I was in two minds about the best way to go about writing this opinion. As I am publishing this on Ciao, there will be many readers who are unfamiliar with the workings of Dooyoo - but there will probably be just as many who know both sites inside and out. Ultimately, this is not intended to be a user guide for Dooyoo, but instead is a collection of my personal observations about what I like and don't like over on Dooyoo. Essentially, Dooyoo works on the same principle as Ciao - a website offering registered members the opportunity to write, read and rate opinions and receive payment for doing so.
I first joined Dooyoo just over one month ago, largely because the tehnical problems over here at Ciao were so rife that I was concerned just how much longer Ciao would last. Although Ciao now seems to have sorted itself out (and is my primary site for reading, rating and writing) I am still active on Dooyoo because I decided that it was probably a good idea to keep two accounts going. On May 3rd Dooyoo was completely relaunched, with a fresh new look and lots of timely features. Sorry for the information overload, but here we go:
1. The Home Page
The Dooyoo home page is now vert well-organised, because it is divided into three sections, identfied by tabs at the top of the screen:
Opinions
This section identifies the most recently published opinion, as well as various links to featured categories such as the Top 5 DVD Players. The Good, The Bad is a new feature which compares two opposite opinions of the same product - quite an interesting idea, and certainly a useful tool for a potential buyer. The page is much more focused than the old Dooyoo home page, with a simple side menu of categories, which doesn't dominate the screen. There is also a Food and Drink category - something I'd love to see on Ciao.
Power Search
A whole page for searching for something - this is quite a radical development. You can search for products, members or opinions, limiting to specific categories if necessary. You can adjust the percentage search accuracy, so that the results can be more focused. You can even search using a stream of text - perhaps spotting members who have copied your own work? The search is fast and efficient - I'm inpressed.
Community
Something not unlike the Community Centre here on Ciao, except this one doesn't have any focus on league tables and performance. This is where the Hall of Fame are advertised (in full) and product categories are featured which have real interest for members, such as the Foot and Mouth crisis. The Speakers Corner is advertised prominently here - something which is sorely lacking on Ciao. There will soon be a message board for members to leave messages for other members, and there is a link for New Members and New Competitions. There is much more of a community spirit to this page - I can't help but think that Dooyoo have picked up on the key criticisms of Ciao's Community Centre and implemented the suggestions.
New and existing members to Dooyoo will certainly have their work cut out getting round all this - there is so much to explore and read through, but the time and investment from Dooyoo is clearly evident and there is a real community feeling.
2. Most Wanted vs Hall of Fame
Dooyoo have a similar set up to Ciao's Most Wanted, known as the hall of Fame. Like Ciao, members may nominate other members for inclusion in the Hall of Fame, and there is a prominent link from the Community home page to a specified member of the Hall of Fame. The Ciao Most Wanted link rotates around all ten members, so if you keep going back to the home page you will keep seeing different Most Wanted members. The Dooyoo Hall of Fame is rather different in that only one member seems to have coverage in any week. This is great news for the Hall of Fame member, but members in opposition to this system will certainly not be happy with the extra coverage this member is getting. A rotating selection of Hall of Fame members seems much better to me - although there is a link from the home page which takes you to the complete list of HOF members. It has often been noted that Ciao do not prominently display all the Most Wanted in one place - at least Dooyoo give you the opportnunity to see all the HOF members side by side. The rewards for the Hall of Fame are far less in Dooyoo (equivalent to £1 compared to the £10 offered by Ciao).
3. User Profile
Dooyoo members have rather more opportunity to customise their accounts than Ciao members currently can. Once logged in, the Dooyoo User Profile has quite a different layout to Ciao - members may upload any picture or graphic for their profile, whereas Ciao members may only upload pictures of themselves. This is a positive feature of Dooyoo - some of the cartoons and pictures here are much more fun (and ultimately more appealling) than some of the frightening passport photos over on Ciao. Dooyoo members are invited to submit a written profile, but this takes up much more space than the personal profile on Ciao, and you normally need to scroll down the page before you can even see any of the member's opinion titles. I think Dooyoo need to re-arrange the profile page in order that the opinions receive greater prominence - that is what the site is all about after all! Even the Circle of Trust information is shown above the actual opinions.
Your account details are shown on the same page as your profile and opinions, so unlike Ciao you don't need to click other links to get the information. I like this "one-stop shop" approach - most Ciao members will agree that when the site is on a go-slow, getting even the most basic information can be an arduous task. However, the Dooyoo personal profile contains a couple of adverts half way down which rather break up the flow of information and increase the overall size of the page.
As a member you can give a product a Thumbs Up or a Thumbs Down without actually writing an opinion - I'm not quite sure what purpose this serves, but is useful as a snapshot.
4. Writing Opinions
Dooyoo have recently introduced a new facility whereby members may write short opinions, with basic facts and ratings on various features. This seems like an excellent idea - after all, not everyone wants to write a fifteen page epic, and many readers are put off by exhaustive writing. Beware though - you don't appear to get paid for short opinions.
