Startlike

Changes Coming to Startlike

2009-12-01T13:24:00.000-08:00

We’d like to thank our dedicated users who have been with Startlike since the early days and let you know about a major change we have coming down the pipe. We’re consolidating our various channels into one outdoor channel.

A contributing factor is that our users are primarily outdoor enthusiasts, so channels dealing with the outdoors are by far the most popular. But that isn’t the main reason.

When we began buying Facebook ads to promote Startlike, we developed a stand-alone brand for the promotions so that we wouldn’t confuse the Startlike message. That promotional brand is Big Prize Giveaways (BPG).

Over the last few months, BPG has experienced rocket ship like growth. We are already a market leader in the Facebook promotional space, and this is an opportunity we can’t pass up. With well over 2 million Facebook users and no end in sight to our growth, our team is now dedicating a majority of our time to this exciting product.

We think you’ll like the new Startlike Outdoors channel. To check it out, go to www.startlike.com/outdoors and set it as your home page.

And we hope you’ll stop by and give Big Prize a shot. You never know, we could have a Macbook Pro with your name on it! Take a look at www.facebook.com/bigprize

Facebook Connect Issues

2009-07-28T06:01:00.000-07:00

Just a quick update for everyone. As of the time of this message (~9am on 7/28/2009) Facebook is "having problems" with their Facebook Connect product. This problem resides inside Facebook, so we are currently at their mercy with some of our features which require an active Facebook session to work (eg. Save and Share, Comment Moderation, and User Authentication) until they get around to fixing it. We've submitted bug reports to Facebook and we are doing everything in our power to get this problem taken care of. Sorry for the inconvenience, we will keep you updated with any information we get.

Thanks for your patience everyone!

Update

Facebook Connect has been working pretty well for the remainder of the day. Facebook fixed the bug this morning, but I wanted to hold off on saying "It is fixed!" until I was sure...seems to be pretty stable now!

Thanks again everyone!

Typo Troubles

2009-07-16T07:49:00.000-07:00

Alright everyone, seriously, is it so hard to proof-read your posts before you press that "Post Comment" button on Startlike? It's seriously irritating to see all the typos and misspellings in comments.

Well, we've decided to help you out with your problems. In commemoration of the Saturn V launch 40 years ago, today, we are launching a new feature on Startlike! Now, we can't read your mind or make you magically know how to spell all words in the english dictionary, but we can do the next best thing..

We're going to let you start editing your comments! Alright, we know this has nothing to do with the Apollo launch, or the moon, - but we're advancing technology here, making progress, forging new frontiers! So, maybe it does have something to do with Saturn V after all! No more worries about fat-fingering your keyboard during a comment, or looking like a doofus when you use the wrong "there" or "too!" From here on, you'll be able to edit your comments for five minutes after posting them!

This five minute window was not decided on lightly. We made the conscious decision to limit the time in which a user can edit a comment, and here's why. As comments were (before you were able to edit), you said whatever it was that you said, and that was it. What we mean to say is, there was a certain amount of liability that came with writing a comment. We believe it is in the best interest of the Startlike community that everyone be responsible about what they think should be posted in the comments, and be held accountable for what they do post. This has been our philosophy all along, and is one of the driving reasons behind why we chose to use Facebook Connect as our primary authentication mechanism.

Now that you're able to fix your mistakes, you should be able to avoid any serious run-ins with the grammar police!

Happy Commenting Everyone!

- Jim

PS. Make sure you check out the Startlike Space channel over the next week or so, we will be running awesome images in tribute to the Apollo 11!

All this wheel spinning, and no cheese?

2009-07-08T16:18:00.001-07:00

So, last week we launched threaded comments. Great, now everyone can read conversations in a more natural format that makes sense, and doesn't make you spin your mouse-wheel around like a rodent running a marathon. That's all well and good we thought, but then we realized: "So, how does this help us take part in conversations as they unfold?" According to your feedback..we weren't alone in our thoughts. For those of you who don't watch the live comment stream because you have, you know, a job but, still want to take an active part in discussions as they unfold - we have solved your problems!

