THE FUZE TEAM BLOG: Join the real-time conversation

Online Collaboration? – A Little Tweeting Helper for Sharing Files

Posted by Kristen

Just when you thought Fuze Box couldn’t do anything else to help you out with your web conferencing, document sharing and online collaboration, we raise our fists and the Fuze Box team collectively shouts “Lo! Yet another collaboration tool!”

Oh yes, you heard me. We’re turning out new products quicker than you can utter “sign me up for 30 new licenses, please!”

New Product: Tweetshare

Logo: Black bird with enviously skinny thighs and a firm gaze through wee beady eyes.

Purpose: Share and discuss files at Twitter speed. You can also setup Twitter Fan Pages – just like Facebook Fan Pages, but better! And as you would expect (because it’s logical and you expect us to be logical) conversations will now be *drum roll* in order!

Tell me more!

Yes.

Of course it’s our sister site and of course we love it in that special familial way, but it is OF COURSE meant to make your life easier.

All you have to do get started IS:

1. Visit Tweetshare.com
2. Log in with your Twitter credentials
3. Upload or embed videos, photos, presentations, docs and more to Twitter!
4. Watch the Twitterverse comment and vote!

Wait there’s more!

Do you work for a brand, or are YOU the brand? (Probably yes to both.) Do you ever need feedback on your brand? (Obviously yes) Are you trying to leverage Social Media to promote yourself? (If not, get with the program) Oh. Well, then how about Fan Pages?

Fan Pages on Tweetshare are the answer to your “What the heck do I do with Twitter” musings. On Tweetshare, a Fan Page is a public profile that enables you to share your business and products easily with Twitter users. You can also showcase presentations, videos, product shots, whitepapers and webinars to a professional (or unprofessional) audience. Engage your community real-time with posts, polls and questions!

Go ahead. Give Tweetshare, a whirl. You’ll love it.

Regis, I’d Like to Use a Life Line

Posted by Kristen

Remember when I promised loosely related posts? Well, here you go.

Unless you are living under a rock, you probably noticed that the Oscars were on Sunday night. Being the blogophiliac that I am, I used my keen wit and common sense to scour the blogs for predictions. The big winner of the night (Besides The Hurt Locker?) You guessed it. Your very own Community Manager.

But…what does this have to do with Fuze Meeting?

Ah! Well, nothing actually. But is just another lesson on the amazing power of the online community. Remember Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Ask the audience was always your best shot. Don’t you see? Online communities are one BIG ask the audience! I was writing a blog post, needed references, Tweeted the question and in 1 minute had 7 references. Crazy!

All this to say – if you don’t know…ASK. There are blogs about almost everything, and most bloggers (like myself) love helping out and answering questions. As it turns out, most of us are looking for MORE ways to get involved in our communities. The more of us who are involved, the better it will be. *sigh* How organic.

And there you go. Your dose of encouragement for the day.  Now get out there and find that blogger to answer your burning question. Remember! There’s no such thing as a stupid question.

___

Ok. Now prove me wrong. Give me your best stupid question in the comments.

Community Guidelines
and the No-Tolerance Ninjette

Posted by Kristen

We realize if you’ve made it to the Fuze Meeting site and its associated blog, then you’re already probably a certified genius who knows how to conduct him/herself in an online community. But lest we are accused of under communicating, we thought we’d make it official.

• Do
  • Be chatty. We love opinions and inter-commenter conversations. We love dissent just as much as accolades (especially when witty).
  • Be courteous. Free speech has been all the rage for the past 200+ years, but please keep your comments in good taste.
  • Think first, submit second. This site is a public forum and once it’s up, it’s up. The web has an impressively long memory.

• Don’t.
  • Hate. Or use hate language/symbols, vulgarity or piss poor manners. We’ve got no tolerance for that business.
  • Spam. Setting the obvious Karma implications aside, this is still no fun and ruins the spirit of commenting. Spam includes identical repeat posting or posting anything unrelated to the topic and/or specifically intended to drive traffic to another site.
  • Break the law. Actually a good life-rule. Unless you want to go to jail. If you don’t know the law, learn the law.

We’re so excited to have an engaged and energetic community. Unfortunately, there are some e-baddies out there who can mess things up for the rest of us so we hired a no tolerance ninjette (female ninja) to do the dirty work.  Our ninjette has the right delete any comment or ban any user, with notice or with ninja-like stealth, at any time and for any reason. *swish swish* (ninja swords)

4 New Uses For Your Laser Pointer
(Now That You’re Web Conferencing)

Posted by Kristen

I know. It was hard for me to let go also.
In the whole of history, has anyone ever declared “Behold, GROWTH” with such a sense of accomplishment as when pointing at a line graph with an invisible red beam? Of course not. Are on-screen pointers nearly as fun? No. And we can admit when we’ve been beat.

But don’t worry, we here at Fuze Meeting like to make sure you enjoy 360 degrees of customer service, providing life solutions for otherwise sticky problems.

