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related tags:
tagged w/ Topics
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10 Search Engines to Explore the Invisible Web
The Invisible Web refers to the part of the WWW that’s not indexed by the search engines. Most of us think that that search powerhouses like Google and Bing are like the Great Oracle…they see everything. Unfortunately, they can’t because they aren’t divine at all; they are just web spiders who index pages by following one hyperlink after the other http://www.makeahistory.com/index.php/free-stuff/3774-10-search-enginesThe Invisible Web refers to the part of the WWW that’s not indexed by the search... more-
- worrg
- added this
- 1 year ago
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feature release [part I]: groups are officially in the wild
This week's product feature release is so big, we had to crack our blog announcement in half just to do it justice. Part II covers RSS feed enhancements, email notification tweaks, and a brand new way to browse recommendations on Current.com items. But first, we tackle the elusive beast that is the Current.com group:
Way back in May we posted a callout for top secret testers to play around with some curation tools we built in preparation for launching groups. We received a pretty positive response to the test from a little under forty curators, and now the time has come to unleash our new groups functionality for the rest of the Current.com community to enjoy.
Starting now, every single member of our community will be able to create and customize a group on Current.com tailored to their own specific interests. This is a monumental change to the site, and there is a lot to cover. So, here goes.
Start a group!
It's simple, click the "Start a Group" button in the green navigation bar on Current.com. You'll need a name, description, and some tags for your group. For example:
Setting tags for your group is essential, because these will be used to recommend Current.com submissions to consider for your group. These recommendations will appear below you group, like this:
The items and submissions listed as potential "quick adds" are determined by two things: the tags you use to define your group, and the tags people use to define their story submissions to Current.com.
So for example, if you're trying to set up your group to contain up-to-the-minute Nintendo gaming news, you will want to add tags related to video games, gaming, and of course Nintendo. A healthy set of tags for a Nintendo group might include: "Nintendo, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo Wii, Super Mario Bros, Shigeru Miyamoto, Video Games, and Gaming."
Not only will you be able to handpick stories to add to your group, you'll also be able to curate your group by featuring stories, or removing submissions that don't truly belong to your group. You can use our curation tools to feature an item, and once it's been featured you can then use the up/down buttons to position it on the page in the order of your choice. Featured items will have a star icon appear next to them.
If you feel that an item that someone added doesn't fit with your group, simply check the red X button and it will be removed.
Your default view for your group will be a list view, but you can change it to a playlist template in your groups admin page.
The curation tools for featuring work the same in both templates, so the choice is really up to you. If you prefer the playlist layout, head over to the admin section of your group and select a different template.
Once you've finished setting up your group, all you'll need are members! Share your group with others on Current.com, or reach out into your various social networks like facebook, Twitter, and MySpace to let your contacts know about your group!
Sometimes groups grow quickly, and you may find that you need more than one set of hands manning the ship. Once you've built up a following, you can even grant some members moderator status to help curate the group with you. Keep in mind, giving moderator powers to another group member can be easy to do, but it will also give them full access to curating your group. Choose your moderators wisely, and if things get out of hand, you can always revoke this status by using the ban function.
If you happen to find that some of your members get out of line in your group, you can even ban them from your group altogether. This will prevent them from adding content to your group. Remember, if you believe that a member is violating our community guidelines, make sure to flag them after you ban them and our community team will take a look at their profile.
Join a group!
Maybe creating a group is not your speed, but you can still join and participate in a group on Current.com. Who knows, someone might even make you a moderator!
You can find new groups to join on our newly added "Groups" tab -- conveniently located in the Current.com header. On the groups page you'll find some of our featured groups, as well as listings for other groups on Current.com. Browse around, see what you find, and if you don't see a group that fits your needs that could be an indicator that you should make one yourself!
On every groups page you'll find a "related groups" section that includes exactly what it sounds like -- other groups related to that group. And as if that wasn't enough, you can also find groups via search on Current.com. Search for keywords that interest you, and potential related groups will appear in the search results.
Contribute to a group!
There are couple different ways to contribute to groups:
1) When you submit a story to Current.com
2) When you read a story on Current.com
When you submit stories, you'll now find a new "groups" section in the clipper. This section has a dropdown menu that comprises of all the groups you are a member of. Remember, you have to be a member of a group in order to add a story to that group.
A similar drop down menu can be found on Current.com item pages. So, when you read a Current.com story, you can easily access a dropdown menu of all your groups, and select one of them to add that story to.
If you are not a member of a group, you can still help recommend stories to different groups on Current.com with tags. We recommend stories to group moderators based on the tags on individual items, so if you see a story with very few tags, consider adding a few to help it find a new home.
Our team has been working very hard on groups, and we have plans to expand this functionality by make groups more customizable in coming releases. In the meantime, create and join some groups. Play around with the new features, and test out some of the other Easter Eggs we've rolled out in this new release.
So that's it for groups. Steph is following this post up with Part II to our feature release announcement, and she'll be laying out the latest updates to our RSS feeds, email notifications, and highlighting a brand new way to browse content on item pages. Check that out after the jump.
Otherwise, please keep in mind that your feedback helps us shape things to come, so be sure to take some time to shoot us your thoughts, make some suggestions, and let us know if you see any quirky behavior on the site. You can send us feedback by clicking on the feedback tab on the blog, head directly over to our Get Satisfaction page for groups, or by sending us ol' fashioned email at feedback [at] current.com.This week's product feature release is so big, we had to crack our blog... more-
- mario_a
- added this
- 2 years ago
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- 0 comments
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tips and tricks for the curious current.com curator
Hello currenteers! Today we are featuring a guest post by our very own Science channel curator, DeliaTheArtist.
