1. Why is it important to complete my profile?
It's your choice as to how much information you would like to complete for your profile. It is very helpful however when networking to have as much detailed information entered as possible to establish more connections with other people and to gain their trust. Basic information includes your name, region, contact information --remember you can make all of the information private or showcase your profile by clicking the privacy settings (edit profile section). If you ever make a mistake and need to correct an item just click the (edit profile section) and rewrite or correct your mistake.
IMPORTANT: when you separate items by a comma each word or phrase you enter becomes searchable information. For example --you can click on the name of a school and everybody who went to the school will come up as a searchable find. This goes for most all categories on your home page. If you are confused click on other peoples profile pages to get ideas.
To go to the forums, please select “Forums” from the main navigation bar. To view the content of one of the forums please select the category followed by the forum itself. This brings you to a list of all the threads in the concerned forum with headlines and other info. To view the threads simply click the headline. The posts in the thread are listed chronologically from top to bottom. If you have a question and would like help from other users, please select “create a new post” after entering the relevant forum. Use the text editor which appears to type in your question and click “submit” when finished. After this your question will appear as a thread in the forum, enabling other users to post answers. If you want to post an answer in an already existing thread please enter the thread and use the text editor at the bottom of the page accordingly. At all times you can edit any of your posts simply by clicking “edit” underneath your display picture next to the post.
If a certain forum or thread is of special interest to you, you can use the watch function and have a notification when any new activity in the forum/thread is taking place. Simply enter the forum or thread of interest and click the link next to the small goggles-picture stating “You are not watching this category/thread. Click here to change watch setting”. This way you will stay on top and updated when new activity is taking place in an area of your interest!
3. How to use the Correspondence box
The Correspondence box provides you with an “overview” after login. The box is situated right below the “News” section on your home page and forms the basis of your interaction with other Swimroom users.
The first link in the box takes you to your Inbox where all mails sent to you from other users are located. If you have new mail, this will be shown underneath the link, so make sure to check this every time you log in.
The next link takes you to a list of all the groups (Groups) you are a member of. If there is any new activity in one of your groups, this will be shown underneath the link as well.
The next link concerns your contact network (Contacts Requests) on Swimroom. The link takes you to a list of pending contact request. The page shows which members you have requested to form a contact with, as well as which members have requested to be your contact, enabling you to approve or disapprove their request.
Swimroom has a watch list function (Watch List Settings) which is also featured in the Correspondence box. The watch list enables you to watch any groups or forum categories/threads. Watching will make sure that you do not miss any new activity in the groups or forums.
The last link in the box takes you to a list of blogs (Blog Subscriptions) you have subscribed to. Many swimroom.com members are individuals or professionals with a lot of relevant career advice or knowledge, and many choose to share their knowledge through a blog.
Blog is a short name for 'weblog' -- basically an online journal. Use this function to create your own blog on swimroom.com. Write about your career, your daily activities, career advice or anything else you can think of. Bring up your own topics. If you already have a blog somewhere else you can feed it into this site as well.
5. How to Create or Join a Group
You can create your own private group. This may be an existing organization or membership or maybe you'd like to create a new group and call it anything you'd like. If a group already exists --request to join it if it interests you. You also can put a watch setting on any group and wait to see if you'd like to join. It's potentially a great way to have a meeting or exchange ideas with only those people.
You can make the group as private or public as you'd like by clicking the appropriate settings. Inside the group setting you can select officers and administrators to oversee the group discussion. Ideal for organizations and associations that would like there own private area for discussion and feedback.
6. How do I invite associates or friends?
Networking sites work best with a lot of people involved --creating content and posts. Myspace, Facebook and others started with few but eventually grew and most of the sign-ups are done by invitation. If you would like to invite somebody to the site just go to the Invite tab - it's very easy. There is already a set invitation. You just insert the e-mail address of the person you would like to invite -- you can personalize the message in the box right below where the address goes --then hit send. Unite the culture!!!
7. How do I know who is on the site?
There are 3 main ways to find who else is on the site.
A. You can use the search box at the top of the site for basic searching results for example: names, topics etc.
B. Use the SEARCH tab on the menu bar for a more detailed way of searching --this display will pull up a variety of ways you can search for people on the site or topics. You can search by first or last name, company name, school, interest etc -- it will pull up topics from 6 different areas of the users’ profiles.
