Zenergo is the first social network for people who want a more meaningful social networking experience with less chatter and more matter.
Zenergo allows users to interact with their online social network just like in their real-life offline world by creating separate social circles, groups and events matching their real-life interests, behavior and privacy preferences.
Zenergo eliminates the need for many website services and provides a simple, safe and free online environment for managing one's social life, all from one website.
(People have many kinds of relationships with others: friends, of course, but also colleagues, partners, teammates, associates, relatives, contacts, connections, and more. We refer to your relationships in Zenergo as "friends," simply as a convenient shortcut.)
Zenergo is about Activities, Groups, Events and friends, partners, teammates, and fellow enthusiasts.
Zenergo is an Activities-based social network that brings together people who share common interests so they can go out and do things. We offer over 300 popular activities, plus features to form groups and events, maintain an activity calendar, and post your activity pictures. And it's free!
Find others who share your interests. Friends for a weekly poker game, a traveling companion, a jogging buddy, a fellow knitting enthusiast's friends at your skill and interest level, in your neighborhood, on your schedule. Or bring your friends into to join you in your favorite activities.
Find new Activities and things to do. Find new interests by browsing through our 300+ Activities -- you'll expand your horizons, meet new people, and get out to do new things.
Form your own Activity Groups, clubs, and teams, and invite friends to join or find new people to grow your group with people who best match your interests.
Set up and manage Activity Events. just for your group, or throw open the doors and invite the rest of the Zenergo world. You can post pictures, exchange comments, and send group messages.
Use the Zenergo Calendar to keep track of your activities, events, and groups. Post pictures in your photo album. Send messages to your partners or groups.
It all starts with activities--because Zenergo is about getting out there and doing things.
To get started with Zenergo, go to our main page at http://www.zenergo.com and click on the upper-right of the screen where it says "New user? Sign up".
Fill in the form that appears when you click on the "New User" link. Enter your name, your valid email address, and create a password for yourself (be sure to record the password so you can use it again).
Enter your location: a zip code or an address will let us match you up with people, groups, and events in your local area.
Enter your birth date information, so we can provide you with age-appropriate access to content and connections. Click your gender, as some groups and events may be gender-specific, and some members may have a gender preference for activity partners.
If you have questions about how we use this information about you, at the bottom of the page you can click on the Privacy link to read full details in our Privacy Policy. The short version is that we do not sell your information to any third party.
As a convenience, you can sign up using your existing account with another service. That way you won't have to create and remember a new password: Zenergo will use the your other service provider to authenticate you.
Just click on the icon for the service you already have: your Facebook account; your Google account; your account with Microsoft Live/Hotmail, or your account with Yahoo. A popup window will ask you for permission to connect that account with Zenergo. If you aren't already signed into that service at this moment, it will also ask you to log in to that service.
You may then get a follow-up message asking for an email address, a zip code, and/or birth date and gender if you hadn't provided that information to the other service. Just add that info and continue.
Now you have created your basic account on Zenergo. Welcome!
Once you become a Zenergo member, when you return you can sign in - how you do that depends on how you first created your account.
If you created your account by filling out the Sign Up form, then log in with the same email and password.
If you created your account through Facebook or another service, just click that same service icon to log in!
So if you created your account by clicking the Google icon, for example, then just click the Google icon the next time you log in.
Note: If you created your account using Facebook, we give you a shortcut: Zenergo detects if you are currently logged into Facebook at the moment, and if so, automatically logs you into Zenergo, without you having to do anything. When you go to Zenergo, just pause a moment when the sign-in page appears, and after a moment you'll be taken to your Zenergo home page automatically!
Except! If you log into Zenergo from another computer, and click the Facebook login link, Facebook may again ask for your Facebook username and password, just to check. And if you erase the cookies on the computer you usually use to log into Zenergo, Facebook will again ask for your Facebook username and password. Not to worry: Zenergo doesn't keep a copy of your Facebook username and password - we let Facebook take care of that info.
Your Personal Profile page summarizes a lot of your basic membership information.
From your Home page, on the upper left side of the screen under your name, click the words "View Profile."
This takes you to your "Personal Profile" page, which summarizes a lot of your information, such as all those you have linked to as friends and family, and your profile photos.
The first tab, "Profile," at the top center, shows your Location and what you entered as "More About Me" when you signed up. You can change any of this information, and even change your profile picture, by clicking the blue words "Edit Account" in that area.
As above, from your home page click "View Profile" (under your photo on the upper left side of the screen), then click "Edit Account."
On the Account Settings page, you can change your name, your Gender, choose a new photo that will appear as your main or Profile photo, add or change About Me, and change your location. (For location, enter a zip code or your city and state of your home or office.)
Click the green "Save" button below.
You now see your "Account" page. (By the way, you can also reach this page by clicking the word "Account" in the upper right side of any Zenergo page.)
This page has four settings:
"Account Settings" is the same as the page you just visited.
"Change Password" lets you change your Zenergo password.
(However, that if you created your account and log in using one of the services, such as Facebook or Google or Yahoo, you can't change your password on Zenergo, you'd have to go to Facebook or Google or Yahoo to change it. If you do that, Zenergo will automatically adjust to it.)
"Notification Preferences" lets you change what emails you will receive from us: Check the box to let us notify you by email when you get messages from friends, events, or groups.
"Privacy Preferences" shows the privacy settings you've chosen for each Activity you've joined. As you see, you can set your privacy level separately for each of your Activities. See "Privacy Settings" below for details.
Click the green "Save" button at the bottom to save your changes.
There are two main sets of photos you will use in Zenergo.
First are your 'Profile photos', these are pictures that identify you, on your home page, and also on your Activity pages, your Group pages, and your Event pages. You can put different pictures in each area, one photo of yourself as your main picture, and different pictures, perhaps of you engaging in that Activity or with your Group or Event friends. Or you can upload an icon or picture that represents your activity or group or event, such as a snapshot of your poker club, or a glass of beer for your Beer Appreciation Activity, or the logo of your club or team.
These pictures can also be seen gathered together in a special album called your Profile Album, which you'll see when you click the Photos link in the left-hand 'navbar' on your home page.
