When you follow people in Springpad, you can see all of their public items in Friends Stuff. So, the next time you’re looking for a good chili recipe or a sushi restaurant in San Francisco, turn to your friends in Springpad.
Four ways to find people in Springpad:
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Posted in Using Springpad
Hey springpad users! There are some big changes coming soon with springpad… We’ve been busy working on ways to make springpad simpler, better & much more fun to use. There will be some more formal announcements over the coming week, but I thought you’d like a sneak peek.
Thanks so much for your passion over the last few months – with feature requests, usability suggestions & general suggestions for how to make springpad better. springpad’s getting an all-over facelift! While the look, feel & interactions will be different, all of the features you’ve grown to love will still be easy to find:
Simplifying the top navigation
We’ve removed Home & renamed things a bit. My Stuff is where you can find all of the things you’re collecting. Friends Stuff helps you find things that your friends recommend. Apps is where you get things done with all of your existing notebooks – and add new ones!
Is there an App for that?
We’re finally calling springpads what they are – Apps! Just like before, you can use springpad to collect & use the things that are important to you – we’re just calling it something different. Add new apps to your springpad to help you manage your life. And if you like creating your own custom apps, you’ll still be able to start from scratch with the Notebook App. Also, we’re creating an App Directory that will have apps from us, our partners and even you (in the coming months)!
Friends Stuff
Check out the things being shared by the people you follow. We’ve added Search & Filter to make it easier to find what you’re looking for from your most trusted sources.
The Search Bar
Get to the information you’re looking for with a quick search. It’s always been there, but now it’s way more powerful, including enhancements like narrowing your search results & seeing results from your friends’ public stuff.
Where’s the Calendar?
Don’t worry – You can now find the calendar under Apps
A new ‘control panel’ to make editing, printing & sharing easier
We’ve simplified the controls on the full page view.
That drawer thingy that loves to pop out!
The left-hand drawer will only be present when looking at Apps. And we’re simplifying the way you open/close it… You’ll just have to wait to see it!
Quickly add new things to your stuff
The new “Quick Add” bar is both smarter & cooler…
Default to Public
You’ll notice that as you add new things, some of them will default to Public. This is just to help you share the things that are super-sharable (like Recipes & Restaurants). Don’t worry, personal things like Notes, Tasks & Events are still Private by default. Plus, you can always choose to make things Private as you are adding them.
And of course there are some new features on the way, too…
Collections: You asked for it! Now you’ll be able to create ’sets’ of your springpad data. Put together collections of your favorite things & share them with your friends!
Spring It! from our partners: We’ve got some EXCITING partners adding Spring It! buttons to their websites. So, you can easily add things to your springpad as you surf the web.
We’re making it easier for you to tell your friends about your stuff: We have a bunch of new features to help you share the information in your stuff to your friends and family.
And much more… Stay tuned!
Posted in Using Springpad
At BlogHer ‘09, we’ll be hosting a contest to encourage new users to sign up for springpad and invite their “Go-To Girls” to join, too! The contest is in conjunction with four of our favorite bloggers: @deliciousbaby, @momisodes, @mommyniri and @paninihappy and supported by our featured product sponsor: Magic Beans.
A Go-To Girl (or Guy) is that person you turn to when you need advice. Need an idea for a recipe for an upcoming party? Need to find out the hottest new restaurant? Need to pick out a birthday present for your nephew? The people you turn to for answers to these burning questions are your Go-To network. Using springpad makes it easy for you to connect with your network, which is likely spread across the internet, to share ideas & advice!
We look forward to seeing you at BlogHer’09 (and helping you simplify your life)!
Magic beans is a locally-owned retail business in Boston, started for parents by parents with the mission of finding products that make life easier for parents and more fun for kids. As part of the 31 days of giveaways, Magic beans is giving away $10,000 worth of free products in July, anyone can enter at www.mbeans.com.
Posted in Our Partners
Scheduled Downtime: springpad will be unavailable on Sunday morning 7am-9am (EST) for feature upgrades. Sorry for the inconvenience.
Our upcoming release of springpad includes a handful of features that our users have been asking for:
1. Mobile web access: View your springpad data on your iPhone or other browser-enabled phone. This is just the first step in our mobile initiative… Stay tuned for more fun ways to access springpad on the go in the coming months! We’ll be looking for users to test it out & give us feedback (feedback@springpartners.com).
2. Improved sharing features: Post items to Facebook easier, showing more details to your friends.
3. Performance improvements: We are continuing to do work to make springpad more responsive.
Be sure to check out feedback from springpad users on Get Satisfaction!
