What is Message Center?

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The Message Center is IWC’s instant messaging service that allows Fans to communicate with their favorite Artists. In the Message Center, Fans can purchase Pay-to-View media, send Tip messages and more.



How to Access Message Center?

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To access Message Center, first log into your account. You will be brought to the iWantClips.com home page.

Next click on the drop-down menu in the top right corner of the page.

Next, click on “My Messages”. The notification number next to “My Messages” is the number of unread message threads you have.

You will be brought to your Message Center inbox. From here, you will be able to navigate to all pages of the Message Center. 

Inbox

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Overview


The Inbox page is the home page of Message Center. It is where you can view all of your message history with other Artists. If you don’t have any message history, the Inbox page will display “You have no messages in your Inbox.”


To navigate to the inbox from anywhere within Message Center, you can click “Message Center” in the top left or click “Inbox” in the sidebar menu.



Each row of the inbox displays a unique message thread with an Artist. Here are the components that can be found in each inbox row:


  • Selection Checkbox - these boxes can be checked to delete a message thread.

  • Artist Username

  • Preview Message - displays a preview of the last sent message in the thread

  • Attachment Icon - this paperclip icon will display if the last message in the thread contains an attachment

  • Pay-to-View Icon - this dollar sign icon will display if the last message in the thread is a Pay-to-View message

  • Time/Date - the time or date that the last message was exchanged.


Notifications


In the sidebar menu, you may notice a number next to Inbox. This notification number represents the number of unread conversation threads with fans. Note that it is not the number of unread messages, but rather the number of unread message threads. If you have multiple unread messages from only 1 Artist, the notification number will display “1”.


The notification number will also display in the menu button next to your username in the top right corner of the iWantClips.com page.



Unread message threads in the inbox are bolded and will remain bolded until you have viewed the message thread.


Navigating the Inbox


Searching the Inbox


The inbox search functionality can be used to find a conversation with a specific fan.


Click inside the search field and start typing the fan’s username. The search query must have at least 3 characters before results are returned.


If you find that there’s no results for your search query, consider the following:


  • Try retyping the name of the Artist.

  • You may not have any messages with the Artist.

  • You may have deleted the messages you had with the Artist.

  • The Artist may have blocked you.


Filtering the Inbox


The inbox can be filtered by:


  • Date

  • Read/Unread Messages


Filtering by Date


Filtering the inbox by date can be useful if you want to see specific messages that were sent during a specific date or date range.


To filter the inbox, click the calendar icon in the inbox header. A calendar calendar picker will appear. From here, you can choose a specific date or a date range. Then click “Apply”. Click “Cancel” or click outside of the calendar picker to cancel applying a date filter.



The date or date range will appear to the left of the calendar icon once the filter has been applied to your inbox view. To get rid of the date filter, click the “x” located to the right of the date or date range.


Filtering by Read/Unread Messages


To filter the inbox by Read/Unread messages, click the “Filter by” dropdown in the inbox header. The dropdown will show 3 options:


  • All - will display all messages, both read and unread.

  • Read - will only display messages that you have already read.

  • Unread - will only display messages that are unread.



Sorting the Inbox


Sorting the inbox will change the order of the message threads. To sort the inbox, click the “Sort by” dropdown in the inbox header. The dropdown will show 2 options:


  • Newest- will display messages from newest to oldest; this is also the default sorting view for the inbox

  • Oldest - will display messages from oldest to newest.


Deleting Message Threads


To delete message threads, click on the checkbox that is located on the left side of the recipient name. One message thread or multiple message threads can be selected at a time. When at least 1 message thread has been selected, the trash icon will appear. Click the trash icon to delete the message thread(s).



A confirmation pop-up will appear. Click “Delete” to continue deleting the message thread(s). Click “Cancel” to cancel deleting the message threads.



Contacts

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Overview

The Contacts page is where Fans can go to view all of the Artists in their contacts list. When you first open your account, you’ll start out with zero contacts but will gain contacts once you start to purchase from different Artists or if you message an Artist first.

Fans can add Artists to their contacts list by performing any of these actions:

  • Purchases an Artist’s Content

  • Orders a Custom Clip

  • Tributes the Artist

  • Makes a Phone Call to the Artist

  • Messages the Artist first

If a Fan performs any of these actions, he and the Artist will be added to each other’s contact list.