You can create Photo Albums, starting from any of your Activities, or your Groups, or your Events, and upload pictures to share with your friends, group members, and event attendees. These photo albums are displayed on your Activity, Group, or Event page - just scroll down the page to the "Photos" area.
Photos can be JPEG/JPG format, or GIF, or PNG.
One of Zenergo's unique and most valuable features is your ability to control your level of privacy separately for each and every Activity you join.
Your membership and profile information on Zenergo is not visible to the outside world - a Web search engine won't find your personal profile page on Zenergo.
To see an Activity's Privacy settings, go to the Activity's Profile page and click "Edit Profile." Then scroll down to the section labeled "Who Can See This Activity Profile."
Or click the "Account" button on the upper-right corner of a page, then choose "Privacy Preferences." This will show you the privacy settings for every Activity you've joined.
You can set the Privacy differently for each Activity you join. Thus you can be open (to other Zenergo members) about your involvement in some Activities, but more discreet with other Activities. (Sometimes you don't want friends who are partners with you in one Activity to bother you in some other Activity!)
You can change your Privacy setting for any of your Activities at any time from your Home page by clicking on the Activity, then clicking the button that says "Edit Profile."
Here are the Privacy settings for Activities.
Activity Friends with Privacy Lock -- This is the most restrictive setting. If you select this setting, then only Zenergo members who are Friends with you in this specific Activity can see your Activity Profile. No one else will see this information -- and, in fact, anyone viewing your main Zenergo Profile will not even see that you have joined this Activity at all.
(So how will potential activity partners find you? Check the box at the top of this page that says "Available For Activity Friend Search--make this Activity Profile searchable by others interested in [that Activity]." Now your profile will come up in Friend search results even if you've set the Privacy Lock.)
Activity Friends -- This is the default setting when you first sign up for an Activity. Only your Activity Friends for this specific activity will be able to see your whole Activity Profile. Other Zenergo members will be able to see that you have joined this Activity, will be able to find you as a possible partner/friend for that Activity, and can send you a message, but will only be able to see the top part of your Activity Profile - your Interests and your 'More About Me' section. They won't see your Talk, or your Friends list, or your Photos.
Activity Friends and Personal Friends -- This whole Activity Profile page can be viewed by those Zenergo members who are friends with you in this activity, and also those whom you've tagged as "Personal Friends." Everyone else sees just the upper part.
All Activity Friends and Personal Friends -- All Zenergo members whom you've friended for any Activity (and also those you've tagged Personal Friends) can view your entire Activity Profile page for this Activity. Everyone else sees just the upper part.
All Zenergo Members -- All Zenergo members can see your whole Profile for this Activity.
When you set up a Group, you can decide the Group's privacy setting. You, as the Group Organizer, can change these settings (by clicking "Edit Profile" from the Group home page).
The three Group Privacy settings determine how visible your Group is. Group information includes the Group's description; and the Group's member list and photo albums.
Members Only - Only members of this Group can view its profile page. This is the only setting that limits information about who is a member of the Group.
All Zenergo Members - Any member of Zenergo can find this Group via Search, and view its Profile page, including its membership list, Photos, Events, and Activity Talk.
Public - Anyone can view this Group's Profile page, including Internet search engines.
Note: When you join a Group, the visibility of your membership in that Group, including any photos you may post to the group and any Activity Talk comments you may make, will depend entirely on the privacy settings chosen by the Group Organizer.
When you create an Event in Zenergo, you can as Event Organizer decide the privacy level and thus the visibility of this Event.
Your choices are:
Invited Attendees with Privacy Lock - Only those you invite to this Event can view its Profile details. No one else will even know you have created this event. If you created this Event as part of a Group, the Group Profile page won't list this Event under its Event tab. It can't be found by Search. Use this setting if you are creating an invite-only event.
All Zenergo Members - Any Zenergo member can view the Profile page details of this Event, which they can find using the Zenergo Search box at the top of most pages. Details include event date and location, who has been invited, the status of the invite list, and other information. Use this setting if you are open to having other Zenergo members join you in this event, and you don't need RSVPs.
Public - This Event and its details, including who was invited and their invite status, but more importantly details about when and where, are visible to all Zenergo members and also to any search engine on the Web, including Bing and Google. Use this setting for a public event that you're hoping lots of people will come to and you don't need RSVPs.
Note: When you get an invitation to an Event, the fact that you've been invited (and whether you've responded), and any photos you may post to the Event page and any Activity Talk comments you may make to that page, will depend on the privacy settings chosen by the Event Organizer.
Zenergo starts with Activities.
An Activity can be anything you do, from hobbies to sports, from projects to personal fulfillment. We can suggest more than 300 activities for your consideration, from animals and pets, to arts and entertainment, to community, family, parenting, food and drink, to games, health and wellness, school activities, crafts, home and garden, travel, technology, and more.
Zenergo is a place for your favorite activities, and where you can find new activities to explore. You can partner with your existing friends, and find new people and groups to share your favorite activities: people to go jogging with, play tennis with, go to Bingo or go on a camping trip, form a league or form a team, run a group or throw an event.
To get the most from Zenergo, you choose Activities, specify your specific interests, then connect.
There are two ways to find an Activity you like or might find interesting.
From your Home page, use the big box in the middle of the page that says "What do you like to do?"
Just type the name of a favorite Activity. As you type, possible matches display in a popup box. highlight it with your cursor and click. You'll see that Activity immediately added to your list of Activities.
Or else you can click on the blue link that says "Browse all activities." This opens up a list labeled "Choose An Activity--Open any category and choose and add multiple activities."
Below that is a list of white boxes with blue Category words, such as Animals and Pets, Arts and Entertainment, Community, and so on.
Click one of those categories that looks interesting, and that category expands to show you a list of Activities in that category. Put a check mark in the box next to one or more Activity to select it.
Click the category name again to collapse it, and choose another Category to continue to browse through the Activities we offer, checking Activities that interest you.
Finally, scroll down and click the green "Add" button. All the Activities you checked are immediately added to your Activities list on your Home page.
What now?
Notice that each of your new Activities has a series of questions, intended to get your started using that Activity. The question labeled Friends, asks "Who do you know who likes..." that activity. Click on that question to go to your Friends page, where you can connect with your current friends to invite them to join you in that Activity. Or if you click the word "Find new," Zenergo will show you a list of people, groups, and events related to that Activity within your geographical area.
