Skype used to make it very easy for users to create their own public chat, which was a great way to keep in touch with colleagues, mastermind groups and like-minded people, a few clicks and it was set up within Skype version 3. Unfortunately that’s not the case anymore in version 4. However, it is still possible to create your own public chats, but they are termed groups now in Skype.
I created one for a women’s networking group that I run and as it took me a few hours of research and a few oopses along the way, I thought it would be good to post how to do it here, so it saves you the time and effort that it took me. Also it’s great for reference whenever I need to do it again!
So, here goes:
First of all go into contacts – create new group. Now it may look like you have to manually add members to this group, and you can, however you can also create a public group by typing in the text box at the bottom the following command:
/get uri
and it will come up with a code you can pass on to others and create weblinks to your Skype group. You can use the buttons created here and just replace the code with your code:
http://www.skype.com/share/buttons/wizard.html
In order for people to be able to join automatically you need to also type in the command:
/set options +JOINING_ENABLED
(Just copy and paste this command into your text box)
If you don’t type this command in, then nobody will be able to join – trust me, this was an oops!
You can check that this is enabled and also what other commands are enabled by typing in the command:
/get options
Another useful command is when you want to moderate who is joining your public chat:
/set options +JOINERS_BECOME_APPLICANTS
and also depending on your chat you can also allow late joiners to see the previous chat, up to 400 messages or last 2 weeks, the command for this is:
/set options +HISTORY_DISCLOSED
Note that all these commands have a “+” in them. In order to clear these commands, all you need to do is change the “+” to a “-” and type in the same command.
There are other commands you can use but this will get you started – all you need now is members, so create your link from your website and get going!
