Intro to MyRWA-Part Three by Elizabeth Schechter

If you've been following along in this series, you are now signed up for MyRWA, subscribed to your chapter mailing lists (Again -- not Forums. They are mailing lists, regardless of what RWA calls them!), and you have possibly explored the other mailing lists that are available. There is more that you can do with MyRWA; in this final entry, we'll explore both the social networking aspect of MyRWA and the functionality that you'll find yourself using.

MyRWA is built on the Socious platform, which is a social networking system in a similar vein to Facebook or Google +.  You can use MyRWA for social networking inside the RWA membership, and if you want to do that, you need to set up your Profile page. To do that, sign into MyRWA, and go to the My Profile link on the right side of the screen (under Quick Links). You'll find yourself on a screen that looks like this: 

This is not the social networking part. This is YOUR private page. No one see this but you. If you need to update your contact information, you would click the button that reads "Update Full RWA Profile." To get to the social networking page, look at the right side of the screen and click on "My Page" That will bring you to this screen:

There's not a lot to this before you play with it, which you do by going to the Actions tab. You can add links to Facebook, to Twitter, to your personal website, as well as images of your covers.

This is my personal page, to give you an idea of what you can do:

Take a look at the left side of the page, under the user picture. See where it says Connections, Following and Followers? That is the social networking part of the page. Connection are just that -- people you choose to be connected to. They can be other chapter members, friends, people who share a publisher or agent -- anyone with which you share a connection. You can be connected to someone without following them. You can follow someone without being connected to them. And, if you don't want to deal with this at all, you can turn it off.

If you don't want to use the social networking function, go back to My Profile.

 Go to the tab that says "Preferences," then click "Users." You'll find this screen:

Using the drop down menus, change Connection Notifications to Disabled. Change Allow Users to follow you to No. Click Ok, and you will have turned off the social networking. If you wish to turn it back on, you can undo it easily.

The last bit of functionality is the ability to pay dues online. You can pay your national dues through the website (which is existing functionality), and you may already be able to pay your chapter dues. FF&P has this functionality, and other chapters will also eventually have this ability.

First, for National dues, let's go back to your MyRWA home page. Under Quick Links, you will find Pay Dues and Invoices.

If you have a membership renewal due, it will be listed on the next screen.

To pay your chapter dues, go to the FF&P website. From the MyRWA home page, click on My Chapters, then click on Fantasy, Futuristic and Paranormal. You'll get this screen, with Join or Renew your FF&P Membership as the first choice.

Click that button, then choose Register for Event and follow the directions.

The changeover to MyRWA has been fairly drama-filled, with confusion and frustration running rampant since the beginning. Hopefully, this series has brought you into MyRWA without a minimum of forehead meeting desk and language that would make your mother look at you sternly (unless, of course, your mother happened to be a New York truck driver, in which case, she might have taught you some stronger words than I know!)

If you have any other questions, please drop an email! You can reach me via my WEBSITE.

PS: RWA? They are not forums. They are mailing lists. NOT FORUMS. Kthnxbye