4 New Uses for Your Laser Pointer

1. PET EXERCISE – Happy March and all, but did you really want to go outside in this weather?

2. PROTECTING HOUSE (also requires a smoke machine) – Any burglar worth his salt could tell you that a laser beam wafting in smoke at the front door means man eating tigers at the back door. Best to stay away.

3. DANCE PARTY LASER SHOW – Glow stick brandishers, step aside. There’s a new kid in town and he’s wielding a laser pointer. Next article: What To Do With Your Glow Sticks Now That You’ve Switched to Laser Pointers Now That You’ve Switched to Web Conferencing.

4. GO SEE AVATAR – Remember how the planet of Pandora used to be all blues and greens? Me neither! Bring 2 and enjoy the 3D experience before it’s too late!
Now slip that pointer in your back pocket, hug your kids and crawl into you own bed. After all, you chose to live here for a reason and thanks to a little web conferencing; you’re right where you belong.

Got a use for pointers that we didn’t think of? That’s what the comment section is for.

Photo courtesy of Sulmhoor

Ms. New Community Manager

Posted by Kristen

To steal a passage from my Programming 10 Class, nerdy T-shirts of the 1990’s, and Bill Gates’ first Tweet:

Hello, World!

Fuze Meeting has just signed on a Social Media/PR/BloggyBlog/Community Management enthusiast (me) to take the reins on keeping our users and prospects (you) up-to-date and in-the-know about all things web conference-ish and other (loosely) related topics.

That’s right! We now have a whole entire human exclusively dedicated to listening to your deepest desires and needs…er…particularly those associated with web conferencing (and more particularly Fuze Meeting)!!! Can you believe your LUCK? And you thought Chinese New Year was over.

So, don’t be shy! Make my day! Let me know what you think about our product – what do you love? What could be better? What do you want to see next? Are you really excited about the iPad or do you just think it’s going to fizzle away? What would you do for a Klondike Bar?

“Yes, Kristen, YES!”, you scream with gusto. “How ever may I communicate this valuable information?!?!!?”

Good question! We’re multi-talented and well-versed, so hit us up on Twitter, Facebook or slap a comment at the bottom of this post.

Nice to meet you folks. I’m sure I’ll see you around the circuit soon.

-k.

Your new best buddy on Skype: Fuze Meeting

Posted by ralenda

It’s pretty simple… you can now Skype into a Fuze Meeting?  Hate phones?  Do you love talking to your computer screen?  The team here has been working on providing even more ways for you to connect and collaborate. We are also working on integrated VoIP, which will be available in an upcoming release, so stay tuned.

Click here to view a pdf explaining how to Skype in to your next web conference.

Cheers,

The Fuze Meeting Team

Problem with media uploading (RESOLVED)

Posted by ralenda

Hi,

This morning Fuze Meeting experienced a malfunction with media uploading and transcoding.  We’re very sorry that this disrupted your day.  We understand that Fuze Meeting provides a service that you use at critical times and the downtime, rare as it maybe; we at Fuze Meeting take it very seriously.

We were able to resolve the issue in 30 minutes and allow media uploading and transcoding to resume.

Please know we are working tirelessly to ensure this doesn’t happen again.  It is incredibly painful for us see this happen.  We hope you accept our apology and we thank you for being a Fuze Meeting customer.

The Fuze Meeting Team

Fuze Meeting for iPad

Posted by ralenda

Like most of you, we at Fuze Box have been eagerly awaiting the news of the iSlate, iTablet…iPad. It’s quite nice if I say so myself…but it’ll only be as good as its content. So our intrepid Fuze Meeting team are already working on developing the easiest, boldest and most powerful collaboration service for the iPad. We have a couple of months of work to do while Mr. Jobs and team deliver the iPad but we’re confident that web conferencing and collaboration will never be the same. Stay tuned to this post by subscribing to the RSS feed for future announcements.

You Beta Help Us. Or Else.

Posted by patrick

Fuze Meeting is looking for a special, select few to join our Beta Testing Group and help us test out our new products. In the coming weeks we’ll be testing Skype integration and new and improved screen sharing. Imagine how impressed your friends will be when you tell them about your tour of the Fuze Meeting Lab. We have a coffee pot that will blow your mind.

Add a comment or email us to participate!   Better yet – @reply us on twitter at @fuzemeeting

Major advancements. Minor annoyances.

Posted by ralenda

Dear Fuze Meeting-ers,

Unfortunately, as we pave the way to web conferencing perfection, there’s bound to be a little roadwork. If you haven’t logged in since the last release, you’ll be prompted to install the new plug-in. *pause for moans* Now then. Once you install, you’ll enjoy these spanking new features:

• Better screen sharing performance
• A single click to accept all attendees into a meeting
• Improved audio conferencing dialog box with clearer directions
• Enhanced buttons to allow posting of replays to Facebook and Twitter
• Quick rejoin to a meeting in case of unexpected browser crash
• Improved flow to easily upgrade your Fuze Meeting account
• Flash logs you can attach to report problems to us should one arise

Leave us feedback on these changes by clicking the “comments” link.