Enter comment notifications. Starting today, you will notice that after you post a comment (or a reply), whenever someone replies to that comment you will get a nice little notification on the right hand side of the comment box. These notifications will keep you up-to-date on the comment threads that you're interested in, so you don't have to keep your eyes on the live stream just to catch a reply that has your name on it! Now, whenever you visit your favorite Startlike channels, you'll be able to quickly see if anyone has replied to anything you've been reading!

Let me outline a quick scenario. Lets say I post a comment on your favorite Startlike channel. Lets also assume, you were so enamored with what I posted, that you replied to me! That's great! Now, the next time I visit our favorite Startlike channel, I will see a notification saying that you replied to my comment (pictured below) - awesome!

Now, I value what you have to say, and so does everyone else on Startlike! So of course I'm going to reply to you, but I'm sure other people will too! You obviously want to know what people are saying in reply to your comment, so the next time you come to your favorite Startlike channel, you'll see a notification box, too! This will continue as the day progresses - and we'll all be able to talk to each other in a much more efficient manner!

As always, thank you for using Startlike. I hope everyone finds the new notifications useful! I'll see you on the boards!

Jim

New feature: threaded comments

2009-06-30T13:28:00.000-07:00

Since I joined Startlike about a month ago, one of my favorite parts of my job has been checking out the various Startlike channels every day to check out the image, get in on the conversation, and, of course, do my developer duty to make sure stuff is still working. :) The comments on the images are always great, and it's fun to watch the reaction to particularly cool images.

One problem with the current commenting system, however, was jumping into the conversation when there were already many comments. The way it was set up, there was no clear way to figure out if someone was responding to the image or directly to another Startliker.

That's why, starting today, threaded view is available, and with it replying to comments. To reply directly to a comment, simply click the reply link directly underneath the comment. The text field will be magically populated with @Name (more on that later) and you're given a text field next to the "Post Comment" button that shows you who you're replying to. If you wish to just make a direct comment on the image, there is that option as well.

There are now two views you can view comments in, and you can switch what view you're in using the two links at the top next to the Comments header. Classic view is the one you're all used to, and is only different because of the reply link. Even if you're in classic view, we encourage you to use that reply link because that will store the information needed to make the threaded view look like it's supposed to.

The threaded view is, in my opinion, really nice for looking at a conversation you've missed a lot of and being able to catch up quickly. Comments on the image are shown most recent first, with comments on comments shown oldest first. This sounds confusing, but it makes it easier to read the comment on the image first, then all the replies in the right order. If you're a Facebook user, you'll recognize it as the same way Facebook handles news feed posts and comments.

A couple other things to note:

Threaded view doesn't update automatically (yet). You'll need to refresh the page to see new threaded view posts.

Threaded view comments only go one level deep. In other words, you can try replying to a reply, but you'll see that it shows up at the same indentation level as the comment above it. (This is also the same as Facebook.)

As always, we're anxious to hear your feedback and we hope you like the new feature! Either let us know on the boards or via Get Satisfaction how it works for you and if there's something we can do to improve. Thanks!

Post by: Jimmy

First BigPrize Giveaway - WOOT WOOT

2009-06-25T14:02:00.000-07:00

As many of you know, we have been giving away prizes under the Startlike brand for a while with limited success on Facebook and Twitter.

So, we decided to try a new name for the giveaways and came up with 'BigPrize'. The idea is to see if the more obviously contest/prize related name would help. So far, so good.

That said, we just did our first contest for a pair of Apple's new iPhone 3GS.....and the winners are.....

Binal Patel and Eric Alderman!!!!

Congrats guys. For those that didn't win this time, please don't sulk too long. We will be doing many more fun giveaways.

For those visiting our blog for the first time, we would love to show you what we're up to at Startlike.

Startlike is an easy-to-use personalized community homepage featuring a daily background photo that matches your interests.

For example, one of our most active channels right now is "The Great Outdoors". It's a homepage for the hiking and camping community with an awesome new photo every day featuring a place to see the wonders of nature.

Visit Startlike.com/Outdoors and make it your homepage today if you like the outdoors!

When you try it, be sure to click the little green "speech bubble" at the bottom of your page and check out the discussion board. There are some awesome people in there.

Not a hiker or camper? We have more channels including Golf, SCUBA Diving, Exotic Escapes and MORE.

