and how do the shows appear within those categories
that's not based on a chart is it? No those shows
are then based on the latest updated ones so
we look for what's currently fresh and new. I
like it. I like that there's things popping up
that I've never heard of or seen before. I think
that's a really nice way of introducing me to
some new shows. If you've got people you follow,
then you can see what they recently played, and
actually, sometimes if they're live, actually
currently listening to another podcast, you can
click on it and you can actually join them and
co -listen, which I think is good fun. Welcome
to Fanzone, your bite-sized guide to getting
the most out of the TrueFans podcast app. In
each episode, we'll discuss an aspect of the
app and hopefully answer any questions you may
have about it. Plus, when you listen to Fanzone
in TrueFans, you can earn as you listen and
use your earnings to support your favourite podcasters.
I'm Clare Waite Brown, independent podcaster
and all -round podcast enthusiast. And I'm Sam
Sethi, the CEO and founder of TrueFans. We're going to talk about the home screen in two
stages. First up, the scenario is that I haven't
set up an account. So I haven't logged in. I'm
coming fresh to the homepage. What will I see,
Sam? On the homepage, when you're logged out,
you will see homegrown hits. So based on your
country, which you can always change in your
user settings, but we auto detect that when you
first log in. That's the first thing. So we give
you a carousel of what we think are the best
top 10 currently in the country that you're in.
Then we give you podcasts we're loving. Now,
podcasts we're loving can be a mixture of those
still in your country, but also from another
country that might be , maybe the USA
or maybe Australia or France or Germany. So that
could be a mixed carousel. And then below that,
you get the top five Apple categories, news,
health, true crime, society and culture, and
comedy. And of course, we've added a brand new
carousel now, which is this podcast, the Fanzone
podcast. So now at the top, you will see
a carousel of all the episodes past and the ones
that we're going to be publishing in the future
as well. Brilliant. So these episodes are a very
lovely introduction to all the fun things you
can do on TrueFans. So that is if I haven't
signed up, but if I have signed up for an account.
Does my home screen look different when I sign
in? Yes, it does. And the reason that is because
we give you the carousels that you would want
most quickly at the top. When you log in and
create an account, you get two new carousels.
One is called New For You. If you follow certain
podcasts, you will see if there's a new episode
of that podcast in the New For You carousel.
And if you've started listening to any podcast,
you don't have to be a fan of it. We will show
you a carousel called Keep Listening and that'll
allow you to quickly resume where you left off
in that episode without having to go back to
the original podcast and then find that episode.
And then, of course, below that will be your
Fanzone carousel and then your homegrown hits
again. And you can, once you've signed in, you
can go to your user settings and you can customise
your homepage for the categories that you like,
can't you? Correct. If you, when you first signed
up, didn't choose five different categories,
then you get the default top five Apple categories.
But of course, if you want to, you go into user
settings, go down to the categories, choose the
five different categories you want, and we will
replace the Apple top five categories with your
own five categories. So therefore, you can customise
the homepage to look like you want it to. And
how do the shows appear within those? categories
that's not based on a chart is it no those shows
are then based on the latest updated ones so
we look for what's currently fresh and new in
the future we may well curate those as well but
currently we don't. I like it. I like that there's
things popping up that i've never heard of or
seen before. I think that's a really nice way
of introducing me to some new shows Now, there
is one other way you can, well, I believe one.
It's one that we're going to talk about now.
Customise your homepage using playlists. Now,
in a future episode, we're going to talk more
about playlists, but there is a way that you
can choose your playlist and have it pop up on
your homepage every time you come to the app,
isn't there? Yes. We thought it would be lovely
if you've got your own personal playlist. then
instead of always going back to the playlist
to find it, you can actually just see it on the
homepage. So you can pin a playlist to the top
of the homepage and that will auto -update based
on new episodes. Yeah, super. The featured podcasts
that pop up at the top, if I wanted to hide those
and go straight to my own lists, can I do that?
Yes, thankfully, yes, we allow that customisation
too. So yes. Those featured ones at the top are
there for us to give you new podcasts we think
you might like, or sometimes in the future, there
may be sponsored podcasts. But yes, there's a
little arrow just below the featured podcast.
