Helping people to find Talking Point

SerenaS

Staff Member
Apr 7, 2011
13,739
0
London
Hi everyone,

'If only I'd known about Talking Point sooner' is a comment we see a lot on the community, and also in our user survey each year. We want to make it easier for people to find Talking Point and join our community.

At the moment people can Google a dementia-related topic and find Talking Point discussions. People who visit Alzheimer's Society website and look for topics aren't finding Talking Point at the moment and we'd like to change that.

We want people who are using Alzheimer's Society website to know about Talking Point and understand the range of topics that can be discussed here, so they can join the discussions.

We are going to match some Talking Point discussions to related pages of the Alzheimer's Society website. This means people who are looking at a specific topic on the website will find Talking Point discussions about that topic. This is called content tagging and should help people find the support they need.

We've been planning and testing over the last few months and will start doing this with real discussions soon. We’ll then look at how to make it easier on Talking Point to find discussions on a similar topic - for example finding other discussions about lasting power of attorney or eating and drinking.

You shouldn't notice any changes here - we're not making changes to where the discussions are, and we will only add 'topic' tags to discussions that can already be found with a Google search.

I hope this is clear but if you have any questions, please let me know.

Serena :)
 

Shedrech

Registered User
Dec 15, 2012
12,649
0
UK
That sounds like a really good way to let people, who are already looking for information on the main AS site, know that TP is here for them
 

Beate

Registered User
May 21, 2014
12,179
0
London
While I appreciate anything that makes it easier to find TP, this is for people who are already exploring the site. You really also need to target the people who don't know this site exists at all. Even I had trouble finding it years ago, and I am usually good around the Internet. Some of the people working for my local AS office didn't know about it! Awareness starts at home... You have great TP leaflets, hand them out!
 
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Amy in the US

Registered User
Feb 28, 2015
4,616
0
USA
I think the content tagging is a great idea and it will help people who are already on the AS website to find Talking Point.

However, as Beate says, I think there are many people who would benefit from TP who aren't finding it. I am also a reasonably skilled Internet searcher who had difficulty finding Talking Point. I'm sorry I haven't the skills or experience to suggest how to get people here, but please do!

Thank you for supporting and promoting TP.
 

SerenaS

Staff Member
Apr 7, 2011
13,739
0
London
Thanks for your comments, everyone.

I agree that we need to make it much easier to find out about Talking Point and the support that our community can offer. I've been working with colleagues on a plan to raise the profile of the service. We shared some great stories from Talking Point members over social media in September but that's just the beginning - we definitely need to do more!

Talking Point leaflets are readily available and have been sent to colleagues running local services. We're also grateful to our members who order leaflets and distribute them in their local area. You are welcome to do so, and you can order the leaflets here.

I really appreciate your comments and suggestions, please do keep sharing with us.

Serena :)
 

SerenaS

Staff Member
Apr 7, 2011
13,739
0
London
Hi everyone,

As I mentioned before Christmas, we've started to add topic tags to selected discussion on Talking Point.

You can find all topic tags on this page: https://forum.alzheimers.org.uk/tags

The image below shows what the tags page looks like:

tags.PNG


Clicking on a tag will take you to a list of all discussions with that tag, and you can reach the other search functions in the tabs above the blue 'search' button.

We're gradually building this up and will be adding more discussions and topics over the coming weeks.

Serena :)
 

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