Confused by Faithlife ... still

I visited faithlife today ... first time in a while ... and it seems to be the same as it was many months and years ago ... but worse!

'My Faithlife' seems to have many biblical quotes from people I have never heard of ... no disrespect is intended to them ... I simply do not want to 'follow them', to use the Twitter phrase. I cannot see why they are on my page ... unless they are in the same group as me (possibly the theology/denominations group, or the collections group). I cannot see a way of deciding which groups are generic (and to be hidden) and which groups are personal (where I actually converse with the individuals, to be seen). Does anybody know how to filter the content in that main panel of 'my faithlife'?

Not that I use the groups beyond those with useful shared documents ... simply because I still cannot find any groups! The search does not seem to be any different from the past years ... either nobody uses faithlife, or the search terms I am using are wrong ... or something! Is there a browsing facility that I have missed? One that might show by region?

Apart from the frustration of having to log in the Faithlife so that these forums will work ... I am concerned with the recent move of Logos to the Faithlife brand ... complete with forum logos and at least one MVP referring to the 'folks at Faithlife', or similar, (again, not a slur against our wonderful MVPs) ... my concern is simply that if the Faithlife brand ever becomes established outside of this community ... and people search for Faithlife instead of Logos ... they will find the Faithlife forums (unfinished) and not the bible software (world beating). I see that this forum is marked Faithlife - Beta ... is there going to a new version soon?

Thanks.

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Comments

Jonathan Sine

Lots of good questions and concerns here. I'd also like to see some development on this. I know Bob recently noted that Faithlife.com is a priority. It just hasn't materialized yet.

David Taylor, Jr.

I have been on Faithlife.com since they first opened it a couple of years ago. I have tried to get several groups involved and our church group was a test group for feedback.

In answer to your questions, most of the functions are the same there has been very little changed on the front end with the exception of feature additions such as discussions, prayer requests, photos, etc...

The use of faithlife.com is sporadic. There are some active groups but generally they tend to be very specialized. And example would be groups about Greek, etc.

Faithlife has great potential, but I think in the world of facebook and twitter, it is going to take a lot for it to be adopted as another major social network.

John Nobile (Logos)

Martin,

If you see activity in "My Faithlife" that is not interesting, just hover over those users to see which groups you have in common. In those groups, just reduce your participation to Follower and you'll no longer see their interactions on "My Faithlife" unless they specifically post to the group you follow. The reasoning is that you are closely tied to the other members of groups where you're a member and their interactions are likely to be interesting to you.

Thanks,

John

tom

it is going to take a lot for it to be adopted as another major social network.

I simply do not see it happening. Too many people are already overloaded with social networks. Even google+ users are only spending 3.5 minutes a month on google+ according to wikipedia.

David Taylor, Jr.

it is going to take a lot for it to be adopted as another major social network.
I simply do not see it happening. Too many people are already overloaded with social networks. Even google+ users are only spending 3.5 minutes a month on google+ according to wikipedia.

That was my point you were just more blunt [;)]

Martin Folley

Thanks for the reply John.

The problem with your suggestion, as I understand it, is that 'Followers' do not seem to have access to the documents. So far, it is the documents that have been with only redeeming feature of Faithlife, the theology/denomination tags group in particular.

There is a tension here ... a group's documents can become more useful the larger it gets (or the more useful the documents leads to more users in the group, like myself). BUT the larger a group gets, the greater the need to filter out the chatter. It seems that whilst Faithlife is inert, there is little need to filter out chatter from groups to which you belong ... but should Faithlife ever succeed then I would expect a greater demand for users to take control of their home page.

John Nobile (Logos)

'Followers' do not seem to have access to the documents.

You can ask the group administrator or moderators to change the groups settings so that Followers can Connect and Share documents.

There is a tension here ...

You are absolutely correct. With limited resources comes a tension between building features that will attract more people and building the features required *when there are more people*. Right now, we're prioritizing the features and design adjustments with an eye toward making Faithlife.com *the killer app* for connecting with others around the Bible so that more people feel compelled to get involved.

mike

making Faithlife.com *the killer app* for connecting with others around the Bible so that more people feel compelled to get involved.

John,

Just a suggestion..

Maybe you guys need to throw is some free books or some type of giveaways for people to participate more in Faithlife community.

They way Faithlife is progressing now, I doubt it'll ever be a "killer app". Not enough advertising and honey..

David Paul

I have looked at Faithlife on a few occasions, and each time I do I feel like I'm looking at a blank page. I haven't got a foggy clue what it does...it seems to me like a design ghost town. I just don't see any "there" there.

Doc B

it is going to take a lot for it to be adopted as another major social network.
I simply do not see it happening.

I agree with these analyses. I watched "The City" flop with a dull thud, and while Faithlife is more creative than was The City in some ways, it is harder to use in other ways.

I'll buy somebody's lunch if it explodes into popularity, but I don't see it either.