new stuff to read!

The next exciting release (hopefully today or tomorrow) will be that you'll be able to add cities to the filters in the 'Discover People' search. Also, US users will be able to specify their home state in their profile info and when registering. Awesome.

I think that's it for the updates and Youniverse world exclusives for now... hope you like them and there'll be more to follow soon!

Drumroll, please...

Hopefully you'll have noticed that some new design elements of Youniverse went live on the homepage last night GMT (so apologies to those in other time zones who were on the site while it was still under construction and in various stages of live release). 

Over the next few days, we'll also gradually be releasing the new design to other pages: profiles, friends, settings, quiz feedback etc. In the next few days and over the next few weeks the rest of the site will gradually follow the homepage. 

Plus, there will be more and better VisualDNA matches so you can meet more people like you all over the world.

As always, keep an eye on the blog, the welcome message on your homepage or my profile to keep up to date with the latest Youniverse developments!

Obviously, we'd love to hear your feedback on the new-look Youniverse. Love it? Hate it? Glad some bits are gone? Miss some bits and wish they'd come back? Let us know- it's your Youniverse we're building, after all!