You can also learn more at Startlike.com. Be sure to check out the video...it explains a lot.

Thanks again for playing BigPrize. Look for more giveaways very soon!!! To play be sure Become a Fan on Facebook and Follow @BigPrize on Twitter.

Big wheel keep on turnin'....

2009-06-16T07:19:00.000-07:00

Last week everyone in the office was starting to look like zombies. Folks were losing skin pigmentation and the lack of sunlight had some on the brink of scurvy. We needed to get out and do something.

So, on Thursday, we decided to head up to the US National Whitewater Center in Charlotte, NC (http://www.usnwc.org) for some rafting.

The USNWC is a man made series of channels built to train the US Olympic Whitewater team but it also allows wanna be Olympians (aka Team Startlike) to test their skills in rafts and kayaks.

It's a cool place. The staff was awesome and we had a great time.

Our team was broken up into two boats. Boat 1 was led by Jeff French and boat 2 by Jim Rubenstein (the guides were just there as window dressing ;-).

I think the photos below speak for themselves and obviously, boat 1 benefited from superior leadership (hey, you write the post, you tell the story).

Pre-Rafting Rule #1 - Stop at Cracker Barrel for breakfast.

The obligatory road sign photo. We must be getting close.

First, we gave the ziplines a try.

They look ready to go!!

Jim, you are in last place. I hope you raft better than you zip.

Be sure to tuck your chin on the dismount.

Team French, Doin' it and doin' it well.

Fearless leadership with stupid faces.

And hand signs....People in the front, throw 'em up!

Team Rubenstein is looking relaxed...maybe too relaxed.

I don't think this is how you want your boat situated in a Class IV.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this is bad.

Well Jim, after leading your team to complete and total rafting disaster, at least you were man enough to help fish 'em out of the river. Good show.

Post by: Jeff

Welcome Jimmy The Saw

2009-06-15T06:34:00.000-07:00

I'd like to take a moment to welcome our newest addition to Startlike (team member #007), Jimmy "The Saw" Sawczuk.

I'm not sure he likes being called "The Saw" but we already have Jim and I'm just not sure I can keep a Jim and a Jimmy straight...plus, I like good nicknames.

Amazingly enough, even with the last name Sawczuk, he says no one has ever tagged him with this (somewhat obvious) nickname. I'm not sure I'm buying that...maybe he just doesn't want to be called The Saw.

The Saw has joined our development team and he'll be writing code that powers various components of Startlike. I was gonna pull together a detailed introduction but I figured it would be better to just let The Saw say hello.

So, Startlikers around the world, I give you Jimmy "The Saw" Sawczuk.

Hi! My name is Jimmy, and I'm a recent graduate of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Despite being dumped in a raging artificial river on my ninth day of work, I'm excited to be here working with a great team.

I've been working with social websites since I was in high school and am anxious to contribute my experience in as many ways as possible, but even more eager to get to know the Startlike community!

Outside the office, I like playing baseball, tennis, ultimate frisbee and disc golf, just to name a few. I love being outdoors, especially during the summertime, and my current five-year plan includes visiting at least ten current Major League Baseball stadiums, but in the wintertime I enjoy skiing as well.

Anyway, let me reiterate how excited I am to be here, and I hope to meet all of you soon, either online or somewhere in the real world!

Post by: Jeff & Jimmy

New feature update - User submitted photo directory

2009-05-31T19:37:00.000-07:00

As you may know, we have been working on the User Submitted Photo Directory that will allow you to browse photos submitted by other members. Unfortunately we ran into a few problems and couldn't get it released last week.

I am pleased to report that the dev team has hammered on it this weekend and it's getting very close. Our plan is to spend Monday playing with it, get out any last bugs we find and roll it out for general use on Tuesday (fingers crossed).

I'm curious to see what type of feedback you have for each other's photos. Hopefully you will have some fun browsing around once the new directory goes live.

Next, we will turn our attention to groups and improved comment threading. Originally the plan was to add a "voting" feature on user submitted photos but we must remain flexible and these other features need attention for several reasons.