In Dates & Events, click on the question, "When is your next (activity) get-together?" and you'll go to the page that lets you create a new Event. In Groups, click on the question, "What (activity) Groups do you belong to?" and you'll go to a page that lets you start your own Group.
But first, you should fill in some information about your interest in the Activity you just joined. It's a way to let people know what you want to do, your level of expertise, and more.
Scroll down your Home page to one of your new Activities. Click "Edit activity profile," which brings you to a form asking for specifics about your interests in that Activity. This is to help match you with specific people, groups, and events who share your interests and needs.
Each Activity has its own form, with options that depend on that Activity. So the Tennis form asks what kind of tennis you like to play (singles, doubles, etc.) and how experienced you are (beginner, intermediate, advanced, pro). The Wine Appreciation Activity asks what kinds of wines you like, and what kind of activities you're interested in (going to tastings, going to wineries). The Cruise Activity asks what destinations interest you, and what size ships you prefer. And so on. You don't have to answer any of these questions, especially if this is a new Activity you're exploring and you don't really have any preferences yet. But if you have strong opinions about what you want out of this Activity, go ahead and check off all the answers you like.
You can answer as many or as few of the questions as you want, it's up to you. Later, you can change your choices, which lets you see how your choices affect your partnership matching.
On this form, you can also upload a Profile Photo, one just for that specific Activity - so, a picture of you playing tennis, holding a wine glass, or climbing the rock wall on a cruise ship would be fun, depending on the Activity you choose. (If you don't choose a specific photo for that Activity, then we use your main Profile picture automatically.)
You can also add some remarks in the text box labeled "More About Me And This Activity."
Your choices on this form are presented, in digest form, on your home page for this Activity. When someone is searching for a partner, teammate, or friend for this kind of Activity, they will be able to see (depending on the privacy level you've set) what choices you make on this form, your Activity photo, and your More About Me entry, to get a better idea of your interests and involvement in that Activity. This can mean better match-ups for both of you!
On this form, you can also control your privacy for this activity. At the bottom of the form is a section that says, "Who Can See This Activity Profile." Make your selection - see the "Privacy Settings" section in this documentation for details. You can check the box at the top of the form that says "Available For Activity Friend Search" to make sure others interested in this same Activity can at least find you - even if you've checked the Privacy Lock as your privacy level.
Click the green "Save" button at the bottom of the Activity Profile form to save your choices.
Each Activity you join gets its own Home page.
Click on the name of an Activity in the left-hand Navbar on your Home page to go to that Activity's Home Page. This page displays your information about that Activity: It shows your Activity Friends, your Activity photo albums, your Groups, Events, and ActivityTalk.
Giving each Activity its own Home page allows you to collect together everything about that Activity - and just that Activity - in one spot. You don't have other Activities mixed in - comments from friends and your Mom and your kids and your baseball team aren't all jumbled together.
Here are some tips for managing your Activity Home Page.
From the Activity's home page (reached by clicking the name of the Activity on the left side of your screen, click the blue words "Edit Profile" in the "Profile" tab.
Here you can add, change, or remove any of your current responses. You can upload a different Activity Profile photo.
When you click Edit Profile for an Activity, you may see a "Remove Activity" button at the top. Click this to un-join that Activity. This will discard any photos and messages connected to this Activity, and un-friend those you've friended for this Activity. (It won't affect photos loaded in other albums, or friends in other Activities.)
You won't be able to delete an Activity for which you have set up a Group or an Event. (That would leave the Group or Event stranded.) In that case, the Remove Activity button won't be displayed in the Edit Activity Profile on such Activities.
Activities are more fun with friends. There are several ways you can connect with people on Zenergo: You can search for your friends who are already members; you can invite friends to join Zenergo so you can connect with them; and you can find new friends.
Just enter your friend's name in the big "Search Zenergo" search box at the top of your home page. If your friend is a Zenergo member - and depending on how they've set their privacy level - you'll see their name. Then you can send a message, or invite them to partner with you on an Activity.
You've already got friends, of course, and partners in many of your current activities; you should invite them to join you at Zenergo, and partner with you in those activities, groups, and event through Zenergo.
You can, of course, simply send emails one by one to your closest friends. Easier is to import your contacts from your other social networks, such as Facebook and Gmail.
That takes you to a page with four tabs at the top of the middle of the page. You can import your "contacts" or friends you have on Facebook, or Yahoo, or Gmail, or Windows Live (which includes Hotmail). Click on one of these tabs. This connects you with that service (through a pop-up window), you log into that service (unless you're already logged into it), and select who you want to import.
If you've joined one or more Activities already, you're offered the chance to invite your friends to sign up for Zenergo and go right to those activities so they can partner with you right away.
In addition to meeting new people on Zenergo, you should invite your friends to join you here, because Zenergo is a good place to organize your outside activities, the one place you can set up casual get-togethers as well as formal events, start and manage groups, share photos and comments activity by activity, and maintain your events calendar.
You could type in email addresses, but the easier way is to tap into email contact lists you already have.
Here's how you can make a copy of your email lists from your Google Gmail account, your Microsoft Live Hotmail account, and your Yahoo account, and you can still add individual email addresses when you need to.
First, click on the word "Friends" on the left side of one of your pages in Zenergo. The page now says "Friends And Contacts," and shows a list of all your current Zenergo connections. (If you just became a member, of course, there won't be anybody there.)
There are five tabs across the top. The current one says "Zenergo," and next to that are tabs with icons representing the logos of sites you may already be a member of, such as Google/Gmail, Microsoft Live/Hotmail, Yahoo, and a tab with the image of an envelope, where you can enter email addresses manually. (Facebook is coming very soon.)
Click the first tab where you already have an account - let's say Google. Now click the button that says "Import Google Contacts."
The first time you do this, a pop-up from Google asks for permission, and may ask for your username or password to log into Google/Gmail. Give permission, and your Google email list copies into this page.
We don't get your Google username or password. The popup window is controlled by Google, and we don't get to see it. Only the names and the email addresses of your friends is sent to Zenergo - we don't get to see any other information about your friends that you may have in Google, such as postal addresses, phone numbers, and personal notes. This is for your convenience, not ours.
