Userplane Administration

An administrator in a bureaucratic world is a man who can feel big by merging his non-entity in an abstraction. A real person in touch with real things inspires terror in him. - Marshall McLuhan

Last week I introduced Userplane, which provides web developers with free social networking tools for their web sites. I also showed you how to start your own Userplane Instant Community. It’s a quick and easy process – if you haven’t done so already. Visit the Userplane directory web site. Click on the Sign Up! Tab, and then the Start and Instant Community link. You’ll create a Userplane ID and password in the process. Once you complete the signup process you'll receive a confirmation in email.

Login To Your Community Settings

After you’ve received your confirmation email, you can begin to administer your Userplane community. You can begin again at the Userplane directory web site. As shown in Figure 1, click on the Login tab, then select the Userplane ID radio button. Enter your Userplane ID and password, and click on Login.

Figure 1 – Login to administer your Userplane Community.

Community Administration

One you’ve logged in, you can begin to configure your Userplane Community. Click on the Getting Started Link as shown in Figure 2. As shown in Figure 3, information about your community, including your Domain ID (which will be used over the next few weeks is displayed). In the Scripts section you can generate instant scripts that you can cut and paste into your web site, that give you instant Userplane integration. From a simple link to Userplane to different Javascript logins.

Figure 2 – Get Started with Administration.

Figure 3 – Community Information and Instant Script Access.

Scrolling down the page a bit more provides access to Community Settings, as shown in Figure 4, and Look & Feel, as shown in Figure 5. In Community Settings you can configure options including: the chat lobby name, the time before user created rooms timeout, if audio/video chat is permitted, forbidden words, and more. In the Look & Feel section you can provide a custom watermark which will appear in the chat window, and also create custom smileys.

Figure 4 – Community Settings.

Figure 5 – Look & Feel settings.

Userplane Money

If you want to start racking up some dough with Userplane, you’ll want to agree to the Userplane Money terms of service. You can do that by clicking the Click Here link next to Userplane Money at the top of the page. As shown in Figure 6, the terms of Service are displayed. Click the I Agree link to agree to the terms of service. One you agree, your account balance will be displayed whenever you click on the Userplane Money link again, as shown in Figure 7. Whenever you rack up $25, it will be available for payout! It’s that easy!

Figure 7 – Userplane Money Terms of Service.

Figure 7 – Userplane Money Account Balance.

Userplane Community Users

Finally, you can manage the users that have visited your Userplane Community. Click on the Click Here link next to Users at the top of the page. The Users are displayed as shown in Figure 8. From here you can view and manage the Userplane IDs that have visited your community. In the actions drop down box you can make selected users Moderators, Administrators, Remove their privileges, or Ban them. Scrolling down the page a little further, as shown in Figure 9, you can invite users to join your community by using their Userplane ID or email.

Figure 8 – Userplane User Administration.

Figure 9 – Invite Users.

What's Next?

Now that you have a better understanding of how to administer your Userplane Community, next week we will begin to look at the steps necessary to integrate Userplane into your web site!