Google For Dummies

Googlepress

groups.yahoo.com/group/googlepress/

Google distributes press releases to anyone who wants them. These bulletins contain news about Google's services and features, and are, of course, free.

Curiously, Google uses a Yahoo! Group to collect memberships in the distribution list. Normally, Yahoo! Groups are used to build online communities around a certain topic, and they enable message-board discussions, chat rooms, shared calendars, posted pictures, and other fun features. Google has all those features turned off and uses the group strictly for e-mailing newsletters.

You sign up for Google's press releases by joining the Googlepress group. If you have a Yahoo! ID already, follow these steps:

1. Go to the following URL:

   groups.yahoo.com/group/googlepress/

2. Click the Join This Group! link.

3. Complete the Edit My Membership page.

   Here, you choose a Yahoo! ID (if you own multiple IDs), an e-mail address (if Yahoo! has more than one on file for your ID), the message delivery style, and the message format. It might take up to a day for your Yahoo! ID to be added to the group membership. During that time, you are classified as a Pending member.

4. Click the Save Changes button.

If you don't have a Yahoo! ID, follow these steps:

1. On the Googlepress home page, click the Join This Group! button.

2. On the Sign In page, click the Sign up now link.

3. On the Welcome to Yahoo! page, fill in all the required information fields, and then click the Submit This Form button.

   This page is a typical site registration page, but more complex than many. When you click the Submit button, Yahoo! sends a verification e-mail to the address you provided.

4. Find the verification e-mail and click the link provided in the message body.

   A browser window appears with the information required to complete your membership to the Googlepress group.

5. On the Join This Group page, make the choices required and then click the Join button.

   Check to make sure your provided information is correct. Decide how you would like to receive Google's newsletters. Select the Individual emails option - in this particular group it's the only option that makes sense. Then select whether you'd like your newsletter to arrive in HTML format or non-HTML (plain text). I prefer receiving the HTML format.

At this point you have joined the Googlepress group, and you see a Membership Pending page. The entire process is completed fairly quickly, and a confirmation e-mail is sent within a few minutes in most cases.

A lot of work to receive an occasional newsletter? You bet! Google is quite foolish to use a Yahoo! Group (which is designed for community interaction) for the simple task of sending press releases. There should be a one-step sign-up form within Google for this thing. This editorial comment has been brought to you free of charge.