You can click on it and it will just hide that
carousel and the imagery at the top. So you can
just see all your own carousels after that. Yeah,
yeah. I mean, obviously I wouldn't want to hide
that carousel at all. I always want to see what
you're recommending. But just in case. So then
let's go right to the very top now. Right to
the top. We've got an avatar. We've got a magnifying
glass. You know, some of those are more obvious
symbols. Give me a rundown of what I'm seeing
at the very top of my home screen, please. So
from left to right, you'll see the TrueFans logo,
but that actually is a very useful logo because
when you're on any page in TrueFans, if you want
to get back to the homepage, you just click on
that little icon and it gets you there. We've
got a new icon that we've added recently called
the Friends Activity icon. And if you click on
it, your drop down if you've got people you follow
in your profile then you can see what they recently
played and actually sometimes if they're live
actually currently listening to another podcast
you can see what they're playing you can click
on it and you can actually join them and co-listen
to the same podcast with them which I think is
good fun the other one is your notifications
icon bell and that is basically if you're a fan
of a podcast, that's where you will see new notifications
of new episodes that have been released. But
equally, if you're a fan of a publisher, say
Wondery or maybe another big publisher, and you
followed them, then you will see also other notifications
in there, things like new podcasts that they've
released. It may be that there's a music artist
you're following. And again, you'll see if they've
got a new single. And finally, of course, if
somebody follows you. you get a notification
that somebody has now started following you.
And finally, of course, yes, the search icon
and then your avatar, which leads to all of your
user settings and other things you can do in
the system. Okay, one other question then. I
love the friends thing. How do I find my friends
that I want to follow? So if you go to the search
page, you can see that there's three radio buttons.
One says podcast, one says fans, one says artists.
So if you click on fans and then type out the
name of somebody who you think is in TrueFans,
you will see their profile and you can then click
on them and find them and follow them. Yeah,
super. I'm going to give you another scenario.
I like doing these scenarios, don't I? You do.
I've come. to TrueFans, but I've been listening
to podcasts on another app and I've already got
my favourite podcasts and there's quite a few
of them. I don't really want to go through searching
for every show. I mean, maybe I'm just lazy,
but is there an easier way for me to get the
shows I used to listen to on another app to be
showing up on the Tru Fans app? Thankfully,
the answer is yes for most apps. So, for example...
Apple, Spotify, Pocket Casts, Overcast, you can
export your podcast list. It's in a format called
OPML. OPML is a format structure for exporting
a list of your podcasts. And other apps can read
that OPML file. So true fans can read the OPML
file. So you can go to your playlists in the
top right -hand corner. click on the icon and
upload your OPML file and then we will turn that
into a playlist for you and then what happens
is it's a dynamic playlist so we'll auto update
to the latest episode available and you again
you could pin that one if you wanted to the top
of your home page or you can edit that imported
playlist and reduce it in size or equally if
you play any of the items in that imported playlist
they will be added to your library. And again,
you can then use those to create other playlists.
So there's lots of options, but OPML import and
export is what we do. Sadly, not every other
app allows you to export in OPML. If the app
you've been using allows for OPML export, you
will find this in your settings. It may say export
OPML or export podcasts or something similar.
Once you've exported, in TrueFans, click on your
avatar at top right, then go to Playlists. At
the top of the Playlists page on the right, you'll
see an icon of a document with an arrow. Click
here, locate the OPML file wherever you saved
it to, and click on Open. As Sam already explained,
you will now have a new playlist featuring your
shows from that app. There is one other quite
cool thing I like that you can use to customise
the way your home screen looks. There are two
little square icons underneath the search bar.
What do they mean? icons will allow you to change
the view of the page so the first one is a card
view that's where you see the cover art and you
see then the metadata information below it and
then the other one's a list view so some people
like to see the whole carousel just as a simple
list and therefore a long scroll and some people
like to have a card view and then you get a horizontal
scroll there will be a third view very much like
we have on playlist where we have a folder view
And we are bringing the folder view to the homepage
as well shortly. Lovely. Thank you. You're very
welcome, Claire. Thanks so much for listening.
There are lots more episodes of FanZone for
you to get stuck into and that show you how to
make the most of the fab features that this forward
-looking podcast app has to offer podcast listeners
and creators alike. We'd love to hear from you.
You can send us a comment on TrueFans. More
about that in the Fanzone episode on comments
or email support@truefans .fm.