Beer With Kyle: Making Wealthy Affiliate More Fun & Interactive.
Hey everyone!
Today, I’m excited to share some updates on our new user interface, specifically, improvements to our live chat feature. We’re working hard to make the platform more interactive and enjoyable and lots of our new updates are going to be focused on this.
This Week’s Beer: Moon Underwater Session Lager
Before we get into the updates, here’s this week’s beer: Moon Under Water "Light Side of the Moon" session lager". With an ABV of 4.2%, it’s a lighter beer from a local Victoria brewery, perfect for a relaxed Friday.
I’m pouring it into my trusty Wealthy Affiliate glass (our classic Las Vegas swag). Now, let’s get to the exciting part!
Sneak Peek: The New Chat Environment
We’re in the beta phase of our new UX, and one area we’re really focused on is our live chat. Here’s what you can expect:
- Interactive Features.
- Hearts: You’ll now be able to "like" messages in chat, giving feedback on valuable insights or funny moments.
- Attachments: Soon, you can easily attach files or images directly in the chat. No more sharing image URLs from external sites—everything will be integrated.
- Emojis & GIFs: Choose from a range of emojis (like the laugh emoji) and even share GIFs to express yourself in real-time. Stickers are on the way too!
- Beta Testing & Bug Fixes. The current beta version shows live chat conversations, but some features aren’t fully active yet, and a few bugs remain. We’re actively working to polish these features before the full rollout.
- Future Rollouts. In addition to chat enhancements, we’re planning updates for our training environments and ambassadorship program, as well as further improvements to our affiliate program. These updates are part of our broader goal to prepare Wealthy Affiliate for the next five to seven years.
Your Feedback Is Crucial
We’re committed to building a fun, interactive, and user-friendly platform. Your insights play a key role, so we would love to hear your feedback on the following:
- What do you think of the new chat features so far?
- Are there any other components within Wealthy Affiliate that you believe could be made more interactive?
- Do you have suggestions on improving the live chat UX (e.g., additional features or design tweaks)?
Drop your thoughts in the comments below, as always your feedback helps us shape the future of our community and platform here at WA!
Recent Comments
65
Hi Kyle,
The chat updates are filling a gap that social media—especially Facebook—no longer meets for clients. It’s great to see WA stepping in to provide that space! Plus, it’s a smart way to keep members engaged and active on the WA platform.
In my own business, Facebook’s restrictions have become so frustrating that I’ve even received copyright warnings and had my own content removed from my own groups. Because of this, I’ve moved my communities to another platform that offers better features.
Personally, I don’t use WA Chat, as I find its current format irritating but am aware the new changes will remove some of the frustration with Chat. That said, I know there’s a lot of support for it among WA members, and with the upcoming site updates, it sounds like it will be even more useful.
Overall, I see WA really stepping up to meet a growing demand, and these updates can only be a positive change for those who rely on Chat.
Yeah, there are definitely a lot more restrictions within these other platforms, though they are loosening up on their controls these days.
We are going to continue to step-up things here and make WA more interactive and engaging than ever. This is just brushing the surface of the updates that are coming with the new UX in April. Stay tuned Karen. :L)
Hello Kyle
I love the new updates you are working on. This is why I stay with WA.
Can I ask, though, how you are going to keep control of what type of files will be uploaded in chat?
Also, how are you going to prevent spam and bullying using this new system of emojis?
I would like to see that we can share the websites we are building as a collective works that come alive because of Wealthy Affiliate's support and resourcefulness.
Not as self-promotion that people can spam but just for the fact of interest in what everyone is building using WA's help.
I would appreciate it if Wealthy Affiliate's Rules and Regulations were more accessible and easy to find, and I would appreciate much more clarity in WA's guidelines and mission.
I appreciate the good work WA keeps on doing. thanks.
Have a wonderful new week ahead :)
Kind regards
Erica
It is going to allow for images. We are likely not going to allow for other types of attachments for obvious reasons.
Also, there is going to be the same rules with spam and bullying, if you do it you will be removed from the platform . Spam and bullying is not allowed now, and it won't be allowed then.
And thanks for sharing your idea of sharing websites, this is something that you can do on your profile currently, but we are considering other integrations throughout WA. So this is something that you can expect, and also we are considering social entities as well.