Posted in Using Springpad
In addition to the recent springpad features that allow you to create a profile & follow updates from other users, we have just added the ability for you to customize the items in your springpad. Add a brief introduction, notes, links, files, photos & videos – So when you share information, give your friends more than just the basics!
Here are some examples:
Add your own photos & cook notes to a recipe you’ve tried
Recipes are just begging for photos of food (or attempts at food), instructional videos & links to where to buy unique ingredients. Whether it’s your recipe or one you found from your favorite blog, you’ll have all of the information you need at your fingertips for the next time you cook that dish!
Record your experiences at your favorite restaurant
Restaurants & Businesses can be enhanced by adding links to reviews, photos of meals or products & any inside information you may have! The next time you recommend a great place to eat, you’ve got a very personal review site of your own to refer to…
Organize & share product research
Product shopping can be easily organized by keeping track of images, links to reviews & any price information all in one place. Then after you make your purchase, your friends will appreciate you sharing your legwork.
Capture photos & stories to help you remember important days
Milestones are dates or events that you & those closest to you would like to remember. Automatically add photos from Flickr, other images & anything that will help you & your friends remember the special day!
Posted in Using Springpad
Hey food bloggers! Do you have a collection of great recipes that you’d like to share with even more readers? Well, check out the new springpad social sharing features. If you set up a profile, users can quickly add your recipes, use them in their weekly meal plans, create shopping lists & share your recipes with their friends via Facebook & twitter. Your recipes will always include a link back to the original blog post, and your brand will stick with your recipes as they are shared again & again.
It’s easy to get started…
Here’s how it works: (watch the how-to video for food bloggers)
Here’s an example: See Coconut & Lime’s profile on springpad
- Will this increase traffic to my blog? Yes, each recipe that you add will have a link back to your original blog post, so when users are ready cook the recipes, they visit your blog. Also, the more they share your recipes with the friends, the more new readers you’ll attract!
- Do I get credit for the recipe? Of course! If a user “springs” a recipe from your profile page, it will always list you as the original source, no matter how many times it is passed along.
- Can I see how many people are using my recipes in springpad? We are keeping track of this data & will begin to share it with our partners as soon as we have the reports ready.
- Why isn’t there a photo on my recipe? We’re working on it! Very soon, when you add a recipe, springpad will also add a photo from your blog post to it. And, you’ll have the option to add more photos or videos. (Update: this feature is complete)
- Can I add things besides my own recipes? Of course! Your springpad collection is just that, your collection. So, add your own recipes but also add some recipes from your favorite websites. Your readers will love to see what you’re cooking this weekend. Also, if you’ve got a favorite restaurant or some to-die-for kitchen products, be sure to add those, too!
- Why won’t springpad recognize my recipes? We are constantly improving our system to do a better job fetching recipes accurately. If you have a specific problem with one or all of your recipes, let us know so we can fix it!
- Personalize your recipes: We’re planning to allow you to customize your recipes with links to your most recent blog posts, cook notes & groupings of recipes into meals.
- Allow users to Spring it!: We’re planning to create code that can be added to your blog that will allows users to “spring” your recipes without leaving your site – just like Delicious or StumbleUpon.
- Let your readers know that you’re on springpad: We’ve created a badge that you can add to your blog’s sidebar that lets your readers know that they can also find you on springpad.
- User’s Recipe Box: Our plans is to allow users to access their recipe box from wherever they are – on springpad, facebook, mobile phones and even your blog! The recipe box widget that you’ll be able to add to your blog that will show users what recipes they’ve already got & allow them to add more straight from your site.
- Revenue opportunities: We have plans to introduce a program that will allow you to place relevant advertisements in your recipes that will earn you revenue for every user who springs your recipes.
We’d love to hear your feedback & questions! Email katin@springpartners.com or signup to get started!
Posted in Our Partners
We are introducing a whole slew of new springpad features tomorrow morning, with a focus on improving sharing. Read more about the features below…
1. Social sharing: Share your great ideas & favorite things via facebook, twitter, or good old fashioned email. Your friends don’t even need to be springpad users to see that new recipe that you’re recommending.
2. Share privately or publicly: You control whether you’d like your data to be viewable by all springpad user or just your closest friends.
1. Follow people you trust: If someone sends you a recipe that you just love, you can follow them. You’ll see anything new that they add to their springpad so you can make a copy of it for yourself.
2. Create your own profile: Begin curating your own collection of springpad items to recommend to other users.
3. Community Discussion: Invite your friends or other springpad users to tell you what they think of that restaurant that you are considering.
