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What do you think of the BlogCatalog Blog Bar (Beta)?
Posted by jaybetee • 5/12/09 • Subscribe to this Discussion [RSS] • Report This Topic
Topics: blogcatalog features, blogcatalog tools, blogger features, blogger tools
The BlogCatalog Blog Bar was rolled out over the weekend (details here blog.blogcatalog.com/announcements/blogcatalog-blog-bar-beta/).
Have you been using it? Is it helpful?
We want to know what you think?
User Comments
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looks neat but I have not used it. -
Where? You mean when you click through to someone's blog through Blog Catalog and the bar pops up?-
yup
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yes. when you click through from BC the bar will be at the top of the page under your browser bars.
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I HATE THAT THING!!!!!
Just kidding. Never used it.
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I have yet to use it, but it seems like a handy little tool. -
well if you feel inclined, plz try it out and let us know what you think. that way we can make any changes necessary to make it a more valuable tool, or we can leave it the way it is if the BC peeps like it as is.
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I like it One of the admins showed me it, I think it's cool, thanks admin -
Love BC & the Admins, hate the Bar
This is kinda like the DiggBar, it HURTS THE BLOGGER because links out from BC that should lead to a blog instead lead to a page on BC. It's like BC is trying to hog the traffic. (However, google still determines it to be an outlink to the correct target)
This doesn't help bloggers, it helps BC
Furthermore, are you really gonna stick my whole blog in an iFrame?? What if the user starts clicking links?? You know, like we are on the 'internet' - it's a setup for a doomsday scenario of broken windows and rogue frames. Is that silly bar really going to remain static on my readers page until they close the window?
That's all I'll say. No offense to the Admins, I am just offering feedback, I do wish we can toss this though.-
The majority of BC traffic comes from people either looking for blogs on a specific subject or are looking for really specific keyword strings. At the moment someone comes looking for a blog on web development, they land on a blog detail page... finding a good one and then rarely return for more.
The bar gives visitors a chance to continue their browsing experience. Now I leave bc for a web development blog and it is just what I am looking for, thanks BC... but wait, now there is an option for related blogs... so I click that and I see that the fun doesn't stop there.
In three days we have seen approx 15,000 shared blogs/posts, 300 additional blog comments, and have shown over 9,000 related blogs.
Those are all new ways that the bar is working to push your content towards even more targeted viewers.
While looking at a first glance I can see how you wouldn't approve of having the bar setup out there but from a community standpoint, as someone who is now getting traffic from the additional related section, emails, and comments we hope that you can see that the benefits begin to outweigh the cons.
Also I would like to add that this is just a phase I test. We are closely studying the effects of the bar for users across the entire platform and will continue to adapt the bar over time based on the data we collect to better serve our members. Which I will admit may even include removing the bar altogether if the desired results are not being met. -
I have to admit that those are some pretty impressive numbers. I share codesucker's and tt's concerns, but it sounds like there could be a real benefit to popping up as a related blog to a popular one where searchers land. Are "related blogs" served up by ranking, like the on-site search results? -
Yes, related blogs are based upon Tags and Ranking.
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so I click that and I see that the fun doesn't stop there.
You are a fun developer aren't you? We should chill
if it helps people get to my blog either via shares or emails then I am aboard.
15k shares? I like those numbers. Yeah I'll wait it out
BTW - Bar or not, BC is awesome for attaining readers and I'm glad it exists. -
@Nine
Thanks so much for the explanation and thanks for parading those very impressive numbers.
w00t! more targeted traffic is on the way.
@codesucker &legbamel
I'm chillin now too
@everyone
I ♥ BC but I guess you knew that
This response looks odd placed here because my original
comment is below it - oh well. -
Yes Oscar I agree, good work team
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When I first saw the toolbar, I thought great. Another social networking site that is trying to keep up with Facebook. I was really disappointed.
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@jaybetee
I've been clicking the X to remove this toolbar for a several days now. No offense intended but my feedback and concerns are the same as codesuckers' so it doesn't make much sense to repeat what he has already said. I would strongly prefer not to have my blog in an iframe.
FWIW Kat822 posted at thread on this a few days ago just in case you want to cross-reference threads her's the link www.blogcatalog.com/discuss/entry/did-anyone-else-notice-something-new-on-b...-
I don't like it ! Can I do a very english *frown* -
The feedback is appreciated and all of these comments will be considered as the testing phase continues. Thanks.
