Chuck Westbrook's Blog - Latest Comments in Blog Applause

Re: Blog Applause

Craig Murphy — Fri, 15 May 2009 15:45:21 -0000

I like this idea. It's always nice to know that someone appreciates your musings without the expectation of a contrived response.

btw, I knew you were a Georgian before I ever read your bio. No one outside of Georgia would ever "...mash a button." No one. Except maybe a Texan. :)

Re: Blog Applause

Jamie Varon — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 03:31:08 -0000

*APPLAUSE!*

I want that for my blog. A "like" feature or something along those lines. Truth be told, I'd get hacking on that feature now, because someone is going to scoop it up. It's a winner.

Re: Blog Applause

Glenn Mandelkern — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 12:26:35 -0000

This widget sounds like a very effective and concise form of putting Robert Cialdini's "Social Proof" influence factor into action.

Re: Blog Applause

LisaNewton — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 10:32:02 -0000

I love this idea; it's personal to the author and the reader, both. Good posts have a way of getting lost in the great big social media world, and just a little applause would be nice.

Re: Blog Applause

Rob Blatt — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 08:55:18 -0000

Sounds like it's something that Disqus or another comment technology company could add to their widgets and functionality with no problem.

Re: Blog Applause

Lindsay — Sat, 04 Apr 2009 04:09:06 -0000

~applause~

Dugg, Tweeted and blogged !

Re: Blog Applause

Tyler Hayes — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 20:16:14 -0000

While I do think something like this widget is a great idea, there are many category-specific solutions already available. Sites like Digg, Reddit, Yahoo! Buzz, etc. already provide a 3rd-party solution for people who feed on the idea of "liking" stuff. Then, of course, sites like Facebook, Design Float, etc. provide a solution for their own respective communities (general citizens and designers, respectively).

If someone were to design this "applause" or "like" widget, they would have to design so much more. A site that provides multiple kinds of widgets to tailor different needs, a Firefox add-on, and would have quite the undertaking for an initiative to try and get people to use their widget; as strange as that last part sounds, some people would rather not use a widget at all if it's not sponsored by a major company/project, for fear that another more popular option will come along and nullify their current option (think how Facebook eliminated Myspace). Also, just getting people to know it exists at all.

Other than that, I think it's a great idea, and not really as complicated as it sounds.

Most importantly, I feel like now that the large social networking sites and services are opening up their APIs a lot of the need for these 3rd-party widgets will cease. For example, up until recently users that weren't signed up on Digg didn't ever digg anything because they'd be asked to signup before they could do that. Of course, now that Facebook Connect has opened up those borders, people don't need to sign in to many services anymore, they can just click a button that links it to their Facebook profile.

Re: Blog Applause

Amy LeForge — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:51:14 -0000

Ooooooh! Love that idea!

Is it me, or has splitting out BlogHiker gotten a monkey off your back? I'm enjoying the increase in postings and hearing from you again. :)

Re: Blog Applause

Kelvin Kao — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 14:05:32 -0000

You can just type this:
*cheers*
*applause*

It reminds me of the "Like" feature on Facebook (which is sort of a thumbs up) and it will show you how many people liked something you wrote or share. Of course, that requires logging in. Yours is right between that, and just a simple page view counter.

Re: Blog Applause

Ryan — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:47:01 -0000

I like this idea. If you get some venture capital for it, I'll code it up for you :)

Re: Blog Applause

CJ — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:22:25 -0000

applause!

Re: Blog Applause

Chuck F. — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:14:36 -0000

I like being able to "like" something on FriendFeed (and now Facebook) for similar reasons. Same basic idea, but for some reason a "like widget" would appeal to me more than applause (maybe because it's fewer letters)-- a button at the bottom of each post on a blog to indicate you like that post. And then some indication that 12 people like this post.

Maybe for comments, too.

Re: Blog Applause

stef — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:09:48 -0000

*insert blog applause here*

Re: Blog Applause

baron — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 11:01:11 -0000

Kind of like giving Kudos on a MySpace blog, yeah?