5. Your Opinion Profile
This is laid out in much the same way as Ciao, but does have a few added benefits. Firstly, the opinions are listed in order that they were written or edited, which means that older opinions can be amended and moved to the top of your list of opinions. This is an extremely useful tool - sorely lacking on Ciao- which gives long standing members an opportunity to gain more coverage on some of those earlier opinions. Secondly, as well as the title of the opinion and the product, the category is also displayed - this can be quite useful if the name of the product is not instantly familiar - you can quickly identify what sort of product the opinion is written about. Like Ciao, only the ten most recent are displayed, but unlike Ciao, you can click a link which will show all the opinions on one screen. One thing I don't like though - if the title is too long, then a number of words or letters may be abbreviated to ….. I would prefer a word limit (like that on Ciao) which ensures that the full title will be displayed.
6. Getting Read
Like Ciao there are a number of ways that people may access your opinion. The Home page only used to display the most recent opinion so this was actually a very difficult way to get read - your opinion may only have been linked on the home page for a matter of seconds. But get this - on Dooyoo you can now select an option to read the most recent 75 opinions, either on the site as a whole, or in a particular category. The opportunities that this provides to get read are clearly obvious - within given categories, you may appear in this list for a day or more - which is fantastic new. Without the top 20 on the home page I had found it quite difficult to get into this side of things - it seems to take longer to find the good readers and opinions, and I tended to focus on the Hall of Fame or Premier Opinions, which is a shame because I know that there are probably tonnes of other good writers out there. With this new introduction it is now so much easier to find new opinions and writers - well done Dooyoo!
7. Premier Opinions vs Premium Fund
Dooyoo also has a means of rewarding good writers called Crowns. Crowns are awarded to those opinions that the Dooyoo category managers think are particularly good. Like the Ciao premium fund, the exact criteria are not explained in full, but it comes as no surprise that the opinions are normally lengthy, detailed and very well-written. The category managers seem to award crowns in batches - one day for instance seven opinions in the Motoring category will get a crwon, but you really just have to wait and see what happens. I received a crown for my fourth opinion - but then I have had lots of experience over here.
The financial reward for a crown is equivalent to £1 - the top opinions in the Premium Fund can receive up to £15, so you can earn a lot more on Ciao. The Ciao Premium Fund is only awarded in one lump monthly however - crowns can be awarded at any time during the month. The key advantage that the system of Crowns has over the Premium Fund is that opinions awarded this merit have a little crown icon next to them, so you can quickly identify them. A common criticism over on Ciao is that nobody ever knows which opinions were awarded Premium Fund. I like the Dooyoo way of rewarding and advertising individually good opinions.
An additional new feature at the foot of each opinion is a link which enables you to nominate an opinion for a crown at the time of writing. I like this feature - the nomination process on Ciao means writing a separate email which many members couldn't be bothered to do. Another thumbs up for Dooyoo!
8. Circle of Trust
Both sites have a similar set up for this feature. Neither site has a particularly good means of looking at your entire Circle of Trust (called Circle of Friends on Dooyoo (COF)). An added bonus over on Dooyoo is that you can request an email notifying you when someone joins your COF. In order to add or remove members from your COF on Dooyoo you have to go into their account - on Ciao, members can simply be deleted by clicking the delete link next to their names. As I am a relatively new Dooyoo'er (with a small COF) I'm not sure if there is a limit to the number of names you can add to you COF.
9. Support
Dooyoo still has a number of category managers, whose photos and details are displayed in each category - it is the category managers who award the crowns etc. I like this personal touch - it is a great shame that Ciao have lost the category managers. Many members will have found, like me, that you can build up good relationships with the category managers.
Like Ciao, there is a link with which to contact Dooyoo - which displays the people responsible for revenues, content etc. Suggesting new products is much the same - you contact a generic email account and if/when they action your request they let you know.
10. Fiancial Rewards
The payment for writing a review over on Dooyoo is the same as Ciao - 10p but you get 5p for a member read as opposed to 2p here on Ciao. The main difference is that payment on Dooyoo is credited in miles - a Dooyoo specific currency that can be used for vouchers or cash. To claim cash you must have at leat 50,000 miles (equivalent to £50) - so get saving. Many members will prefer the £10 threshold over here on Ciao, as 50,000 miles is quite a lot. You can claim miles as vouchers for amounts above 10,000 but I would imagine most members would prefer cash.
11. The Buzz
Dooyoo simply has more going for it than Ciao. There is a real buzz around the site, as though members are really enjoying what they do, and the site are keen to please. Dooyoo generally has a more sophisticated feel that Ciao - certainly the pages load much more quickly and navigation is more intuitive. There is much more to look at and explore over on Dooyoo - and everything seems more interactive. Doo yoo think that Ciao will retaliate with their own relaunch? - could be interesting!!
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