Google Help Forums
| File:Google Help Forum Main Page.JPG Screenshot of Google Help Forum main page | |
Type of site | Internet forum |
|---|---|
| Available in | Many available |
| Owner | |
| URL | http://www.google.com/support/forum/ |
| Commercial | Yes |
| Registration | Required for posting |
| Current status | Available |
Google has several official help communities for most of its services, such as Gmail, YouTube, Blogger etc. A Google Help Forum is a community of general users, who enjoy helping each other figure out the best ways to use a product.[1]
History
Google started their user to user help communities named Google discussion groups in 2005 in Google Groups platform. In 2009, many of the official Google discussion groups moved from Google Groups to a new platform called "Google Help Forums".[2] From the end of 2011 Google started to move back to a then much revamped Google Groups version.[3] Google Analytics team posted in their blog post that the new Google product forums offer more stability and more features.[4]
Community structure
Google Help Forums are mainly user to user platform where users ask questions and other users provide answers of those questions. Google claims, occasionally, Google employees participate in Google Help Forums.[5] Besides official Google blogs, Google sometimes use Google Help Forums for important announcements. Anyone can join these forums and post questions and answers.[6]
- Top Contributors
The most helpful and regular users of the community are selected as Top Contributors.[7][8]
- On September 13–14, 2011, Google organized their first global Top Contributors' summit which was held in Santa Clara Marriott and Google Headquarters, Mountain View.[9]
- In March, 2012 Google publicly released more information about the Google Top Contributor Program, saying it consists of 470 members across more than 24 Google products and 50 countries.[10]
- Rising stars
Some help forums provide some other tags for regular and helpful users (e.g. Rising Gmail Star in Gmail Help Forum, Blogger Addict in Blogger (service) Help Forum, Starred Users in Orkut Help Forum etc.[11]
See also
References
- ^ "Google Help Forums". Google. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ^ "Google Help Forums Migrate to Google Groups". Google Operating System Unofficial news and tips about Google. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ^ Nickkie. "We're moving to Google Product Forums!". Google. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ^ Aruna, Community Manager - Google Analytics. "A new forum for Google Analytics using Google Product Forums". Google. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
{{cite web}}:|author=has generic name (help) - ^ "Getting Started with Google Help Forums - About". Google. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ^ "Joining Google Help Forums". Google. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ^ "Levels and Points". Google. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ^ "Faces of Gmail Top Contributors". Gmail Team - Google. Retrieved 27 February 2012.
- ^ "2011 Global Top Contributor Summit". Google. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
- ^ "Google Top Contributor Program About the Program". Google. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
- ^ "Rising Stars". Google. Retrieved 30 March 2012.
