Groups, and in particular Yahoo Groups, were the first real step towards a socially connected internet. Over the last decade, Yahoo totally dropped the ball and an awesome product with a huge userbase slowly eroded away. Google also tried its hand at their own version of Groups, but it was long neglected with no real feature upgrades — until now.
A major revamp to Google Groups is underway and it looks promising. The new Google Groups user interface represents the first in a series of updates to Google Groups. Follow me after the jump to learn how to enable the new interface use it.
Accessing the New Interface
New Interface Opt In
The new Google Groups interface is ready but hasn’t been rolled out to everyone by default. If you’re interested, opt-in to check it out via the link in the Groups homepage.
This new Google Groups user interface focuses primarily on the ability to participate in discussions. The rest of the administration-style tasks are still completed using the original Google Groups interface.
The Welcome Screen
Welcome Screen
Google put up a swanky new welcome screen that brings new users up to speed with the new layout and features. For users carrying an Andriod or iOS smartphone, there’s a QR code to scan and it will lead you directly to a mobile optimized version of the new Groups.
On the left side bar resides an always on quick view pane. Links to new announcements and recently visited Groups are available for quick access. Drag and drop your favorite groups into this pane and you can access them in a single click.
My groups
My groups
After the cleanup, the list of groups you’re a member of are displayed, one after another, with a clear description of what they’re about. As in Gmail, there’s an option to mark Groups you like with a star rating.
Forums & Topics
Forums
In the new interface, the presentation of the forums and topics follow the same layout and design elements that made Gmail and Google Reader a huge success. The name of the group appears at the top of the main discussion area and depending on the status of your membership, the name is followed by either the My membership link or the Join forum link.
Posts
When viewing topics, an Overview tab and Discussion tab are to the right of the title. Click the Overview tab to view a topic summary, web references and top contributors.
Message Threading
Posts can be accessed from the Discussion tab and all the conversations are threaded. As in Google Reader, options to send the conversation to friends are available.
Linking Google Profile
When accessing the forum, there’s an option to link your membership to your public Google Profile. On top of these UI changes, the editor for posting topics got an update too.
Apparently this new interface is just a start and the Google Groups team promises a lot more is in the pipeline. They’re hard at work on improved spam controls, moderation, search and more. Let’s wait and see if the adoption rate goes up!
Share Your Thoughts!
Do you like the revamped Google Groups Interface? In this era of sophisticated social networks, are services like Yahoo or Google Groups still relevant?