Each of the other services works the same way: Click the Import button, give permission, and the names and email address of your friends appears.
Now it's easy to select friends to invite to Zenergo!
To bring your Facebook friends list over to Zenergo is a two-step process. Yahoo Mail can import all your Facebook contacts, then Zenergo can import easily from Yahoo.
Here's how.
1. Import your Facebook contacts into Yahoo.
If you don't already have a Yahoo account, create one by going to http://www.yahoo.com and clicking the link "New here? Sign Up", then filling in the form.
Log into Yahoo. Click on "Mail" on the left side of the screen.
From your Mail page, click on the tab "Contacts" towards the top of the page.
From your Contacts page, click the Tools button and select "Import".
Click on the Facebook logo.
A popup from Facebook says "Share with Yahoo?" Click "Okay". (It may ask for your Facebook login first.)
When the import is finished, you can scroll through your Yahoo Contacts list and clean it up -- remove duplicates, fix names, delete contacts you don't want in Zenergo. (Yahoo has a "Clean contacts" feature that finds duplicates.)
NOTE: If you get an error while trying to import, you may have to go to Facebook and remove a conflicting Application called "Yahoo Contact Importer". To do this, log into Facebook, click "Account" in the upper right of the window, click "Application Settings" in the dropdown, and on the page that appears, look for "Yahoo Contact Importer" -- it may be in the "Authorized" listing. Delete it. Then try the Yahoo import again.
2. Importing your Yahoo contacts into Zenergo.
Now follow the instructions, above, for importing into Zenergo from a service -- in this case, using the Yahoo icon.
One really cool thing about Zenergo is that you can quickly find people to do things with.
Once you've signed up for an Activity, just go to your Activity Home Page. See where it says "Friends"? If there's nobody listed yet, that's because you just started with that Activity and haven't connected with anyone on that Activity yet.
To find new partners for this Activity, click where it says "Find More." This takes you to the Activity Friends Search page.
This takes you to the "Activity Friends Search" page. It shows you other Zenergo members in your area who have joined that same Activity. These are people you can connect with in that Activity.
To keep you from being overwhelmed with a thousand potential partners (hey, it could happen!), we control this list in several ways.
First, all the people are within 25 miles of your location (based on the Zip Code or Country Code you registered with). If you don't see many people listed, or you're willing to go a little farther for this Activity, just look on the right side of this page, where it says "Refine Results" - you'll see a search box, an Age "slider," and a Distance "slider." The Distance slider is currently at the 25-mile mark, which is our pre-set default. You can drag that to the right to expand your area of search. Instantly, more people may show up in your list.
Of course, if you live in a crowded urban area and you've picked a very popular Activity, you may have the opposite problem: too many people listed! Just slide the distance slider left and limit your search to a smaller area - down to as little as one mile!
"Age" is another slider you can experiment with, and see what happens.
You'll see other options on that right-hand side. Experiment with checking and unchecking options, and moving slider buttons back and forth, and see how it affects the number of choices you have.
The people on this page are potential Activity Friends for you in that Activity. You can see their photo, their name, and some info they've provided on their Activity page: the approximate distance they're willing to travel for that Activity; their gender; and their interests with regard to that Activity.
Click the "Friend Request" button to send a person on this list a message asking if they'd like to partner with you on this Activity. This message will go to that person's Zenergo Inbox, where they can reply if they wish. (If you're already a friend with this person on this activity, there won't be a Friend Request button there.)
You can send them a message by clicking the "New Message" button.
To get a little more info about one of these people, click on their name or their picture to see their Activity page on this activity. (How much info they display depends on their privacy setting for that activity.)
If you hover your cursor over their picture in the Activity Friend Search, then after a moment a popup window shows up for that person. This popup also has a "New Message" and "Friend Request" button. You can again click on the person's name to see their Activity page. This popup window also shows a list in blue letters of all the other activities they're in. Click on any of these to see their Activity page for that Activity too.
As you see, there are often many paths to get at information in Zenergo.
When you arrive at the Activity Friends Search page, you see all Activity matches in your area, including people, groups, and events. To view just the "People" , or just the "Groups", or just the "Events", click one of the tabs. The "sliders" work for narrowing these selections, too.
Each Group or Event listed has a "New Message" button; you can click that button to send a message to the person who created that Group or Event, asking about the group or event or asking for an invite. (Groups and Events with restrictive Privacy settings may not show up in these results, so don't be surprised if you can't find your friend's event--you may have to ask them to send you an invitation separately.)
To join a Group, you have to send a message to the Group leader asking to join. The response will be in your Inbox, and you can exchange emails with them if either of you has further questions. Once you are invited to join that Group, the Group name will appear on your Home Page under Groups, and also on the appropriate Activity Home Page. You'll be able to visit that Group's Home Page and participate in that Group's activities, depending on how it's been set up.
Likewise, if you're interested in an Event you see listed in your Activity search, message the Event manager to ask to attend. You can exchange emails through your Inbox to learn further details before attending. Only Events that have their privacy level set to Zenergo Searchable will show up in your results, which suggests that they probably will welcome your participation. Read the Event description carefully -- it may be an open or public Event which you can attend without asking to be invited or giving an RSVP -- for example, a community event, a fundraising event, or an event to generate interest in the sponsoring group.
Or you can create your own Activity Group (see Groups, below) and decide who to invite and who to accept!
People can send Activity Friend Requests or Messages to you, too. Depending on the Activities you've joined, how popular they are, and what information you provided about your interests, you can expect sooner or later to start getting invites from people wanting to know if you'd like to partner with them on an Activity or two. These invites will arrive in your Zenergo Inbox. (You'll get an email sent to your outside email address, too, letting you know you've got mail - unless you un-selected that option in the Account-->Notification Preferences.)
When you get an invitation in your Inbox, you can click to view the message, or click the "Accept" button to partner with that person in that Activity. Or you can Decline, or Ignore them. Decline sends them a message; Ignore does not send them a message.
If you Accept their invitation, that person's icon and name will now appear as one of your Friends on your Activity page for that Activity. Now you can make appointments to meet with them for that Activity, and receive messages and invites from them too.
You might want to invite friends to join you on Zenergo but not have a specific Activity in mind to connect with them on. Use "Personal Friend" as a general-purpose connection.
