Feed vs. Facebook
It's really bugging me (still, again) that we can't keep up with the constant stream of announcements re: new releases, readings, articles and interviews. So I've been pondering a couple of different ways to automate the process for DIY cooperative presses.
The first thing I considered was making an editor from each press a blog administrator. But I believe there is a numerical limit that we'd exceed. Also, we'd then have to set forth some kind of posting guidelines about formatting, frequency, etc.
The second solution I considered was creating a Facebook group, and leaving that "open" so that anyone could post links, announcements, email the group members, etc. While this is still a very attractive option, the drawback is that it would only be accessible to those with Facebook accounts. Though they're free to set up, I hesitate to ask anyone who is not already a Facebook user to open yet another account. Also, nonusers could not stumble across the group via a Google search--a point of entry that accounts for a good bit of traffic here.
The third possible solution would be to install an aggregate feed, which would gather the latest posts from all member sites for display on this site--in some kind of sidebar box or above the top post. (This would probably replace the Press Press Press window, which doesn't really work the way I wanted it to, and Press Press Press would anyway be included).
Any other suggestions? I think I'll play around with the feed and see what I can do. I would LOVE to see the announcements kept up to date, and that would alleviate our blog-guilt enough to spend more time writing original reviews/articles/interviews and posting relevant links to reviews/articles/interviews found elsewhere.
I've also received a couple of queries about a listserv via which DIY producers could talk shop. Maybe a supplemental Facebook group or Google group would be good for that, but somebody else would need to be available to moderate it!
UPDATE: So I've installed a feed window and am adding member pages to our subscription list--see right. Unfortunately, your site must have a feed in order to be included in this new system. If you're already using Blogger, you should be fine. If not, consider integrating a feed for your news page! (It's fairly simple to integrate Blogger into a site hosted on a private domain. I do this for my own blog & the Bloof blog. Blogger Help offers instructions here. Trust me, you'll love it if you update your news page frequently.)
The first thing I considered was making an editor from each press a blog administrator. But I believe there is a numerical limit that we'd exceed. Also, we'd then have to set forth some kind of posting guidelines about formatting, frequency, etc.
The second solution I considered was creating a Facebook group, and leaving that "open" so that anyone could post links, announcements, email the group members, etc. While this is still a very attractive option, the drawback is that it would only be accessible to those with Facebook accounts. Though they're free to set up, I hesitate to ask anyone who is not already a Facebook user to open yet another account. Also, nonusers could not stumble across the group via a Google search--a point of entry that accounts for a good bit of traffic here.
The third possible solution would be to install an aggregate feed, which would gather the latest posts from all member sites for display on this site--in some kind of sidebar box or above the top post. (This would probably replace the Press Press Press window, which doesn't really work the way I wanted it to, and Press Press Press would anyway be included).
Any other suggestions? I think I'll play around with the feed and see what I can do. I would LOVE to see the announcements kept up to date, and that would alleviate our blog-guilt enough to spend more time writing original reviews/articles/interviews and posting relevant links to reviews/articles/interviews found elsewhere.
I've also received a couple of queries about a listserv via which DIY producers could talk shop. Maybe a supplemental Facebook group or Google group would be good for that, but somebody else would need to be available to moderate it!
UPDATE: So I've installed a feed window and am adding member pages to our subscription list--see right. Unfortunately, your site must have a feed in order to be included in this new system. If you're already using Blogger, you should be fine. If not, consider integrating a feed for your news page! (It's fairly simple to integrate Blogger into a site hosted on a private domain. I do this for my own blog & the Bloof blog. Blogger Help offers instructions here. Trust me, you'll love it if you update your news page frequently.)
Labels: thinking aloud
posted by shanna at
11:59 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home