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I like the comment feature thingy, it makes it much easier to review a blog.-
I'm inclined to review yours again as a test case
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I don't mind it, a few things though...
it looks A LOT like the Blogger bar and I initially thought I was simply at a Blogger Blog
I love the Related & Share things
but I have been afraid to Comment cause I don't know where that comment will land?-
I think it's more like a review than a comment, it ends up on the blogs page on BC
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@crystalraven
Yes, it says "Comments" but it's for reviewing and rating blogs. -
Maybe it should be renamed to make that clear? -
I think you have a good idea because the word "Comments" has a much different connotation.
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Same boat for me. I haven't been able to find something to explain what the options are exactly for and where things end up if I push them. I'm sorta like that. I like details before I start pushing buttons~ I guess I just need to head to someone's blog and push a few things, experiment style. -
@Andrebecca - I like to push all the buttons right away
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@Andrea
Do you think this little description is helpful?
There's a new Blog Catalog toolbar across the top of the frame when you click on a blog url on a BC profile page. It gives you three tool options that you can use if your are either a member or a "guest".
Related (click to locate related blogs also registered at BC)
Share (click and post to social networks links twitter Digg, Stumbleupon, Delicious, Email)
Comment/Review (click to review and rate the blog being viewed)
and in the far right hand corner is the X to close the toolbar.
@codesucker
I'm also an instantaneous button pusher but I'm sure you guessed that. -
@ codesucker in my experience and bad tech voodoo luck, pushing buttons quickly leads to computer implosion. I'm button shy. However, I just tested the buttons out on Timethief's blog and nothing blew up and it was pretty easy. All is good~
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The comments will show up on the Blog Detail page, on BC, for the blog you are commenting on. We are designing a widget for you to place on your own blog that will display the comments too. -
@TonyB
When you say "comments" do you actually mean "blog reviews and ratings"? Or, do you mean comments on blog posts?
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wp
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Very Classy! -
Since the visitor to the blog is directly from blogcatalog it is not unfair for the bc owners to do this...
Frankly I fail to see the downside of this recent innovation...By the same token why would anybody complain about a free or lo-cost service that sends consistent traffic to your blog ?-
If I go to an external link and I see a toolbar hovering over that link, I immediately close the link.
If this toolbar does not go away, I stop clicking on external links. This means less traffic to external links.
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I have been using the toolbar since this thread was posted and in most cases I had no difficulties at all. In a couple of cases when I did blog reviews an email was sent that I had to click a link in in order for the reviews to appear on the BC profile page. And I don't know exactly why that was but I assume it was something I did on my end. I'd like to know more about why that happened so I can avoid doing the same thing in the future.
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it's annoying... may be because it's still in beta-
@dosox
What annoys you about it? Please be specific as Admin wants feedback so they can investigate issues and make changes. -
lol i feel it obstructs the blog's header (although it is not). Something's not okay & i don't know what is that
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The URL isn't the URl of the blogger and because of that I've been hitting the little x.-
I find that extremely annoying as well. The url change means the links are going out from BC, and rather than leading to a blog, they lead to a page on BC. I want the urls to be the blog url's because as codesucker has said above, this reconfiguration doesn't help bloggers, it helps BC; iframes give rise to security issues; and I find that using the toolbar is an unnecessary annoyance that reduces my enjoyment of my experience of BC, rather than adding to it.
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Please, I beg you, make it go away.
Firstly, I don't want anything - not anything - covering the browser page.
Secondly, I clicked on an outgoing link. The user expectation for me is to go to a different page, and leave the current page where it is. I do not expect the old page to follow me around. This contravenes one of Nielsen's heuristics for user interfaces, namely Aesthetic and minimalist design.
www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html
I do not need to know that I just left blogcatalog to go to a different page. That was in fact my intention. I have tabbed browsing, so I can easily get back to where I came from - or even keep the same page open.
If I may make a suggestion: allow users to choose whether they want the toolbar there or not. An X to close the toolbar is not sufficient. Some users might not want to see the toolbar at all, while others might find it useful (although for the life of me I cannot think what for). It should be possible to adjust a setting to make it go away. I'd greatly appreciate that, please. -
Never mind. I wrote a greasemonkey script that removes it.
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Its annoying that the link goes through BC rather then the owns blog URL
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