1. Organize your collections in My Stuff: As you begin to find ideas from the people you follow & add them to your collection, springpad will help you stay organized.
2. New sections in top navigation: Home lets you see what you’ve done in springpad lately, and Discover helps you to find new ideas to add to your springpad.
3. More room to add details: Each item in springpad now has larger view that gives you the room you need to keep all of your notes.
In addition to clipping notes, now use the clipper to add recipes & products to your springpad as you surf the web. The clipper can also be used as a basic bookmarklet for saving websites if you don’t highlight anything before you “Spring It!” Read more about the springpad clipper...
Register for springpad using your Google or Facebook account. We’ll soon be adding other services.
Send a copy of your information to your email, so you can reference it when you aren’t logged into springpad. This is our first step toward improving your ability to access your data wherever you’d like to.
Posted in Using Springpad
We’re really excited about the great response that springpad has gotten so far. Our users have been active and vocal and the reviews have been positive and constructive. We’ve got an exciting summer in store, with many new features that we hope you’ll enjoy and appreciate.
Our goal with springpad is to build a platform to help you collect, organize and act on information that is important to you to help you get things done. From springpad templates to the use of data services and the clipper to help ease data entry, we’ve been laying the building blocks to help you achieve that goal.
One area that we’ve had huge amounts of feedback and requests for is a good way to help people share their springpad data with their friends. Afterall, when it comes to choosing new recipes, restaurants and things to buy, most people turn to the people they trust to get information. The wisdom of the crowd is great for some things, but when it comes to managing your life, it’s much more personal, it’s really about turning to people you trust – be it friends, a favorite blogger or a local expert.
Productivity can be socialIn the coming weeks we’ll be rolling out features to help you share the data you’ve collected and also help you find new information from the people you trust.
Our first in a series of releases will help make productivity more social by letting you
Our first release will be Tuesday (May 19) morning. Springpad will be down between 7-9am EST.
Stay tuned for more information on this release and as always keep the feedback coming!
Posted in Using Springpad
Since launching the springpad public beta last week, we’ve experienced an overwhelming response & have collected some great feedback & questions. We continue to fix bugs every day.
Scheduled Downtime: springpad will be unavailable this Sunday morning 5am-11am (EST) for maintenance & upgrades. We apologize for the inconvenience.
New Features, available in springpad on Saturday morning:
1. Basic printing on all springpads.
2. Many improvements to speed and usability for Internet Explorer 7 users.
3. Multiple usability improvements to Recipes, including support of more recipe websites.
Check back later for new videos, highlighting lots of different features…
Answers to popular questions:
1. Mobile apps: Our goal is to make springpad accessible wherever and however you want. We’re working on mobile access (hint: 7 out of 10 of us have iPhones) and also inbound messaging support.
2. Backup: It’s your data and we want to make sure there are no barriers when you want to access it. So we want to hear from you! What formats make the most sense for backing up your data? Want it in a set of PDF’s or a giant XML file? A specific format by data type? Your feedback is greatly appreciated.
3. Google: Read more about how syncing with Google works. We’ve also heard many requests for mass-import of your contacts and think it’s a great idea.
4. Sharing: To create a family account, the email addresses that you invite to be members of your account must NOT already have springpad accounts. Read what to do if your family members already have springpad accounts. If you just want to send a copy of something to a friend, click on Share.
Check back here for new features, system notes, known issues & plans for upcoming releases. Your feedback is very important, so please don’t hold back! You can contact us at feedback AT springpartners DOT com.
Posted in Uncategorized
Similar to other authors of advice and useful content, bloggers employ many tactics to attract first-time readers. It’s mostly in the form of writing creative & useful advice, commenting/linking throughout the blogosphere, and optimizing their posts for search engines.
After attracting readers for the first time, turning those new eyeballs into devoted, repeat readers takes work. As I’ve discussed before, it starts with the constant creation of fresh, new content. Beyond that, there are many creative options – here are the main ones I’ve seen:
While some of these methods are a one-time setup, many of them require a lot of work and commitment from bloggers. Based on their widespread willingness to do this work, we believe that reader retention and re-engagement must be of high importance to these talented content creators.
Here at Spring Partners, we are developing a tool that might just help…
We believe that by helping readers to interact with bloggers’ advice we will not only be helping users, but also helping bloggers to further extend their advice, their brand, and their devoted readership.
Signup to be a part of the springpad private beta. Or, if you are an interested blogger, consider being part of our life expert program.
Posted in Our Partners
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