For example, we have been holding off on promoting some of the more popular channels (ie. The Great Outdoors) because the existing comment board becomes difficult to follow when the number of daily comments gets much above 150. We believe adding some smaller groups will make certain discussions easier to manage (those that should be more "permanent" than the main daily comment board). This, along with basic threading of the main board, should make things better and allow us to comfortably add new users again while we continue to build other features.

Personally I am excited to see the group features come online in the coming weeks. This is a critical component to the master plan.

Post by: JT

Missed A Day? Use The New Image Archive!

2009-05-20T10:48:00.000-07:00

We hear over and over again that people love our images. And we love hearing that because we put a lot of time and effort into finding our pictures and adding useful links.

But one question we hear a lot is, "Why can't I see old images?" The real answer is that we're all knowing and provide the right pictures at the right time. So get used to it.

Just kidding. The image archive has been on our to-do list for quite some time, and we just added version one to your Startlike home pages.

When you click the little film strip icon, you'll have the option to upload your own photo or check out our old images. Once you're in the archive, you can even comment on the pictures and view past discussions. (see image below)

Poke around a little bit, and let us know what you think.

Our idea wasn't very good :-/ Got anything better??

2009-05-19T08:50:00.001-07:00

We have been trying a "social promotion" where people get a chance to win a Startlike gnome and $100 by giving us a shout out in their Facebook or Twitter status and following us.

We are about half way through the promotion and the results have not been great. People just don't seem to be visiting the promotion when they see the message "What has 2 thumbs, a gnome and $100 cash?".

You can see the promotion here.

We could use a little help. If you have something better we could have people post to their status (that would make their friends more likely to visit and participate) please let us know.

If we change the promotion and use your suggestion we'll also send you $100 when we announce the next winner.

To post a suggestion, please become a fan of Startlike on Facebook and post your idea on the wall.

Thanks.

Post by: JT

Startlike Common Sense Code of Conduct

2009-05-14T13:08:00.000-07:00

So far we have operated the Startlike comment board largely un-moderated and without any rules. We’re happy that Startlikers are respectful bunch and we’ve only had a few minor issues.

However, to be sure we limit potential problems in the future we wanted to post a few basic guidelines.

Here goes…

Please treat other Startlikers with respect. Disagreements are fine, but please be respectful.
Please keep the language G rated.
No posts should condone, promote or glorify illegal behavior (ie drugs or doing 100mph down the Blue Ridge Parkway).
SPAMMING - You MAY post links to other sites (even commercial) if they are relevant and likely to be helpful for other Startlikers but please be smart and don’t abuse this privilege.

That’s all we have for now. We will revise this list as needed in the future.

Post by: Jeff

Friendship One: Charlie Harrison & Scott Dillon

2009-05-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

Recently a few resourceful Startlikers used the comment board to connect and plan a mountain biking trip. To our knowledge this is the first connection enabled by Startlike and from what we understand “Friendship One” is off to a great start.

Startlikers Charlie Harrison and Scott Dillon live fairly close to each other and through a series of discussions they realized each was proficient in different outdoor pursuits. Charlie was an experienced hiker/backpacker while Scott was an avid mountain biker. They decided it would be a good idea to meet and share their knowledge and experience with one another.

So, on April 25, 2009 Charlie and Scott met to ride mountain bikes and Friendship One began.

Without sounding too corny, this is a BIG deal for us. Our corporate mission is to create friendships and although our strategy has gone through numerous iterations over the past year this mission has never changed.

We are honestly humbled to know that a connection was made that would not have existed were it not for our product and we hope this will be the first of many.

Most companies hang their “first dollar” on the wall. For us, we’ll be hanging this photo in honor of our first friendship created because there will never be another “Friendship One”.

Now, Charlie and Scott, please don't get in a fight!!

UPDATE: We have unconfirmed reports that a group of Startlikers from The Great Outdoors channel have met up and they are in the woods camping right now. We have rushed a member of the Startlike dev team to the area in an effort to find the Startlikers and document the mayhem. Stay tuned for details.

Post by: Jeff

We've moved the Google Bar!

2009-04-30T11:19:00.000-07:00

After a few long meetings and sleepless nights, we've decided to move the Google Bar. Take a look at the video below to see how things will work with the new page. Let us know what you think!

