New improved features coming to Mayo Clinic Connect

It’s Spring – a time to renovate and rejuvenate. Mayo Clinic Connect is getting a fresh coat of paint and a bunch of new and improved features, making it easier for you to connect and share with members.

Here’s a sneak peek at some of the exciting features coming your way April 2, 2021. 

Homepage 

The homepage is your new home base for everything that interests you on Mayo Clinic Connect. By simply bookmarking the website connect.mayoclinic.org, you can see your dashboard for the groups and discussions you follow, front and center. On the side panels you’ll find the latest blog posts and podcasts by Mayo Clinic experts, upcoming events such as invitations to monthly Zoom support groups, video Q&As, webinars, and patient conferences, and Mayo Clinic news articles. You’ll also want to check out the Spotlight to stay up-to-date with new developments on Mayo Clinic Connect when we open new groups, feature a member, release new functionality, improvements, and more.

Notifications and your settings

We heard you. You’re getting way too many emails. We’ve made it easier for you to choose to get only the emails you want to receive and to manage your settings and preferences. This puts you in control.

If you don’t want any emails, you can rely on the on-site notifications. And/or simply visit the homepage to see what’s new.

Search

Can’t find what you’re looking for? Well, that just got easier. We updated the search capability. I think you’ll be impressed. 

Furthermore, you’ll now be able to focus your searches on specific areas of the site. For example, you’ll be able to restrict your search to a specific group, a blog, or the events calendar.

Groups and discussions

The features you like in groups and discussions are still there. For example you can still like, reply to, bookmark, or report a post. You’ll also be able to choose to receive an email for every new post and to be notified in real time (as they are posted) if you don’t want to miss a word. Likewise you can mute a discussion and no longer be notified about it, but stay subscribed to the group.

We’ve also made it easier to follow replies within a discussion. This is particularly useful to see a string of replies within a long discussion.

As before, you can sort a discussion from the Oldest to Newest posts to read the discussion in chronological order or from Newest to Oldest to see the most recent replies first. Additionally, sort by Most Replied To posts and the Most Liked posts to discover information members found topical, useful, and helpful. 

Member profiles

When you click a fellow member’s picture beside a post, you get a popup with a quick snapshot of their profile without leaving the discussion. By clicking View Profile, you can see their full profile including discussions they’ve started, comments made, posts liked, and badges earned, as well as their biography. 

Member profiles can be viewed only if you are a registered and signed-in member of Connect.

Events

As more and more events move online, we have made them easier to find so that you can attend events of interest from the comfort of your own home, such as monthly support groups on Zoom. We’re adding new ones all the time. Once we can start doing things in person again, you’ll be able to find events at the Mayo Clinic campus nearest you.

Mobile friendlier

The mobile version of Mayo Clinic Connect got friendlier. All features have been created mobile first. This means we made sure it works on your phone.

April 2: The big reveal

You’ll be able to see all this and much more starting April 2, 2021. 

Follow the About Connect blog as I introduce you to each new feature with illustrated “how-to” instructions. I will also provide short demo videos to help you feel comfortable in the newly renovated space and keep you connected and sharing easier and better than ever. 

Got questions? Post them in the comments.

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