HELP

Climates is a social network for people who want to take practical action on climate change. This section will help you find your way around the site.

You can do all the things you’d expect of a social network: find members (Mates) and make friends (My Mates), post updates, photos, videos and links to favourite sites, chat, message and share stuff.

What makes Climates different is that you can also search for people and posts by topic and post and save updates of your climate-friendly projects - called ACTIONS here - so you can keep track of your activity over time.

Members of external groups can connect with each other through the GROUPS section.

This page is intended to help you find your way around the site and how it works.

Climates is a new network and we are still developing the site. If something doesn’t work or doesn’t make sense, look for answers here or in FAQs. If you’re still stumped, or if you have an idea for how the site could be improved, please use the contact form or email admin@climatesnetwork.com.

How the site works

Climates thrives on three things:

MATES: users befriending others in the network, sharing stuff and following what their mates are doing.

ACTIVITY: mates posting and commenting on content such as text, photos, videos, sounds, links and files and contributing to forums and polls.

ACTIONS: what the content is about - the things mates are doing or want to find out about to reduce their contribution to the causes of climate change or adapt to its effects.

You can post content in different ways:

• direct to your Timeline from your Home Page or your Profile Page

• from the drop-down menu on the ACTIVITY home page

• by clicking the + symbol on the bottom navigation bar on your screen to post different types of content

• by clicking the + symbol on the page navigation below the main navigation bar to post an activity relevant to that page, eg. to create a new poll in the POLLS page.

One difference from, for instance, Facebook is that in Facebook you place your comment as you make your post. In Climates you post first, and then add your comment where you can add more photos, videos, links and control the design. See POSTING below for more details. Mates can comment on each other’s posts. If you want longer discussions to really get into a topic, you can join or create a topic in FORUMS. You can also upload much more detailed information and documents using the FILES function. Really useful if you have ‘how to’ guides to share.

This HELP section is organised alphabetically. If something is in CAPITALS it means you can reach it from the main menu. If you can’t find the answer you’re looking for check FAQs or email admin@climatesnetwork.com.

Account Home

Your home page, showing your latest activity and from which you can access your profile, change your privacy settings and control your account. You can open it from your profile button top right of the screen.

ACTIONS

This section has a range of suggested actions you can take to reduce your carbon footprint or adapt to climate change. You can browse for ideas, see what others are doing or start your own actions. It is not finite or complete and the adaptation section in particular will be built up over time, combining expert advice with mates’ own contributions selected from posts on the site.

On the ACTIONS home page you can see all the Latest Actions and Featured Actions. You can browse by Category or by Tags.

ACTIVITY

Features everything you can participate in on the site, apart from posting to your timeline, chatting and messaging. Here you can check out the ACTIONS to choose what you might like to do next, join in the FORUMS, post PHOTOS and VIDEOS, create and vote in POLLS.

+ Add button

This appears in two places on your screen: top right of a page so you can add content specific to the page you are on, and bottom right so you can add different kinds of content. For instance, if you’re in FORUMS, clicking the top button lets you add a new Forum Topic.

From any page, click the add button at the bottom of your screen to add Messages, Photos, Videos, Files, Site links, Polls or Forum posts.

Adding Posts and Mates.

If you are in MATES you can add or befriend Mates.

CATEGORIES

Posts are grouped into categories covering aspects of adaptation or mitigation.

Adaptation means actions to respond to the effects of climate change. Categories include Disrupted Seasons,Drought, Flood, Heatwave and Storm.

Mitigation means actions to address the causes of climate change. Categories include Food, Home, Travel and Other Stuff such as shopping and clothes.

GET STARTED

Visit the ‘GET STARTED’ page to see bitesize information about the causes and effects of climate change and some simple things you can do straight away.

Register

Click on the join or login button at the top right of the home page.

Either connect with Facebook or register by entering your email and a password, plus your full name in the boxes that appear. You can enter your photo here or later in your Account.

Connecting with Facebook is easy and means you don’t have to remember a separate password, but Facebook has to share information about you with Climates to enable it to happen. You may want to keep your accounts separate.