PS - Try expanding the video to fullscreen so you can get the full effect.

Woah, Something Happened To Startlike!?

2009-04-23T15:24:00.001-07:00

As promised (and on schedule, I might add), we're rolling out the new Startlike design.

Everything you've grown to know and love is still here but we think the presentation is a lot cleaner. I mentioned last time that version one was kind of "thrown together" but after watching people use SL and reading all your comments, we have a better idea of what you want.

Outside of the general look and feel the most dramatic change is our switch to icon based navigation. Even though we have ideas for a ton of cool new features, we didn't forget that most people use SL because of the pictures and we think the icon navigation provides the same usability without detracting from our daily images. We've even included an icon legend below this posting to give you a jump start.

In addition to the original features, we've added a few little things to help streamline everything:

1. Real Time Comment Feed - Now you can leave the comment panel open and watch comments in real-time. Pretty Twitterish of us, eh?
2. Feedback - We're big on streamlining and Get Satisfaction will help you and us neatly organize your new ideas, bug reports, general feedback and praise all in one place. We think GS is a great place to let everyone know when problems are fixed and using it as a mass communication tool instead of mucking up the comments area with problems and suggestions. We hope you'll find this as useful as we do. (Some users have already taken advantage of GS within 5 minutes of us launching the new site)

It might take a LITTLE getting used to, but once you've used the links a couple times, we think you'll like it better. And since we've never been wrong before...

Anyway, check it out and let us know what you think.

Design Changes are Coming

2009-04-17T12:18:00.001-07:00

We have been working to develop a few design changes.

If you have followed our history you know Startlike was pretty much born out of necessity after a few tactical missteps. Mrs. Necessity is the mother of all invention right?

I won't say the first version of Startlike was "thrown together", but it took about 24 hours to get a prototype live and it has not changed much since (except cramming in text links for new features).

Now that we seem to have a winner on our hands, we must re-work the design to be more scalable.

Our goal is to keep the core of Startlike exactly what you have come to love with the daily photo and start page elements (search, links and news) front and center. However, we also want easy navigation into the more advanced features such as discussions, "Condor", the upcoming archives and the future social additions.

We decided on an icon based navigation scheme to streamline the addition of new features. Once you know what the icons do, we think navigation is a piece of cake.

We have also experienced growing pains related to the way our features "slide in" over the main image. This must be changed before we can make some much needed adjustments to existing applications (ie threading comments to make them easier to follow).

So, in the new design, comments will no longer use the "slide in" feature and will instead load below the primary site image. This should give us more room to make things better and improve functionality in the near future.

Before we can launch the next phases of Condor and the page archive we need to get the new design active and you can expect to see some changes as early as next week.

To give you a preview, click here to see what a channel homepage page will look like.

** Please note: the link above is just a screen shot so none of the navigation is functional. In the live version mousing over the icons at the bottom of the page will explain what they do. Some are more self explanatory than others.

Let us know what you think ans stay tuned for some cool stuff in the near future!!

Post by: JT

What about Privacy?

2009-04-15T12:31:00.000-07:00

Recently we received two "1-star" (out of 5) reviews on Facebook combined with a complete flaming of our privacy policy.

I knew immediately that the reviewers had just misread something and frankly it made me angry because user privacy is taken very seriously at Startlike.

I always *try* to evaluate feedback subjectively so I took a quick walk, came back, read the comments again along with a thorough review of our privacy policy just in case we botched something.

In the spirit of fairness, there's a lot of "legalize" in the policy and, although it was pretty clear to me, I could see how someone skimming it could miss a few things.

That said, I have now added a "plain english" summary to the privacy policy. I also thought the document was formatted like crap so I tried to clean it up a bit.

Here is a copy of the plain english summary in its entirety:

To sum it up, we won’t spam you and we won’t share your information with unrelated third parties for marketing purposes without your permission.

We host data with various vendors who help deliver our service (web hosts, email service providers, etc) but these entities are not allowed to market to you in any way.

To monitor and improve the service we use a variety of tracking methods to determine how you use Startlike. Basically, if you use it we try to track it but we don’t sell it.

I hope this clarifies things and I hope the two reviewers in question will reconsider their Startlike rating once they understand how seriously we take user privacy.

