Famlu Family Website Quick Start Guide

The goal of this guide is to help site administrators get their family website up and running as quickly as possible. By completing this getting started guide you are taking the first steps of connecting your family like never before! This includes 3 main steps:

1. Add some initial content so that the family members that you invite will see a custom message from you after they login for the first time.
2. Invite your family members to join your new family website.
3. Encourage your family members to share

1. Add some initial content

In this section, we’ll add a welcome post and a poll.

1. Add a welcome post

   • From your family website home page, put your cursor in the textbox that reads “What’s on your mind?”.
   • Type a short message to your family members, something like:
     • “Hello Family! Welcome to our new online home. Let’s use this website to stay in touch. We can each create message posts, share pictures, events, wiki articles and more. We can also comment on items posted by other members. Please type “Hello I’m here” in the “What’s on your mind?” textbox and click the Post button once you have logged in so I know that you are able to get in.”
   • Click the “Post” button

2. Add a Poll

   • From the home page click the “Polls” button (will be near the center of the screen)
   • Type in a question such as “Do you think this family website is a good idea?”. Then create a few possible answers like:
     1. Yes, it’s great!
     2. Seems good so far
     3. Not sure yet
     4. Not crazy about it 

2. Invite your family members

In this section we’ll invite your family members via email so they can join your family website and start interacting with other members.

• TIP #1: It is recommended that you email everyone that you plan on inviting from your own personal email address before you send the invitations from your family website so that they expect the invitation.
• TIP #2: Its also recommended that you invite as many family members as possible as some of them might take several days to join.

To invite family members:

1. From the home page, click the “Administer group” button
2. Click “Invite People”
3. Enter your family members email addresses in the “User email” text box
4. Click “Invite Users”

3. Encourage your family members to share

Now that (hopefully) your family members have joined the site, encourage them to share by asking some specific questions, asking an open question using the Q&A feature, creating a poll etc. Here are just a few example to help get the conversations started:

1. Create a Post about a recent event that you want to share with your family and don’t forget to add some photos. At the bottom of the post, ask a question - this makes it easy for family members to respond to your post.
2. Create a Q&A on a topic you think your family will be interested in such as “What’s the best new movie you’ve seen so far this year?”
3. Upload a document such as a family recipe if you have one. In the description ask a question.
4. Use the wiki to write a story, maybe about a past family reunion, family trip, or a nice memory about a family member who has past on. Again, at the bottom, ask a question to encourage members to comment.
5. Create a few polls. Polls are great because they engage your family members without requiring a lot of time. Even silly polls can be great for finding things in commons with relatives.
   1. Few examples:
      1. What kind of car do you drive?, SUV, Sedan, Sports
      2. What’s your favorite color? Blue, Green, Red, etc
      3. Do you prefer salty or sweet treats? Salty, Sweet, Both
      4. Are you a fan of? iPhone, Android, Other
      5. How’s your boss? Great, Not bad, Not very good, Horrible