You can stop 'friending' someone in a particular activity, or in all activities. Click the word Friends on the left side of your Home page, scroll thru the list of names to the person, and click the "X" next to their name.
When you do this, a pop-up lists all the Activities you are friended on. Check the box next to each Activity for which you wish to stop being Friends with them.
Once you remove that person from an Activity, they won't appear on your Activity page as a friend, and you will no longer be connected through that Activity. You will still be connected with any other Activities you have with them (unless you Remove them from all of them).
You can re-friend someone later in that Activity or in other Activities. They can still find you in Activity Search or in Global Search and invite you to Friend them in an Activity (which you can decline).
If you are both in a Group or are both going to the same Event, you will still see each other; you just won't be friends, and your privacy settings will apply to that status.
You can Block someone from connecting with you in any way.
First, you must unFriend that person on all your Activities.
To do this, click Friends on the left side of your window, click the "x" next to that person's name, and in the pop-up that appears, check every Activity listed, and also check the box next to the words "Block [name of person]."
When you've Blocked someone, they cannot see any of your Activity pages; you will not turn up in any of their Friend Searches; you will not appear if they look for you in Zenergo Global Search. You cannot send or receive messages with each other. However, if you are both in the same Group or attending the same Event, you will be visible to each other on the Group or Event page -- however, neither of you will be able to click on the other's name on that Group or Event page and see that person's personal Profile page or their Activity Profile page.
Once you've blocked someone, you can never unblock that person, or friend them again, so be sure you mean it.
Once you've got Activity Friends, you will want to get together with them to engage in those Activities. There are two ways to do that through Zenergo: Send a message/Quick Event invite; or create a full-fledged Event and invite people.
1. Send A Message/Quick Event to a Friend: Anywhere you see the icon of friend on an Activity, Group, or Event page, you can send that person a message.
There are lots of places where your friends are listed -- on your Activity pages, on your Group pages, on your Event pages. If you hover your cursor over the icon -- the picture or symbol the person would have uploaded of themselves, or a gray box if they didn't -- then a popup box appears with two buttons: "New Message", and "Friend Request". (The Friend Request button is so you can Friend them for additional activities.)
Click "New Message", add more people in the To: line if you wish, put in a Subject line, and type a message. Then click "Send Message" to send this message to their Zenergo Inbox.
Or you can click the button "Add Time" and choose a date, time, and duration for your meeting. Once you send the message, this "Quick Event" shows up in your Calendar.
2. Create an Event: The other way to arrange a get-together with Activity Friends is to set up a more formal Event and invite people. See Events for a complete description of creating and managing Events, but here is a quick description for setting up a simple one-time event.
This is a good way to go for an Event that needs more detail, such as location, RSVPs, and setting a Privacy level for the get-together. It's also good for setting up a public event because you can make it available to be found in Activity Search, so people may find the event and show up, if that's what you want.
You can create an Event and invite one or more of your Activity friends (and other friends as well).
Zenergo Groups are a way of organizing groups of people who share an interest in an activity. It can be a poker-playing neighborhood group; a senior travel group; a group of activists for a particular cause; it can also be a tennis club, a baseball team, your winetasting club, or the members of your extended family. You can join (or create) as many different kinds of groups as you like.
A group can maintain a calendar of its meetings and activities, can post pictures to share and exchange messages about your common interest. You can message everyone in your group at once, which can be convenient when you're setting up a meeting or organizing an event.
Groups are a great thing to join, too. If you're interested in a topic, joining an existing Group can give you instant friends, experts, mentors, or testers of your latest recipes. It's also a great way to meet people when you're new to an area.
Groups can be private; they can be public to Zenergo members, who can request to join, and the group's creators and managers then decide whether to accept them into their group.
Once you've created an Activity Profile, you can create a Group for that Activity.
A Group can be your personal club or circle of friends and acquaintances who might share your interest and enthusiasm for that Activity. It can be a group that meets regularly: your sports club, your poker game, your wine group, your knitting circle. If you have an existing group, organization, or association, bring them into Zenergo and use our Group feature to manage your group calendar. Or create your own Activity Group.
Zenergo enables you to send email invitations to all the people you would like to join your Group. Zenergo will ask you for contact information for your Group: a name, an address or a location, a phone number, and a website (if you have one). You will be asked to provide a description of your Group, and you have the opportunity to upload a photo and a logo for your Group, too. You can also set parameters within Zenergo for who can see your Group online and signify whether or not your Group will be searchable within Zenergo.
Once you've created a Group, you can use Zenergo to communicate directly with group members, continue to grow your membership, and announce events and get together for your Group.
There are several places where you'll find a Start Group button.
From your Home page, scroll down to where the Activity you want to create your Group from shows up in the middle column. Within that Activity block you'll see the word "Groups," a number (the number of groups you already have created or joined in that Activity), and the word "Create." Just click on it to start the process.
Or you can scroll down your Home page and in the left column, where you see the blue bar labeled "Groups" you will also see it has a plus sign(+) - if you hover your cursor over that plus sign a tooltip will appear that says "Create Group." Click on the plus sign to start a group.
Or you can go to your Activity homepage (by clicking on the name of the Activity in the middle column of the page, or in the Activity list under the green Activities bar in the left column of the page. At the top of your Activity page, click the "Groups" tab to see a list of groups you already have associated with that Activity (or it may say "No current groups for this activity"). Click the "Create Groups" button you see there.
Now fill in the Create Group form with the information you want your group members to see. (You can control how much of this information other non-members can see by choosing among the Privacy options at the bottom of this form.)
Fields in this form that must have an entry are indicated with an asterisk or red dot.
Start by giving your Group a name - such as Bob's Weekend Poker Group. (Giving your group a specific name is a good idea; for one thing, it will help when you recruit new members, if you hope to do that.)
Next is "Choose an Activity."
(Why do I have to choose an Activity for my Group? Zenergo is organized by activities, so members can find partners, groups, and events related to activities that interest them, such as hobbies, crafts, interests, and social activities as well as sports.)
Just type into the text box words associated with the Activity you have in mind until you see suggested activities pop up -- when you see the Activity you have in mind, click on it.