C. You can do a quick ‘underline' search for common or shared information between site members. If you went to your profile page or somebody else’s page you can click on almost any of the fields in the user’s profile and it will search for common things among site members. If you move your mouse over one of these searchable fields it will become underlined. This is why filling out your profile information extensively is useful. For example, when filling out your profile you put your employment history --you could then click on the name of the company you worked for and it will search for everyone else who also put the same employer down in their profile. So you can find common interest or topics among members. The 'underline' is just a reference in this instance; it reflects a link to searchable field. If you would really just like to know who has signed on to the site recently –go to the search engine and just hit search with out typing in a name and this will bring up all members with the appropriate privacy settings.
First of all what is an RSS feeder? It stands for Really Simple Syndication, Rich Site Summary, RDF Site Summary, or a variation on one of those -- just depends on who you talk to -- The basic idea is it feeds in syndicated news items to your site. You can feed the headline of your favorite sports page or newspaper right into your site box and as the news is presented on those sites the headlines get presented on your site. You can then click on those headlines and read the story lines. A real common feed would be CNN News or Google News. Almost all major web sites (news media and others) have RSS feeds and tag lines. In order to get the feed just find the RSS, XML, feed from the site and place it in your RSS feeder box and then you should be good to go.
9. How to let others know that I’ve joined swimroom.com?
To let existing members know you have joined, you must post a photo. Posting a photo notifies existing members that someone new has joined.
10. How many pictures can I add to my profile and what picture formats are supported?
You can have up to 10 photos and the maximum picture size is 2mb. If your photograph is over 2mb you will not be permitted to upload it. Only .jpg, .gif and .png file formats are currently supported.
11. How can I find and view other members’ profiles?
To view other members' profiles, go to the Search Page. At the bottom of the Search Page, Click the Search button and all the profiles should be available for viewing.
12. What is the events tab for?
In the Events Tab, you can post career or job fairs (or other career related events) in the Public Calendar or maybe you would like to create an event you can then invite other people in your network to attend. You can also use the public calendar to showcase the event to the rest of the site.
13. What are 2 Degrees and 3 Degrees and what do the numbers beside them mean?
Contact – are the people you know directly. 2 degrees - are "friends of friends" - these are the people who you know through one or more people. 3 degrees -are "friends of friends of friends" - people who are not friends of your 2 degree contacts. For more in-depth information about the Six Degrees of separation please see this article on Wikipedia.14. How can I give my profile URL to someone else or link to it from my web site?
The Permalink URL allows you to access your profile without logging in to the network.
To set your Permalink follow below steps:
- Click on Edit My Profile
- Click on Privacy
- Scroll to the very bottom of the Privacy screen
- Set Permalink URL
- Enter your name at the end of the URL shown
- Show Profile – Check The Box
- Save
15. How do I stop all the mass and multiple emails from clogging up my swimroom.com mailbox?
You can do this from the Privacy menu of your profile. Follow below steps to change it:
- 1. Click on Edit My Profile
- 2. Click on Privacy
- 3. Scroll to the middle of the page where it says: Sending
- 4. Uncheck Private Systems Emails
- 5. Uncheck any other boxes that you do not wish to receive messages for.
16. How can I change my email address?
You cannot change your email address. Your email address is a unique identifier on swimroom.com. You can however restrict or eliminate emails that are sent to your external email address. Go to "Home/Edit My Profile/Privacy Settings" and revise the "Sending" section to stop the external email flow. This will cease (or restrict) the amount of notifications you get. All the email that you get within the swimroom.com system will remain the same (unless you want to change that, too)
17. What is the My Files tab for?
My Files tab is used to store your files like resumes, cover letter or other articles. Please be mindful that your files will be visible and accessible to ALL other members on the swimroom.com web site. You can upload up to 5 files and the maximum file size allowed is 200kb per file. Files you upload may not contain nudity, sexually explicit content, violent or offensive material, or copyrighted images (See LEGAL information for restrictions and more information)
18. How do I change my Privacy Settings?
Your privacy is of the utmost importance to us. We have designed swimroom.com to protect your privacy to whatever level you deem necessary. You are free to join and participate with very little information revealed. In all aspects you have the ability to restrict who sees your information. This is done through the “Privacy” tab under your profile. Click Edit My Profile then select the Privacy tab.
19. How do I delete my SwimRoom account?
To deleted your account on SwimRoom please email admin@swimroom.com. The email must come from the email address you used to create your SwimRoom account. In the email, please include your username and a statement that says you would like to delete your account on swimroom.