We do not use usernames. Climates requires your full name as we believe in being transparent and honest about who we all are.

Set up your profile

When you are logged in, the button top right shows your name and profile picture, once you’ve uploaded it (see below). Click on the down arrow to see your Account menu. Select ‘Profile’, scroll down the page to the Quick Links box and select ‘edit’.

Tell us something about you: what you are interested in, what skills or knowledge you have to share and what you want to learn about from Mates.

Upload a profile photo

To upload a Profile Photo, click on the photo box at the top of the page and add a photo. You can also add a Profile Photo by going to your Account page and selecting ‘Profile Photo’ from the drop-down menu. Please load a picture of yourself, not an avatar, so mates can see you!

To upload a Cover Photo, click on the ‘change cover photo’ button on the right of your Profile Cover box.

GROUPS

The GROUPS section is where members of external groups can link up on Climates. You can find it under MATES in the main menu.

Contact admin@climatesnetwork.com if you would like to set up a group.

Searching for Groups

You can search for Groups by name, using the search field at the top of the screen or by location using the map at the bottom of the GROUPS page.

Connecting with Groups

Some Groups are open to all Mates, some Groups are only open to members of the external organisation. If the group is open you can join by clicking on the Group name to go to their page and clicking on ‘join’ in the actions box on the right of the page.

MATES

All users on Climates are called Mates. Users you have connected with are called ‘My Mates’.

Searching for Mates

Search for Mates by name in the Search box on the left above the main menu.

Search for Mates by interest and activity on the MATES page. Use the toggle button top right of the page to switch between ‘simple’ and ‘extended’ view to see Mates’ descriptions.

Connecting with Mates

Click on the Mates name and scroll to the operations or quick links box on the left hand side to contact, befriend or favourite them or to follow their feed. You can also remove, block or report Mates here.

Invite friends

You can invite friends to become Climates by clicking the Invite a Friend icon on your bottom navigation bar or from the drop down menu in MATES.

NAVIGATION

The main menu is in the dark bar across the screen below the banner. On most pages a white bar below the main menu contains the page name and sub menu on the left and page-specific action buttons on the right.

A white bar at the bottom of the screen shows your presence on the left and more action buttons on the right: Invite a Friend to Climates, links to FAQs, Mail, Mates and Notifications and Add content.

POSTING

Post to Timeline

You can post text, photos, videos or links to your Timeline. In Facebook you place your comment as you make your post. In Climates you post first, and then add your comment where you can add more photos, videos, links and control the design. Edit the caption of photos and videos to suit before posting. Don’t worry if you mess up, you can delete or edit your posts after posting.

Files

Unlike many other social networks, Climates loves detail! If you’re showing other Mates how to do something you’ve done, you may have all sorts of useful files to share with them: 'how to' guides, diagrams, charts or short publications. Because Mates may not have the program you created the file in, it is best to save it to a common format, such as pdf, png or jpg file before uploading it.

Photos

When posting Photos be aware that the name of your Photo will appear as an overlay on the Photo and also as a caption in your Timeline.

Sites

You can post links to Sites you like. Post the link then add details in the comment box below it.

Videos

You can record Videos direct to Climates, upload them from your device or embed a link to a Video on another platform, such as YouTube. If you are recording you will need to allow Climates to access your camera and microphone. You should see the message on the right. Select allow.

If you cannot see or hear the video clearly, check your camera and microphone settings on your device.

You can also record video comments on other posts. Click in the comment box under a post and select ‘record a video comment’.

PRIVACY

You can set and edit your privacy in Settings from your profile icon (top right). You can choose who can see you and who can message you.

You can find more detailed privacy settings under Account Home - Privacy Settings.

SEARCH

The main Search box is at the top left of the screen. From Search Home you can search for Mates by name, keyword or interests, search for content by keyword or search for Mates or Groups on the world map. You can refine your search by clicking on the Filter Search button above the Keyword field.

Still not found what you’re looking for?

Check FAQs or email admin@climatesnetwork.com