Table Columns:

  • Artist - the Artist username is listed; your Favorited Artists will have a heart next to their name

  • Purchased/Items – this column shows you how many of the Artist’s items you’ve purchased out of the number of total items in their store

  • Last Active - the last date or time the Artist was active on IWC

Each row also has 2 action buttons:

  • Message - send the contact a message; you will be brought to a message thread page with this contact

  • Block - block the contact from messaging you; if a contact is blocked, their contact row will be greyed out

Searching & Sorting the Contacts Page

To find a specific Artist in your contacts list, use the search bar. Click inside the search bar and start typing the username of an Artist. The list will automatically update with relevant results.

To sort your contacts list, click on the “Sort by” button. A dropdown list will appear with 5 options:

  • Alphabetical - sorts by Artist username from A-Z

  • Store Item Amount

  • Last Active - sorts by Artists that have most recently logged into their account

  • Blocked Artists - sorts by Blocked Artists first

Alternatively, you can also sort your contacts (by ascending or descending order) by clicking on the title of the column that you want to sort by:

  • Username - sort by alphabetical order

  • Store Item Amount

  • Last Active


Settings

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Fans have 2 different tabs within their settings:

  • Notifications

  • Blocking

Notifications

Email notifications are enabled by default. If enabled, this means that you will receive an email every time an Artist messages you. To disable this, simply click the toggle to the OFF position.

Blocking

Fans are able to block specific Artists from messaging them. On the Blocked Artists page, Fans can view all of their blocked Artists. You can sort the columns by clicking on the column names and also search the table by Artist name or Block Date.

Note that just because an Artist’s name is in the table does not mean that they are blocked. The “Status” toggle must also be set to “ON” in order for the Artist to be blocked.

If you want to unblock an Artist, you can turn the Status toggled to “OFF” or you can click on the trash icon under the Action column. Clicking the trash icon will delete the user from the table and unblock the user.

How to Block an Artist

To block an Artist, click on the “+ Block Artist” button in the top right.

A popup will appear asking for the username of the Artist you want to block.

Begin typing the Artist’s username. Search results will appear. Click the name of the Artist you’d like to block.

Once an Artist has been selected, click the Block button to add this user to the Blocked Artists list. 



Message Types

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Several different types of messages exist within Message Center:

  • Regular Message

  • Pay-to-View (PTV)

  • Pay Per Message (PPM)

  • Tip/Tribute Messages

Regular Message

Regular messages are messages sent to Fans by Artists that do not cost any money to view. “Regular messages” from Artists can contain text and/or media attachments and will be immediately viewable by the Fan without any payment needed.

Pay-to-View Message (PTV)

Pay-to-View (PTV) messages are messages that Artists send to Fans that will cost money for the Fan to view. Every PTV message has a price that is set by the Artist. PTV Messages will always contain a media attachment; they will never contain just a text message.

If a Fan attempts to purchase a PTV but does not have enough funds in their account, a popup will appear prompting the user to add more funds to their wallet before completing the purchase.

Viewing Purchased PTV Attachments

To view attachments that you’ve purchased from a PTV message, click on the media in the message. If there are multiple attachments in the PTV message, you’ll see preview images for the first 10 attachments. The 10 preview image will have a number to display how many more files are attached to the message. Click on any of the 10 preview images to see the pop-up view where you can view and/or download the files.

Once you click on a file, a pop-up view will appear displaying the media file. The attachments sent in the message will be categorized by file type. You can click on any file to view and/or download it. 



Pay Per Message (PPM)

Artists are now able to charge fans a Pay Per Message (PPM) fee. If an Artist sets their PPM amount to $1.00, the fan will need to pay $1.00 per each message they send to the Artist.

This screenshot below is what a Fan would see if they messaged this Artist for the first time. Message Center will clearly display to the Fan if the Artist charges per message. Note that Tip messages will not be charged the PPM fee. However, in order for a fan to add a message along with their tip, the tip amount must be greater than or equal to the Artist’s PPM fee.

Tip/Tribute Messages

Fans are now able to send tips/tributes via Message Center. Fans can use the 8 pre-set tip amounts or a custom tip amount:

  • $5.00

  • $15.00

  • $25.00

  • $50.00

  • $100.00

  • $200.00

  • $500.00

  • $1000.00

  • Custom: $1.00 - $10,000.00

Tips can be sent with an optional message attached if the tip amount is greater than or equal to the PPM fee.

For example, if an Artist’s PPM fee is $5 and a Fan sends a tip amount of $3, he will not be able to attach a message to that tip. He would need to tip at least $5 or more in order to add a message to the tip.