If you don't see the activity you're thinking of - or if you don't know what activity to select - click on the button "View all Activities" - this will display a list of all our activities, grouped by category. Click the arrow next to a Category to cause it to expand, showing a list of activities; or to collapse so you can go to another Category. When you see an Activity that works for your Group, click it. The activity name will pop into the box, and the categories will go away.
Now provide information about your group: First, the "Location" - the address where you intend to meet; your own name and address if your group doesn't have a formal location yet; or a descriptor such as "Mike's House" or "Garson Park" or "St Michael's Church" or "Elk's Club."
Put in an address so, if you have new people join your group, they'll be able to find you. (This is optional.) You can also enter a contact phone number, and a Website if your group has one. These are also optional.
In the box "Describe Your Group" tell what your group is, or does, or is focused on, or its goals. If you make your group visible to Zenergo members so others can join you, this will help them understand what your focus is, in addition to the Activity and group name.
You can now upload an image. The "Profile Image" goes on the Group home page. This might be a group shot, or an activity scene, or a symbol.
You can also upload a second image, your "Group Logo" if you have one. This logo will show up next to your Group's name when people find your group while doing an Activity or friend search. This is handy if your group has a recognizable logo, as for example if yours is a chapter of a national organization.
These images are optional, but nice. Pictures can be in JPG, GIF, or PNG format.
The last item in the form is "Who Can See This Group" and the related "Available for Activity Search." This can be important.
If you want to recruit new members to your group from the world at large, select "Public" -- Zenergo members and anybody else can find your group name simply by using a Web search engine such as Google, Yahoo Search, or Microsoft Bing. They can then see a limited view of your Group home page. They can then decide if they want to join (with your permission). To make use of the features of Zenergo Groups, they will have to become Zenergo members.
Select "All Zenergo Members" to limit visibility of your Group to Zenergo members only. It won't be findable by an outside search engine.
Choose "Members Only" to keep your group completely private. Your group will then be visible only to people you invite in to be members; nobody else can find your group by searching on Zenergo, or by searching on the Web.
Exception: Select "Available for Activity Search" so that your group name will appear when a Zenergo member looks for activity partners, even if you've chosen "Members Only." Zenergo members will only see a restricted amount of information about your Group, enough for them to decide if they want to join it. If you uncheck this item (it is checked by default), then your group is completely invisible to all except its invited members.
Go to your Group page for that Group. Click the Profile tab, above.
Look for "Invite Members - you'll find it in just above Activity Talk, and also in the "Members" section.
Click on "Invite Members" to go to the "Invite New Members" page. You'll see a list of all your friends in the Activity that's related to this Group. You can also click on the Zenergo icon to see your entire Zenergo contacts list; or on one of the other tabs to see your email contact lists from other services such as Google and Yahoo.
Scroll to find who you want to invite to join your Group. Click the "Add" button to the right of their name. This puts an entry into the "Send Queue" to the right.
(If you change your mind about a particular selection, click the "x" to the right of that person's name in the Send Queue, before you send the invites. )
When you're done, look for the button that says "Send Invites" and click it.
Finally, "Customize Your Invite" by entering a personal message in the popup window that appears. Then click "Send."
Zenergo members will get an invitation in their Inboxes to join your group; they can accept or decline, and you'll get a notification in your Inbox when they do.
Those who aren't yet members of Zenergo will get an email to their outside email accounts inviting them to join Zenergo so they can join your Group. When they accept, and sign up for Zenergo, they'll find the Group invite in their Inboxes, and you'll get notified when they accept or decline your Group invite.
Already got a group on another social network, or a membership list in your email program?
You can migrate your group, and even your calendar of events, over to Zenergo - just follow these steps.
First, we'll get the membership or mailing-list information; then we'll merge your calendar of events.
Start by creating your Group on Zenergo (see instructions above).
Now go to your Group page by clicking your Group name in the lefthand column of your page.
Click the Members tab at the top of the page. Click "Invite New Members."
The pop-up window is labeled "Invite Friends to [your group]". In the center area it shows your current master contacts list of emails addresses of any friends and contact you may have uploaded into Zenergo already.
Next to the words "Import Contacts" are icons representing Google Gmail, Microsoft Hotmail/Live, Yahoo, and CSV.
If your Group membership email list is on your Gmail, Microsoft, or Yahoo accounts, click the corresponding icon. Another window will pop up to ask permission to connect you to that service, and possibly to ask for the password to it. When you respond, the service takes a few minutes to collect and send us the contact information.
Note that this connection is controlled by your service. We don't directly access your Gmail or Hotmail or Yahoo accounts. Zenergo takes from each service just the first name, last name, and email address of your contacts. We don't access any other information, such as address, city, phone number, or personal notes.
After a moment of uploading, the service window disappears, and the Invite Friends window now shows the email addresses of all your contacts from that service (mixed alphabetically with any contacts you may have from prior uploads).
Now that you've imported your email list, you need to message your members to tell them to join Zenergo and then join the Group which you moved to Zenergo.
It's easy. Scroll through that contact list, and click the "Add" button next to the name of each member of your old group. That copies it over to the right.
When you're done adding all your group members, click the green "Invite" button in the lower right corner. You can write a message in the window that pops up, explaining what's up, and encouraging the members to join Zenergo (if they aren't already members) and then to join this Group. Click "Send."
Zenergo will take it from there. Those who are already Zenergo members will get a message in their Zenergo inbox inviting them to join your Group. They can accept or ignore the invite -- you'll get a message in your Zenergo inbox if they accept.
Those who aren't yet Zenergo members yet will get a message in their outside email, with your invitation message, and a link back to Zenergo. They can click that link to go to the Zenergo member sign-up page.
Once they complete registration, they will find in their Zenergo inbox the message from you inviting them to join the Group.. They can accept or ignore the invite -- you'll get a message in your Zenergo inbox if they accept.
When you next visit your Group on Zenergo, you'll see your group members listed on the Group's main page. You will also see all those you invited, with "Pending" next to the names of those who haven't responded. (The "Pending" tag will disappear from this list if the person signs up for Zenergo but clicks "Ignore" on your invite.)
If you don't keep your group's email list in one of the systems for which we have automatic import - Gmail, Hotmail/Live, Yahoo - you'll have to take an extra step to transfer your contact list information to Zenergo.
