instouch FAQ and Answers
We’re here to help you get the most out of instouch. This discussion is help you find answers to questions you might have about your user experience at instouch. Please add your question to the discussion or if you know the answer to a member's question - feel free to respond and contribute your ideas.
Another few options to find answers to questions you migh have would be to ask instouch - Go to the ‘instouch Profile' page and:
1. Leave a Comment on the instouch Comment Wall – and we’ll respond asap.
2. If not already, Click 'Add as Friend' (to add instouch as a Friend/Contact of yours). instouch will confirm. Once connected as Friends, within the instouch profile you'll now be able to Click ‘Send a Message’, include your question and we’ll reply asap. Your message will only be seen and replied to by instouch.
If you have questions - please read the FAQ and Anwsers Discussion thread below:
Another few options to find answers to questions you migh have would be to ask instouch - Go to the ‘instouch Profile' page and:
1. Leave a Comment on the instouch Comment Wall – and we’ll respond asap.
2. If not already, Click 'Add as Friend' (to add instouch as a Friend/Contact of yours). instouch will confirm. Once connected as Friends, within the instouch profile you'll now be able to Click ‘Send a Message’, include your question and we’ll reply asap. Your message will only be seen and replied to by instouch.
If you have questions - please read the FAQ and Anwsers Discussion thread below:
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by instouch on -
A common member question is about ‘Profile Photo’ and ‘Group or Event Image’ cropping.
Once uploaded, perhaps your photo/image didn’t appear cropped the way you would have preferred. At instouch, all Profile Photo boxes and Group or Event Images boxes are configured to a ‘square’ shape – so if your photo or image is not "pre-cropped" to fit a square, you may find some of the image gets cut-off once uploaded.
Many computers come with image-editing software now capable of cropping (i.e. Preview for the Mac, Paint for Windows) and there are also web-based solutions. A fairly easy-to-use cropping system and free online tool is Picnik.com, which allows you to adjust colors, fix redeye and sharpen images in addition to cropping.
For Group or Event Images like logos – one option is that you can open a new document in Paint for Windows, create a white ‘square shaped’ work mat and paste-in your logo image within the white square, leaving ample white space around your logo within the square – then save the image as a jpeg (and upload to your Group or Event).
In some cases, the original logo or image file size itself is too large and must be resized and resaved at a smaller percentage of the original even before cropping.
There is always a solution! It may take a few efforts in resizing or recropping to get it exactly as you wish. If none of this (resizing, cropping, etc.) is working for you then let instouch know and we’ll try our best to help.
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Permalink Reply by instouch on
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If you would like to Upload a Profile Photo - go to the My Profile tab and the second drop-down is Change My Profile Photo. Click and you will then be in your Profile Settings and go to 'Upload a Profile Photo' and then browse to location of the photo on your computer that you would like to upload as your Profile Photo).
Further to a Reply regarding Photo Cropping in this Discussion, Profile photos at instouch are in a 'square' box-shaped frame. Depending upon your photo - you may want to 'pre-crop' your Profile pic to a square shape before uploading to instouch (pre cropping into a square that area of your original photo that you would like to appear in the instouch Profile Photo box - i.e. your face). [see the related June 25 thread for tips and software that can be useful for photo cropping]
If you have accidentally uploaded a pic to the "Photos" section that you did not want to be there (i.e. you intended to upload as your Profile Photo) - you can go to Photos tab and click the My Photos drop-down, find and open your photo and 'Delete' from that section.
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Permalink Reply by instouch on
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Quick reminder: when uploading your Profile Photo - once done - remember to scroll down to the bottom of the Profile Settings page and click 'Save' to save your upload to the system. When performing actions on a page - always be sure to scroll down and save that action to the network.
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Permalink Reply by instouch on
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Profile Settings: Privacy and Email Options
You can customize your experience with instouch in a number of ways. There is a wide range of Privacy settings and Email notification settings that you can select from, most of which are set to a default instouch setting to maximize the overall level of network interaction and functionality.
To have a look at these setting options - go to the My Profile tab - and click the first drop-down 'My Profile Settings'. There you can update your Profile, change your Profile photo and other data but also on the upper left-side of that page there are buttons for Privacy and Email that you can click.
Each will show a 'checkbox' of the default instouch settings for Privacy and Email. You can change your setting preferences for Privacy and Email at any time (turning on/off certain functionality). Before changing any of the default settings, it is however recommended that you first go back and use instouch some more on the default settings and make note of which of the default settings you really would like to change if any. Once again - the default settings for instouch have been selected to maximize the usefulness of the network to both you, your contacts and other members and by disabling some - can in some cases have an impact on your depth of communications experience with the network.
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Permalink Reply by Steve Wilson on
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Communicating with others on instouch:
There are two easy ways to communicate with other members on instouch:
1. Leave a Comment on their Comment Wall. Simply go to a members Profile page, scroll down to the Comment Wall and you can type and leave a message for that member there. The default instouch setting is that Comments left on a members Comment Wall is displayed on that person's Profile page. You can leave a Comment on a members Comment Wall even if they are not connected to you on instouch as a Friend (Contact).
2. Send a Message to another member of instouch. instouch messages are just like email but on the instouch network, you send a Message to a contact of yours, they receive it at their instouch Inbox and can respond to you. The default instouch Email setting is that a 'notification that you've received a message on instouch' is sent to your regular email address. instouch Messages are private and only seen by the two parties communicating (just like email). Just like email - you have instouch Inbox and Sent messages folders.
To Send a message to another member - you must first be a Friend (Contact) of theirs. To become another member's Friend (or Contact) - you can request to be a Friend by clicking 'Add as a Friend' at their Profile page (found in the info right under their Profile photo). Once they have 'Accepted' your request - you can now send private instouch messages to each other.
