7 Cups for Organizations Update
Soon any organization will be able to launch their own mini-7 Cups. Think about our current site as the mainland and these other versions as islands. Organizations will be able to launch their own support systems to support students if they are a college or university or their employees if they are a business. Anyone will be able to launch a free support system for their university or business. There will be an option to upgrade and that will unlock growth paths, provide access to reporting, branded pages and more.
YPOC - www.7cups.com/ypoc - is one example of a vertical. MIT also has a vertical on 7 Cups, but it is not publicly accessible. We hope to add thousands more in the coming months.
We
This is such an exciting development. Wishing all the best to 7 Cups and all the organisations coming on board!
@soothingpurrr thanks!
wow that is very cool to see 7cups grow, enlarge and reach more people! it is constantly evolving and that is very exciting! keep going create a better world!
7cups for life!
@TortueDesBois thank you Tortue!
I'm not sure the metaphors are helping with what I want to know, which is exactly the relationship between regular 7 Cups members/listeners and those on these "islands" might be. So if my organization had one of these, if I would have my own separate account(s) there that are in no way linked to any accounts I have here? They'd have separate listener pools?
@JBlue - there will actually be several options for organizations
1. org members only talk to org listeners (this is what MIT is doing)
2. org members can talk to org listeners as well as general 7 Cups listeners
3. org members just talk to 7 Cups listeners and they don't provide their own listeners (but they can of course become 7 Cups listeners the same way anyone can)
Does that answer your question?
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn This is definitely clearer, and it's good to know it's not one-size-fits all. It seems clear that small organizations probably do need to draw from the larger 7 Cups listener pool.
@JBlue - Yes! We think the best option is to do both and connect to our amazing community, but if an organization has the scale or has other reasons for wanting to be separate we want to support that, too.
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn If the organisation were to use 7 cups listeners, how would this work?
Would listeners have a choice to be available to the organisations?
Or would organisations have access to the whole listener population?
And if the latter is the case, how would we ensure that the organisations are being connected to quality listeners? As listener quality is a known issue throughout the site!
I would hate for an organisation to pay for a service that is not of a high quality.
I would also hate for listeners to have higher expectations put on them because they would be supporting people from paying organisations.
I would love to hear some of yours and @GlenM thoughts on this? =)
@StandForFreedom, at present, for orgs that do not have their own listeners, the plan is to provide a big button that says "Connect with a Listener" and we then drop them on our browse listeners page and encourage them to look for someone who might be a good fit for them based on issue, language or country. How does that sound?
@GlenM This certainly would be the most effective way to connect with a listener quickly, I do however have a couple of points that I wouldn't mind you putting thought into (If you haven't already done so)
Without focusing on the organisations for a moment, I would like to bring up the ongoing challenge of achieving and maintaining listener quality throughout the site.
Through spending time and hearing feedback in the current member chat rooms, it is apparent that there is a level of dissatisfaction with a number of our listeners.
We have many listeners who are fantastic! And I have no doubt that everyone is listening to the best of their ability, but the support systems for new listeners, and even some of our 'older' listeners are not great enough to help them achieve a high quality of listening ability.
This is a quality issue that the mentor team have been working on for quite a while, and will continue to work on to help provide great and effective listeners for our community.
My concern is that we're bringing in organizations to utilise our listeners, and these organizations will expect a certain level of listener quality. Perhaps they wont at the start, but as they choose to upgrade and pay money towards 7 cups, they will start to expect a higher and higher quality, and I am not sure if we have the ability to provide that to them?
What kind of a pressure will this put on our current listeners?
And as the amount of people who access 7 cups for support grows, as I am sure it will through the addition of organizations accessing our site, there will need to be an even greater push for listeners to sign up to help us keep up with the demand.
What steps are going to be put in place to ensure that these new listeners will receive the training that we need?
I am sure there are things about this new initiative that I do not understand, my main concern lies in how we are going to keep up with the growth that this new addition is going to bring to the site?
It feels as though there is a major push on site growth and expansion at the moment, and that there is not a big enough push on providing a solid foundation to support this growth!
I love this website, and at the heart of this website are the listeners, because without them, no one would receive support.
How are you going to ensure the support to the listeners is strengthened to help support the current members, and the new ones at the highest possible standard and without causing extra pressure for anyone?
@GlenM
How is that different from simply entering the website? Students can browse 7 cups and log in as guests or members and similarly connect to a listener. Why would an organization pay for a button on its website that leads to 7 cups Browse listeners page? honestly I feel we're the one who should pay them for the advertising haha, maybe I did not understand the model, I read Krink's post and I feel that the first model is the only effective one.
@Luka - first of all it's free. they would only pay if they chose to upgrade their university's "vertical."
second they'd have their own landing page to direct their students to.
third they would be providing their students with access to all the second cups features like the growth path, guides, etc.
but yes if they do not provide their own listeners directly then it's not functionally that different from simply recommending 7 Cups for their students in need, but it provides a gathering place for that community.
That's amazing! How would one go about starting their own vertical?
@Heroindisguise - it will be very easy
We are making (well, Cris is :D) a sign-up form that will enable anyone to set up a 7 Cups "vertical" site just by filling out some basic information.
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn - fantastic!
This is awesome! :)
Hi @GlenM
This is interesting ... but like @JBlue I'm wondering about the detail. I'm thinking of an organization here in the UK that might want to consider this kind of thing, and I'll have an opportunity to catch their attention next week, but I'd need at least a bit more information so that I sound as if I know what I'm talking about.
@RarelyCharlie, we'll be posting the info pages live tomorrow and the ability to launch a system, so stay tuned!
@GlenM - I believe this was initially conceived as a way to add to sustainability - will these organizations be charged for their versions of 7 Cups, or will it just be a separate group within, but still free?
Additionally, will they each have their own forum within? With the Steve Fund, it makes perfect sense to have a YPOC forum as we didn't currently have support in that area, but I would be concerned that if we got tons of organizations and each had their own forums, that it could get quite crowded and confusing, if they are public forums.
@Anomalia - not sure about forums or group chat but the org model is a freemium model, meaning that anyone can set up a 7 Cups vertical completely for free, and they will also have the option of upgrading to a paid vertical.
The paid option for organization will give all their members access to the personalized paths and will give the organization more administrative features, and things like that.
@Anomalia
I'm interested in how the forums and group support would work as well... do Glen or Cris know the answer to that?
@MonBon - @GlenM would know and I should know but my head's been elsewhere
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn
xD
@Anomalia, Krink got it below. If forums get overwhelming, then we can make an option to simply hide them from the general public and make them only accessible through that particular system or vertical.
My college could probably use this... Our counseling center is so small for the population
@xx3mber5kyxx - that's exactly the sort of population we're trying to help!
@xx3mber5kyxx, yes, please PM me if interested in helping us out!
I'm definitely interested in bringing this to my university/college/profession! I'm wondering what the best way to organize it would be; should it be for my whole university, for my professional college, a separate section for graduate/professional students vs. undergraduate students, etc. As a member of my university's suicide prevention organization, I think this could be a useful tool in our "toolbox." I believe in the power of 7 Cups to change lives, and would happily forward a mission that helps make this platform more accessible.
@pleasinglyPoetic, for now we are thinking university wide. If interested in learning more, then please PM me :). Thanks!
Just had a great chat about this, and really really excited (most excitement about any project!) about this going live soon!
@mobbsy looking forward to working with you on this!