You'll have to go to the system where your email addresses are kept, and find out how to "export" the mailing list. Look at the system's Help, or Google the topic: You are doing an Export, or a Save As, a "CSV," or comma-separated variable, file. The export can be in any "CSV" format-the exact type doesn't matter. You don't have to clean the list before exporting - we'll only be plucking the first name, last name, and email from the file, and ignoring anything else.
Once you have the CSV file, you can Import the file: Go to Zenergo, to your Group, then to the Members tab, and click "Invite New Friends". In the next window, for "Import Contacts," click on the rightmost icon, "CSV".
It says, "Please Select a CSV File to Import:" Click "Choose File". Browse to find the CSV file you just saved. Double-click that file.
Click the green Import button. After a moment, the first name and last name of your members, pulled from the CSV file, appear in the list, along with their emails.
As above, scroll through the list and click "Add" next to the email address of each of your group members, and follow the process above to Invite them to join the Group on Zenergo. This also lets you ignore those people on your list you don't want to invite!
Zenergo Events can be special one-time events, or ongoing/recurring get-togethers for your Group. Once you create an account with Zenergo you can create an event at any time (as with Groups, tying the Event to an Activity). You can list contact info for the event. And you can decide if this is an open event (visible to Zenergo members), or a closed, private event.
Once you've filled out the Profile for that event, if your event is Zenergo Public, then other Zenergo members interested in the related Activity can contact you to be invited to the event. Or you can make the event completely open, and anybody can show up.
Like everything in Zenergo, Events are part of specific Activities. You can decide to have a poker game, starting with you joining the Poker activity, then clicking the "Create Event" button on that Activity Home Page, setting the details, and then inviting your poker-playing buddies.
Or you can tie your Events to your Activity Group - if you formed a poker-playing Group that meets regularly, you can create the Event for that Group starting from your Group Home Page. As always, you can make the Event private so only your Group members are invited and know about it; or you can hope to find more fish out there, and set your privacy so that you might get requests from other.
Once you've set up your event, and sent out invites and gotten RSVPs, you'll be able to create a photo Album for that event and post pictures before or after the event, and share them as widely as you wish (or not).
Zenergo Events can be special one-time events, or they can be ongoing/recurring get-togethers, for your Group for example.
You can create an Event from one of your Activity profile pages, or from one of your Group pages. You can list contact info for the event. And you can decide if this is an open event (visible to Zenergo members), or a closed, private event.
Once you've filled out the Profile information to create your Event page, then other Zenergo members interested in the related Activity can contact you to be invited to the event (if you've set its Privacy to Public). Or you can make the event open, "no RSVP required, just show up."
Once you've set up your event, you can create a photo Album for that event and post pictures from your event, and share them as widely as you wish (or not).
There are several places you can start to create an Event.
Create an Event from your own Home page: Scroll down to one of your Activities and you'll see the words "Dates & Events" -- next to this, click on the blue Create an Event.
Create an Event from the home page of one of your Activities: You'll find the Create an Event blue link in the profile area towards the top, next to Create a Group.
Create an Event for a Group: Go to the Group's home page and you'll find the Create an Event blue link.
Any of these routes takes you to the "Create Event" page, which explains: "To create a Event, first give it a name, slot it under an Activity, and fill in the rest of the form. On the next screen you will be able to invite attendees. This Event will appear on your home page under the chosen Activity."
Let's see what the Create Event form asks.
Even if you've set Privacy at is most restrictive "Invited attendees with Privacy Lock," the name of the Event and a limited amount of information about the event can show up in searches. That way people can ask to be invited or for more information. The event won't show up on your own profile, however. This way you can have some privacy about who is involved in the Event, yet still have the option of inviting new people to it. If you set Privacy to privacy lock and uncheck "Available for Activity Search," then the Event won't show up anywhere else.
Go to your Event's page. Click the blue words Invite Guests.
The Guests page shows any guests already invited. Click the Invite More Guests button to bring up the Invite Friends page, and choose from among your current Friends. Or import more names using the Import Contacts feature, as described in the Migrating Groups section, above.
Click the Add button next to each person you want to invite, then click the Send button to send the invitations.
Or click the Save button to save the list of invitees - - when you return to the Guests page, you'll see that the saved-but-unsent guests in the "Unsent" area. You can send invites to these guests one by one, or to all of them at once.
Invitations to other Zenergo members go to their Zenergo Inbox for their response. Invitations to those who are not yet Zenergo members go to their email; when they click on the link provided, they go to the Event home page, where they can see the Event details (as invited guests), and can RSVP; they can only comment or post pictures if they first join Zenergo.
You get an alert in your Zenergo Inbox as people respond to your Event invitation.
The Event home page shows the Profile info about the Event itself, lists invited guests grouped by their responses, an Activity Talk area, and a Photo album area.
Under the Event photo at the top, the Administrator of this Event can click the blue link Administer Event>. This takes you to a page where you can change any of the Event details. You can also Delete the Event by clicking the button on this page -- if you do, the system will let you send a message to all invitees explaining that you cancelled the Event.
Back at the Event home page, the Administrator can invite more guests.
Click on the "Members" tab at the top to see who has responded to your Event -- you can re-send the invite to those who haven't replied yet. You can also send a message to your guests from this page -- all of them, just those who haven't responded yet, or those who replied Yes, or Maybe, or No.
Back at the Event home page, click on the "Inbox" tab at the top of the page to see any messages the Event has received. Click the New Message button on the right to send a message to a Zenergo friend, or if you put in a complete email address, to message to an outside person's email.
Unlike Groups, in Events, the only Administrator is the person who created the Event.
The Zenergo Calendar displays your events, daily, weekly, or monthly, grouped by Activity, Group, or Event or in various combinations.
To get to your Calendar, click on the word Calendar in the left navbar on any of your Home, Activity, Group, or Event Pages.
On your Calendar page, you will see, by default, a current-month view of your Calendar, with all your events for this month. Today is highlighted in Green.
Color codes: Your events for Activities are shown in green, events for Groups are in blue, or in green if you've indicated you're accepting, and Personal events are in yellow/orange.
On the Calendar, the Events listed show the start time and the event name.
When there are more events than can fit into the day display, you'll see something like "+4 more" -- the number will be a count of how many additional events there are for that day. Click on that phrase to see a popup briefly listing all the events for that day, and their starting times.