Thanks for your feedback here Erica, we appreciate it and it is the community ideas, suggestions and ongoing feedback that lead us to improving here. ;)
That sounds like an exciting roadmap for Wealthy Affiliate Kyle! Enhancing the live chat feature will definitely make the platform more interactive and engaging for users, which is a great step forward. A more dynamic chat experience can help foster stronger connections within the community, making learning and networking even more enjoyable.
It’s also great to hear about the upcoming improvements to the training environments and ambassadorship program. Keeping these areas fresh and up-to-date ensures that members continue to receive high-quality guidance and support. And, of course, refining the affiliate program is always a smart move—it’s a key part of what makes Wealthy Affiliate so valuable to its members.
The long-term vision for the next five to seven years is inspiring. It’s clear that a lot of thought and effort is going into making the platform the best it can be. Looking forward to seeing these updates roll out and how they’ll shape the future of Wealthy Affiliate!
This is good. I was always thinking about linking chats with the ones we're commenting/replying to/on. Right now, only the users are linked with chats, not the chats. I don't know if I'm making it clearer as my mind sees it.
For example, when I asked a question in the chat and Kyle is responding/replying to it, the question I asked along with my username should be visible along with Kyle's reply/answer so that others follow the conversation.
Currently, one has to scroll down to know what's going on.
I think this can make the chat much better.
John
I see what you are saying, that is difficult to know because the Reply within a chat just connects the username, and they are never going to be in order as chat come in order, unlike what you can do with comments and a less dynamic environment.
I know what you are saying though, and that might be something that we can accomplish within chat. Would just have to think through the best implementation of it.
Hey, Kyle. Good to know that it's tricky but it can still be done. It'll make it much easier to chat. My opinion.
John
For sure, there are many other areas of WA that are going to have fun and interactive elements integrated as well.
Though the community is awesome now, and full of a lot of great folks, we want to create a more interactive and engaging environment. That is part of the goal with this update. ;)
This will definitely make chat more engaging and fun! I definitely like being able to like other peoples comments cause I find myself a lot of time scrolling through chat and not being able to engage knowing the conversation that I'm reading happened many hours ago!
That is definitely the goal, and you are seeing some older conversations. I recommend that if you are jumping into chat or you see chat inactive for over an hour (which is pretty rare), you just jump in there, Many people will see that, and join the conversation.
So be the first, it will kick in the conversation and the community.
See more comments
The idea of being able to share files is a huge benefit. Before, if we were helping someone, we had to create a question to send screenshots. It never occurred to me to do a file share on an outside service.
Doing it in the live chat is a step in the right direction. A quick, here look at this. The question section is a great place to keep a running repository of "People Also Ask". I see it as that.
Not many people answer the questions. Many will look to see if a question has been answered, and if it has, keep rolling. Or if someone is "newer," they don't answer, assuming a veteran will take care of it. You get an answer or two, and it gets closed.
Answering questions in chat, robust.
Hearts in a chat? Mixed on that. Chat is temporary. I can give you a heart for being helpful, but saying thanks does pretty much the same thing. Hearts/likes, ok, if there was a backend motive for collecting information on the hearts.
For example, answers with "hearts" would make a great post for the community. We saw this problem was solved by [NAME] to formally recognize the solution. If this was the intent, it would serve a different purpose.
It can be a fountain of never-ending content, and the solver gets the recognition. The same could be done in the Ask A Question section.
Emojis? This is one language that I have not mastered, nor found a use for. Any time AI creates them in a post, I automatically delete them. While I do not speak emoji, many people do. And I will occassionally give someone the "Thumbs Up".
Do I need them here? Not really, spoken as a pure infant in the language of emojis.
The one thing that I would like is the ability to highlight words in my responses.
1. File sharing, awesome!
2. Hearts & Emojis: Take 'em or leave 'um
3. Format text in any response you write.
For example, I would highlight the words File sharing, Hearts & Emojis, and response texts.
Hope this helps.
Don
File sharing in live chat is a big win for sure, it simplifies helping others without needing extra steps like sending screenshots via another service. ..something that I have been doing.
And appreciate your feedback on everything else, everyone uses platforms and technology differently, and that is the beauty of tech. You cannot create a one sized fits all, but if you create an environment that has components that cater to everyone, that can lead to much higher engagement.
I think you are going to like the implementation of this, and the broad platform. :)
I know I will enjoy it. I am looking forward to putting it through its paces. I have a shiny new thing syndrome with everything.
It's a Boomer thing, about emojis, hearts, and thumbs, et al.
BTW is my Wealthy Affiliate Review on your Google page one? I will need to update it again. But curious if I am there as well.