Frequently Asked Questions

What is Genwi?

Genwi helps people publish all of their online activity in one place. By linking video, blog, podcast, photo, bookmark, review and so many other websites to Genwi; people can create their own newspaper. People can share their newspapers with friends, family and followers. The other half of Genwi helps people follow updates from others' newspapers in one place. By following newspapers, people can get all of the updates from their friends, family and favorite websites in one river of news.

What is Newspaper?

Newspaper is what people share with their friends, family and followers. Every Genwi account has a newspaper. Members can leave the newspaper blank or they can publish their activity on their newspaper. Newspapers display content from the feeds added to them as well as favorites and collections. Newspapers can be public or 'friends only.' Members who don't add content to their newspapers have blank newspapers.

What are Sources?

Sources are the feeds a member follows. The Sources tab lists all of the newsfeeds, newspapers and collections followed in the account. Members can stop following sources by clicking 'remove' next to any source under the Sources tab.

What is Home?

Home is where members can see the most recent updates from the sources they follow. When members login, they automatically go to their Home page. From the Home page they can view all of their sources most recent updates or filter the udpates. AVailable filters include 'Friends' favorites,' 'Shared with me,' and 'Quick posts.' More filters are available within the content area. Drop downs allow members to filter their accounts by viewing content by media type (video, blog, podcast, etc.) as well as filtering directly to a single source. Another drop down helps members view the Summary, Most Popular, Highest Rated and Most Recent Items. Summary displays only today's most recent item from each source. Members can also jump to any source directly from the content listing. The footer of each listing contains a link to the item's source that will filter the content area to only display items from that source.

What is Public Wire?

Public Wire shows you the most popular, highest rated and most shared posts on the entire site. Public Wire is a way to browse what people are viewing on Genwi overall.

What are Quick Posts?

Quick Posts allow members to post anything instantly to their newspaper. Members can share status, a message, a link, an embed code - whatever they like.

How can I start following sources?

There are many great ways to follow sources.

Members can invite friends to create newspapers.
Members can follow any public newspaper or any private newspaper when they are friends with the publisher.
Members can follow any newsfeed or add RSS/Atom and OPML feeds directly from their Home page.

How do I add feeds to follow?

Members can follow feeds in two ways. First they can click on the "Follow" button next to any feed in Genwi. Second, they can click on "Import a feed URL" which is on the left side of the Home page. From "Import a feed URL" they can submit an RSS feed, ATOM feed, or OPML file.

How do I add my feeds to my newspaper?

Members can add their feeds by clicking on 'Newspaper'in the left side menu under 'Settings.' The first tab in 'Newspaper' is 'Add Newsfeeds'- which lists services members can add and a link that says 'Add your own feeds,' to add any RSS/ATOM feed. Members can add their content from any of the listed services by clicking the link and submitting the required information.

What formats for Feeds are accepted?

We currently accept feeds in the following formats.

What is Share, and how can I use it?

Share is a quick way to share content with friends on Genwi. The 'Share' link in the item footer opens a window to select friends to share the item with. When members share with friends, their friends see the shared item when they log in to Genwi. Members can share something with one friend or all of their friends. Members can view and remove items they have shared under the 'Favorites' tab.

What is Favorite?

Favorite is a way for members to save favorite items and publish their favorite items to their newspapers. When members 'Favorite' items, they can save the post to the default 'Favorites' or to a collection they create. Members can create new collections when they favorite items by clicking 'create new collection.' Members can publish collections as public sources that any member can follow. Favorites and collections can be managed under the 'Favorites' tab in the header.

How can I invite friends?

Members can invite friends to join Genwi by clicking "Invite Friends" which is a link on the right hand side under the "Friends" tab. Here members can send a single personalized invitation or import their address book from services such as Hotmail, and send invitations to selected contacts. There is also a 'Tell a Friend' widget on the footer of the Newspaper page. The 'Tell a Friend' widget helps people contact friends from a number of services.

Why doesn't my video, podcast, song, etc. play?

Sometimes content we have collected becomes old and is taken down by its owners. That means Genwi still has the link to the video, podcast, or song, but the actual file has been removed. The most helpful thing you can do when you see an item like this is to send us notification.

Or members may not have the right codec (a piece of software required to play media). Members should download the latest codecs from the following links to be able to play most forms of media. Quicktime files do not work well with Firefox.

I was not able to find answers to my questions?

Email us (contact us). Or contact us on Twitter or Get Satisfaction. We will be happy to assist.