There are a number of ways from this calendar listing that you can view details and, if you are the Organizer, update event details and add invitees.
Which of these options are displayed on the pop-up detail card, and which are grey-clickable, will depend on whether you are the creator or administrator of the Event.
Besides listing events and allowing you to edit them, where appropriate, your Calendar has other features that make it easy for you to view, add, and keep track of all your events.
Across the top of the Calendar are several buttons.
Towards the right side, the Day, Week, and Month buttons change the display accordingly. The Agenda button shows all your events for the day, week, or month in a list view.
Towards the left of the top bar, clicking the Today button changes to show the current day, week, or month, with today highlighted in grey. So if you scrolled forward a few weeks or months, clicking Today will bring you back to this week or month.
The left and right arrows next to the Today button move you forward or back a day, a week, or a month, depending on the view you have displayed at the moment.
To the left of the Today button is the Print button, an icon representing a printer. Click this to print an Agenda or list view of the selected day, week, or month.
To the far left of the top bar is the New Event button, which lets you create a Quick Event or a full Event -- see below for details.
On the left side of your Calendar window is an area where you control your Calendar view by Activity and by Group. For your convenience, you can display or hide events in specific categories.
You'll see a list of your Activities and your Groups (if any), with checkboxes next to each one. The top checkbox item is called "My Personal Profile."
As you check and uncheck the boxes next these Activities or Groups, the Calendar displays or hides the Events associated with those Activities or Groups. If you have a Tennis Activity, for example, checking the box next to Tennis will show any Tennis-related Events in that Calendar time period. Checking the box next to you club's Group name shows on the Calendar all the Events for your Group. The number next to the name of an Activity or a Group is the count of how many Events you have for the current period displayed: Day, Week, Month, or Agenda). This makes it easy to see if you have any events for that category in that time period.
You can also check or uncheck the whole My Activities or My Groups category at once.
The Personal Profile checkbox is a default category you can use for your personal Calendar -- personal events not connected to a particular Activity or Group. On the upper left it's called "My Personal Profile;" when you create an Event and choose a Calendar to put it in, the top choice is your own name -- this is your "Personal Profile" calendar.
The mini-calendar box at the lower left side of the Calendar page shows a calendar month. You can scroll forward or backward to see dates in other months. Clicking on a particular date changes the main Calendar display to that time period -- if you are in Month view, and you click a day in a different month in the mini-calendar, the main calendar changes to display that month. If you are showing a Week view and click on a day in the mini-calendar, the week view will change as needed to show the week that holds that day. And if your main calendar is displaying a day view, clicking a date on the minicalendar will cause the main calendar to change to that day.
Provide at least a start date and start time, and you must choose which "Calendar" this event should appear on (see Calendar List, below). You can click the green Save button now, and the "Quick Event" you've created will appear on the Calendar.
Or you can first click the button Invite Guests and go to the Invite Friends page.
And if you check the box at the bottom of the Create Event popup page, you will generate a full-fledged Event Page, where you can share pictures and comments with invitees. You will find this Page in your Events listing on your Home Page, where you can edit to add details. A full Event has such an Event page; a "Quick Event" has just an entry on the Calendar.
On the top of the left side of the page, you will see the New Event button. The New Event button allows you to create a new event for any of your activities without having to go to that Activity or Group?s Home Page first.
Clicking the New Event button brings up a pop-up window. You must provide at least a start date and start time for your event, and Calendar in order to create an Event here.
Type in a name for your Event. Choose a start date (and an end date or accept the default of today), and an end time (or accept the default of an hour later).
Optionally add a Location for your Event.
Now select which "Calendar" to put this Event on -- meaning, choose which Activity or Group to associate this Event with -- or choose the top entry, which is your name and represents your Personal Profile calendar.
Stay safe when meeting people, making friends, and getting together offline.
Responsible adults take care of themselves while online, and use sensible precautions when meeting people in the real world through Zenergo.
Since you are connecting for activities to people whom you won't necessarily know, you've got to use your head.
Do not share your Zenergo login information with anyone. Be cautious about writing down your login information where it can be found by others.
If your account or your login information is compromised, contact us immediately at CustomerService@Zenergo.com.
To report harassment, bullying, or abusive, inappropriate, dangerous, or infringing content or actions, email CustomerService@Zenergo.com. Be as specific as you can: Send us the URL of the page in question if you can, or forward the Inbox or email message. Describe the problem area so we can find it on the page. Give any background information we may need to understand the issue. Provide us with your contact information so we can ask follow-up questions if needed. We will review your report and take actions warranted by our Terms of Use.
To deal with harassing, bullying, or other abusive behavior in general, you should also consider contacting the National Domestic Violence hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE for more resources.
If you have encountered a member who may be a registered sex offender, please email our CustomerService@Zenergo.com and provide details to locate this member.
Email CustomerService@Zenergo, providing as much information as you can about the nature of the abuse. We will take vigorous action to ensure that members under 18 have a safe experience on Zenergo. We have restrictions on the ability of strangers to contact those members who are under 18, and we do not accept members under 13 years of age.
If you are living in the United Kingdom, under 18, and believe that an adult is acting inappropriately towards you on Zenergo, please submit an online report to the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre (CEOP). If you are an adult and you are concerned about a minor, you can also go to this link to submit a report.
If you believe someone has posted information or materials that violate copyright, trademark, or proprietary information, email us at CustomerService@Zenergo.com and provide as much detail about the material and its location. We will provide this information to our Copyright Agent for action.
If you believe that your work has been copied and posted on the Service in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, please provide our Copyright Agent with the following information:
(Note that this contact information may be provided to the member who posted the content you are reporting.)
Zenergo's Copyright Agent for notice of claims of copyright infringement can be reached as follows: Zenergo Inc., P.O. Box 1625, Mountain View, CA 94042.
If you believe information has been posted to Zenergo.com in violation of your intellectual-property rights, please send claims to Zenergo's Copyright Agent (above) a description of the location of the infringing content on our site, an explanation of how it infringes on your rights, your full contact information, and if you are not the owner or authorized legal representative of the owner, full contact information for the owner or authorized legal representative. (Note that this contact information may be provided to the member who posted the content you are reporting.)
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