Without further ado, here we go:
Hello Current Family!
DeliaTheArist here, happy to welcome the new assemblage of Current.com curators! By now you’ve seen your section of the Current universe, messed around with featuring articles and told your friends how cool you are- but what’s next? How can you take your Curating to the next level? Here are some Tips and Tricks from me and other curators to help you make the best of your experience!
Something one of our new curators, Nettle, noticed is that the flow of information can be slow at first in your group. People are aware of the homepage topics like “News“ and “Green“, but may not realize there is an Otaku section or a place for their Soccer related info. One way to get more stories into your group is to look around Current.com for already posted stories that relate to your section but haven’t been tagged for it. For example, many articles in the Arts and Style section may also pertain to our new Design or Architecture groups; posts that are found in the popular Movies section may also be appropriate for Pop Culture and Indie Film, bands seen in Music may also fit into Underground Music. You can find out more about tagging right here on the Current.com blog!
You’re tagging up a storm and featuring community member’s stories- but is the community aware that you are doing so? One solution is to respond right onto the thread that you’ve featured the story in your section- however I personally find this method to be just a little cheesy. TravG73, curator of the Random group, has another idea- send a message to the user personally to tell them their story has been featured and you appreciate their contribution. Most likely that person will add you as a connection and continue to add interesting stories to your group!
Can’t think of what to say? Feel free to modify this example for your own purposes:
"Hello! Your story, [STORY NAME HERE] is awesome, and it’s being featured in [YOUR GROUP NAME HERE] today- thank you so much for your great contribution!"
Another aspect of raising awareness for your group is promotion. I know some of you don’t want to hear this, but get on Twitter! You may think Twitter is lame, but the fact of the matter is Twitter is an amazing promotional tool. The main problems people usually have with Twitter stem from the fact that they don’t have many followers or don’t know who to follow- but as a Current.com curator you need not worry about that. There is a well established community of Current Staff, curators and community members already on Twitter, waiting to follow you and help promote your passions!
Since you are a way amazing curator of a Current.com group, you have some leverage that you may not have previously - instead of just posting interesting news, why not WRITE the news too? Ask notable people in your group’s field for interviews, stories and sources and mention that it’s for Current.com! Discovery Science Channel made me their “Geek of the Week” when I told them about my work with the Current.com Science section and I’ve been steadily interviewing people in the Science field after a fellow curator, Mike_Johnston, hooked me up with my first source. Current89 just got the green light to interview a former Congressional Candidate from his state for his US Politics section. Make moves, make news!
I hope these ideas help you make the best out of your new position as a Current.com curator. Current is all about community- your fellow curators are here to help! If you have any questions, comments or collaboration ideas, holler at me on Current or at DeliaTheArtist [at] gmail.com.
-- Delia
Thanks DeliaTheArtist! I'm certain that many of our new curators will find these tips useful. Just to add a few extra ones in: aside from Twitter, you can use tools like Facebook, forums, and blogs to make people aware of your channel. Facebook groups is chock full of potential contacts, and it's very likely that there are forums out there on the Internets dedicated to your topic of interest.
Also, if you do decide to go the Twitter route (why not?), you can also use tools like WeFollow, a Twitter directory that is categorized by topic. Check it out!Hello currenteers! Today we are featuring a guest post by our very own Science channel... more-
- mario_a
- added this
- 2 years ago
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- 0 comments
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current 101: all about tags
So, you've found a great story and you're ready to post it to Current--but how will people find it? There are lots of ways to make it easier to find a story, but the most important one is adding topic tags -- especially if you wish to make to the homepage of Current.com.
Adding tags to a story is not just a great way to get it noticed, tags place your story into channels on Current.com. In addition, tags help determine what surfaces when people search for items on Current. But keep in mind, adding too many tags could run the risk of becoming spammy and non-relevant tags will be removed.
For example, say I were to clip this tutorial on making tulle blossoms. Since it's a tutorial, I'll tag it with DIY.
But that's just one tag--and having only one tag limits the number of places that this will appear on Current. It also won't show up on any of the homepage channels. So, I'll add a few more.
But wait--that's way too many! I happen to think these blossoms are pretty cute, but they aren't news--or movies, or music, or comedy, or green. Aside from looking suspiciously like spam, adding too many tags can hurt a story's popularity, since someone looking for news would probably red vote this just because it doesn't belong.
Aha--now these tag are just right. All of these tags are relevant, so there's a better chance that people will find this story but it's not lurking in places that it doesn't really belong.
As you can see, adding tags to your item is a great way to help people find it, or help that item to the homepage, but overtagging can backfire. If we see stories popping up in unrelated categories, we will remove those tags, and excessive over-tagging can be considered spam, which is against our community guidelines, so it's a good idea to take a couple of minutes to think about what tags really fit!
Hope you've enjoyed this first Current 101 guide. Next up, I'll be talking about homepage channels, so stay tuned!
~StephSo, you've found a great story and you're ready to post it to Current--but... more-
- sgwhites
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- 2 years ago
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Welcome to the Green Scene Films Group
You adults are messing up the planet. If I get another lead-tainted train I am going to scream! Can you PLEASE try to lead a sustainable lifestyle, so that when I grow up there will be some stuff left for me to buy?
Oh, yeah, and please join my group!You adults are messing up the planet. If I get another lead-tainted train I am going... more-
- GreenScreenCinema
- added this
- 2 years ago
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- 0 comments
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Current.com Now with Topic Counts!
I love it. 25 cents to the first person that finds the topic with the most connections!-
- bstein
- added this
- 4 years ago
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- 5 comments
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