Post by: JT

New Condor feature release

2009-04-14T09:30:00.000-07:00

For those who may not know what Condor is, it's our under development user submitted photo application.

The first features were released a few days ago and you can learn more with the original blog post.

Today we are excited to roll out the next set of features as we move towards letting you create your own Startlikes from A-Z.

Now when you upload a picture you will be able to re-size, crop and position your photo exactly like you want it. The coding to accomplish this is actually a bit complicated and I'd like to personally recognize Jim for making it very intuitive (at least we hope) and simple.

Feel free to use the links below to see the new features in action.

Outdoors

Golf

SCUBA

Great Escapes

Skiing

Please note: If you previously uploaded a photo it is not YET possible to see those photos or edit them using the new features. Therefore you will need to start over if you want to use the same photo again. We will be adding features shortly that allow you to see your previously submitted photos and edit them accordingly. Sorry for any inconvenience this may cause in the meantime.

Post by: Jeff

MOVE THE GOOGLE BAR!!!

2009-04-13T11:21:00.000-07:00

If you have spent much time on the Startlike comment boards you have likely seen this suggestion pop up (perhaps you have even made it yourself).

To directly address this suggestion, we have no plans to move the Google bar in the short-term. The rational for this decision boils down to two reasons combined with time constraints and testing required to find an equally acceptable alternative (which we discussed in an earlier post here).

So, here are those two primary reasons:

#1 - Startlike is intended to be a browser start page. It is not a photo site and the daily photos are intended to be relevant backgrounds for the page elements while stimulating discussions and general user satisfaction. That said, the overwhelmingly most utilized element of a start page is its search engine and that's why Google is given the most prominent placement on Startlike. Just like the background on your computer desktop, the primary Startlike elements are intended to rest on the image.

#2 - We hope to form a deeper strategic relationship with Google to help provide more relevant content and monetize the project long-term. In order to make this happen we must first demonstrate our ability to create a lot of monthly searches for Google (1 million plus as a starting point). If we move the Google bar to a less prominent position it will cut heavily into the search volume and make a deeper partnership with Google much more difficult to achieve.

Please understand it is our intention to listen carefully to user feedback but in areas where the feedback points away from Startlike's strategic focus we must note it and press on.

Only time will tell if our decision not to move the Google bar at this early stage in Startlike's development is right or wrong. We hope you understand our vision (to be a start page but not a photo page) and our need to form a deeper relationship with Google. Even if you don't agree with the decision at least you can appreciate it was thought out and based on a broader strategic focus.

Here is another harsh reality. If users leave Startlike in mass because of the Google bar placement then our core belief, that many people want a dead simple and relevant start page, would be proven horribly flawed. If that happens, we'll have to iterate again...PhotoLike maybe?

Post by: JT

Condor is up! (User Submitted Photos version Alpha)

2009-04-02T13:19:00.000-07:00

We have named our user submitted content project "Condor". We didn't have a name until 10 seconds ago so it didn't get much thought to be honest.

In it's final form Condor will allow members to submit photos, add hotlink tags and essentially create a complete Startlike page. Then, other members will be able to browse these pages, offer comments and vote on their favorites with the best ones making it to the homepage.

We envision this project taking most of April to complete (*crosses fingers*) and we are trying to break it into chunks and get out new pieces of the puzzle along the way.

We just pushed the photo submit page to the live server. It doesn't look like much but all of the database architecture is now behind it and we can start making the magic happen.

Right now you can submit a photo with details and suggest some hotlinks. We might grab a few member photos while development continues and make them a channel homepage so we just wanted to have enough info to make that happen.

Soon, you will be able to come back and add hotlinks to your photos and essentially finish a complete Startlike page. Then, we'll do the directory and voting stuff.

So, if you have been waiting to submit that awesome shot for homepage consideration, jump on over to Condor and send it in!!

Submit to Outdoors

Submit to Golf

Submit to SCUBA

Submit to Exotic Escapes

Submit to Skiing

Submit to Space

Thanks all!

Post by: Jeff

Why does Startlike use Facebook Connect?

2009-04-01T17:04:00.000-07:00

We have received a mixed response on our use of Facebook Connect as the login mechanism for Startlike. I’d like to take a few moments to explain why we chose to use it.