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Permalink Reply by instouch on
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Inviting your outside contacts to join you on instouch:
To invite your outside contacts that are not currently members of instouch, all you need to do is go to the tab Invite and you'll have a few options:
- Import from Web Address Book: Yahoo Mail, Hotmail, GMail or AOL Mail
- Enter Email Addresses: when you click this option - you can enter email addresses individually (or cut/paste in), each separated by a comma. Then type an invitation note if you choose to have one (not necessary) and send.
- Import contacts from your Address Book applications like Outlook, Apple Address Book, .CSV, etc.
Invites that you send to others that are not already members of instouch will look like this:
The Subject line of your invite email will be: 'Invitation to connect on instouch'
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Permalink Reply by instouch on
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Adding a Photo Album:
Once you've uploaded some photos to instouch - you can create an 'Album' of a select group of photos.
To add an Album to instouch click Add Album. Then you can drag-over those photos that you would like to include in your album. Remember to name your album and add a description so instouch members know what they are looking at! Additionally, you can choose from a selection of settings for viewing - from private to public access.
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'Searching' at instouch
instouch has a few different 'Search' tools for finding people, companies, groups or associations quickly.
The main Search box is found at the top-right corner of your screen - a search field called 'Search Social Network'. Here you can type your search terms, whatever they may be and your search results will be displayed.
Also - in the Members section - you can do a similar search of members and also an Advanced Search.
Searching is a useful tool to see if an individual has joined instouch that you might not be aware of or if looking to see how many individuals from a particular company or mentions of your group or association are listed at instouch.
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Permalink Reply by instouch on
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instouch Tools To Assist You In Raising Your Profile & Enhancing Your Profile Page
There are a variety of tools using instouch that can help you to promote yourself, your company, cause or organization – in an acceptable manner, without overtly or inadvertently ‘spamming’ the site or its members (which would be contrary to instouch’s non-commercial use limitations policy).
Here are some communication features that you can explore to enhance your profile at instouch and help enhance your communication with other members of the network.
Text Boxes:
One of the most flexible features on instouch is your Profile Page ‘Text Box’. Within your Text Box – you can feature all sorts of content by combining text, video, and images (including logos, jpg’s, etc.) all in on text box Profile Page. You can add anything you'd like to your text boxes, including text, images, widgets, and links - it's just another way to make your Profile Page unique. Your text box will stretch to fit the content you place in it, so you can be creative!
Add Widgets to your Profile Page:
Widgets are a great way to spice up your text boxes. Widgets are small bits of code that offer you even more features and functionality on your Profile Page. Once you’ve researched available Widget’s on the internet and found a Widget you are interested in featuring on your Profile Page – you can quickly copy and paste them into the text box on your Profile Page.
Add RSS Feed to your Profile Page:
RSS feeds are a way of delivering rapidly changing content on your Profile Page. Adding an RSS feed of content from your external website (if your site offers an RSS feed) to your Profile Page is a great way to promote content or activity from external website on your Profile Page.
If you manage a Group on instouch - you can also pull in external RSS feeds and add them to your Group’s main page or your Profile Page.
Update your Status – Using instouch’s ‘Status Feature’:
A new ‘Status’ feature has been added to the instouch network. Members visiting your Profile page will see a Status box at the top of your Profile page. This is the place you can share with others your latest activities, an exciting announcement or post a link to an upcoming event or information. The Status feature empowers you to share your activities with other members on instouch and engage with people around those activities.
Along with appearing on Profile pages in the Status box, status updates will also display in the Latest Activity feed on the Main Page and on the My Page of the member who posted the update.
We hope that you enjoy this new feature and will keep you updated on future new applications being developed and added to instouch to enhance your networking functionality. For instance we’re already looking into providing more ways to update your status, giving you the ability to import your status from other services, and setting up a way to comment on other people’s status.
Contribute to instouch member Ron Cseh’s Discussion Forum:
Post your website, blog, Twitter, or Linkedin address:
Instouch member Ron Cseh started a Discussion Forum to help members list their external site links: “If you would like your fellow insurance professionals to view your blog or website, follow you on Twitter, or connect to you on LinkedIn, post your address(es) in this discussion.”:
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Permalink Reply by instouch on
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Helpful short video for all New Members: Getting Started on instouch
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Permalink Reply by instouch on
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We’re excited to announce several new features that integrate the micro-blogging service Twitter with instouch.com. For those of you who ‘Tweet’ and are active Twitter users, this new feature at instouch will make it even easier for you to spread the word with Twitter & is an effective way to reach a wider audience and increase the size of your personal network. With this new Twitter integration, if you choose you can now:
· Automatically push Status updates to Twitter – straight from your Status box at your Profile Page
· Share photos, videos, and other content on Twitter without leaving instouch
· Take advantage of a new URL shortener
To find out more and see a short video on this integration with Twitter click here.
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Permalink Reply by instouch on
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instouch mobile: Made for iPhone: instouch.com/m
Viewing instouch on an iPhone
If you would like to access the mobile version of instouch, you can find it by adding "/m" to the end of your instouch.com: instouch.com/m
Am I using a mobile device that instouch mobile version supports?
The mobile version of instouch will run best on the following mobile devices:
· iPhone
· iPod Touch
Although you're welcome to use a mobile device that is not in this list, mobile version features may not work correctly. (Unfortunately at this time a mobile version [instouch.com/m] that works as well as it does on iPhone is not available for BlackBerry’s and Smartphones. instouch.com/m will still work on these devices but may not display properly as it does on the iPhone).
What instouch network features does the iPhone support?
When using your iPhone to access instouch, you'll be able to access the "Activity", "My Page", "Members", and "Forum" features via tabs.
© 2013 Created by instouch.
