Late June/ Early July - Recommended Listeners Tool
Hi All!
We are excited to announce that we will be releasing a new tool for members! This tool is aimed at helping members find listeners who are a good fit for them. We know that having a strong connection with your listener is important, increases the amount of support and makes for a better experience for the member. Here is how it will work -
Below their conversation list, every member will have a mini-browse listeners box. It will say "suggested listeners for you." Members will be invited to reach out to these listeners if they are looking for additional support.
Who will display?
- Only listeners who are marked as "online" ( you will not display if you do not mark yourself to online). Similar to the Browse Listeners page - if you mark yourself to online, you are inviting a member to reach out to you. This tool will invite members to do to that through another unique portal.
- Listeners who have certain match criteria to that member. Match criteria will be topic based!
EX. Listeners who say they can help with depression chats will be listed when they are online to members who are in need of depression support.
- Listeners who have badges Verified Listeners and/or Graduate and/or Knight of Smilehood. If there are other badges, the community would like to suggest, please pass along!
We will let you know when this will go live!
Thank you!!
@Laura
I have to say I am really impressed with this update. This is going to be such a great tool and I can see it being really helpful with bringing up quality between members and listeners. I can see it also limiting browsing time between those who are online versus offline when browsing through topics, etc. Great job on this one, I'm really thrilled!
@Jenna
Thank you for the positive feedback jenna!
@Laura sweet update love this
@Laura Finally :')
@Laura and hopefully there would be language option too for non English speaking members :D
@elishevacares
I agree! We do need to add this! Thank you for mentioning! Will share with the team
@Laura You are welcome! Can
Fantastic idea! So happy that there is additional support to assist with matching members and listeners.
HOORAY!
@Laura This sounds like a great update!
@niamh333
Nice to see you!! been a while! :)
Thanks for the feedback!
Woo! Thanks for the update, Laura! :D
@Laura
You're doing really great work 
@Laura
Sounds Stellar! Do you think there will ever be an option to select multiple criteria? Ex: Anxiety AND Depression?
@MonBon
Good question! I am not sure. My guess is that it won't be possible in the version 1. But we can always tweak and iterate on how it functions.
@krinkthemellowunicorn @SnugglyNarwhal can also chime in
@MonBon - this is a high priority for us but will take some effort. i
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn @Laura
Okay! Thank you for responding :)
@MonBon - also it is now 6 months later and we have not been able to make progress here but I have not lost track of it as a goal, fwiw!
@KrinkTheMellowUnicorn
Thanks for the update krink!
A couple of others listed the same thoughts I was having
- Can this also match on language?
- Can it narrow so it only recommends verified listeners or listeners with at least a 4/5 star rating?
I love the idea of improving matches, but I worry about the site recommending a listener and then it being someone who is causing harm.
@Anomalia
Yes, it should sort by language as well! I agree. Let me share this feedack with the team.
And yes, we are tenatively going to recommend only listeners who meet the following quality criteria:
----> Listeners who have badges Verified Listeners and/or Graduate and/or Knight of Smilehood. If there are other badges, the community would like to suggest, please pass along!
Notably, it will also sort by age group.
@Laura - Excellent - I think that will help make it much more useful!
@Laura
How do you earn these badges?
Knite and Smilewood
@Laura will it work with the language, if French is my selected language in my setting as language preference, will it show me listeners who do list French on their profile?