We are really big on open source and sharing in general here at Startlike. We are also big fans of web standards and portability. We hate the fact that browsers like IE and Firefox can’t get along and that every website you use requires an entirely new sign up process, and if it’s social at all, creating a new friend list.

While we can’t do much to make IE and FF play nice, there are a few solutions working to streamline the process of a single login across multiple sites. Several of the bigger sites have a solution and there is "on again off again" momentum behind the OpenID project. That said, the clear leader in this effort is Facebook. They are first to market with a stable and robust solution and their extensive mapping of the “Social Graph” (your friend list and friend of friend connections) gives them a clear advantage to be the long-term winner.

So, given our desire to adopt an “open” login system only one choice seems to make sense right now. We support the broader Platform initiative from Facebook and we look forward to future iterations.

So those are some of the main reasons behind the choice. Now I’d like to address a few common questions we've heard.

Does Startlike have access to my Facebook login and password?
We understand that to some users the idea of connecting your facebook account might be a little unsettling at first but facebook connect is quite secure. We here at Startlike have exactly ZERO access to your user credentials to sign into facebook. When you see the facebook login prompt you are actually logging in, over a secure connection, to facebook. All your information is encrypted and as secure as an e-commerce transaction at Amazon or Apple. Facebook has put security first so they can retain you as a user, protect your information and increase their brand's recognition and trust.

My employer blocks access to Facebook, can I still use the Facebook Connect enabled Startlike features?
Not currently. We do plan to offer our own registration option in the future for people who might not be able to access Facebook Connect (ie. if their employer blocks Facebook) but we hope this will serve as a secondary option with Facebook Connect being the preferred choice for most users.

Will Startlike spam my friends?
If we do, we’ll get kicked out of the Connect program by Facebook, but even if we could we wouldn’t. Our brand is important to us and we would never spam your friends list. The only contact Startlike will ever have with your friends is something you initiate like inviting them to check out the site or one of your favorite photos and we’ll never “force” you to annoy friends to use a Startlike feature.

Why do I have to “connect” with Facebook to use features like My Links and the custom News Feeds?
While we could allow you to customize these options without requiring you to identify yourself, these customizations would become disposable. Meaning, when your browser cache is deleted all of your customizations would be lost. By utilizing Facebook Connect we can keep track of a unique account for each user which allows us to recover a user's personal settings once that information has been deleted. Facebook connect gives our users the advantage of having a user account, without the added hassle of an additional username and password for yet another website to keep track of.

I hope this info is helpful.

Post by: JT

What's shakin' bacon?

2009-03-19T09:41:00.000-07:00

We recently added quite a few new members to the diving channel. First, we’d like to say welcome the party!!

With this influx of new blood came an influx of new ideas on the comment board combined with many questions about what’s going on and where we’re headed. So, we wanted to pull together a quick blog post to address some of the most common questions and comments.

First, it might be helpful to just let everyone know our overall vision for Startlike. The idea is to create a very simple and usable start page that brings everyone together around a common interest. In addition to your channel specific photo and hotlinks the page has your “essentials” and as little else as possible. If you are an iGoogle addict with dozens of widgets all over your page, or you just can’t stand not knowing when Britney Spears breaks a nail, Startlike probably won’t be the start page for you.

We can’t try too hard to do too much. For example, we don’t want the SCUBA channel to become an aggregator of all diving content from the web. Many great sites work hard and focus entirely on providing such content and any attempt to create our own (or even link to other sites as a mass directory) would likely fall very short because ee just don’t have the manpower and infrastructure. Instead, with Startlike we’ll focus on doing 1 thing well, giving you a cool daily photo and some interesting hotlinks to explore your interest.

While it does not make sense for us to do it internally, we do want to see the content on Startlike grow. This will make the site more “sticky” and entertaining for everyone and we’ll actually be relying on you, the members.

Our next major update will let you submit your own photos and hotlinks to create a complete Startlike page. Members will be able to browse user submitted pages and vote for the ones they like. The best user submitted pages will have a chance to make it to the homepage.

Once "Submit Your Own" is ready we’ll have a firm "version 1.0" of Startlike and our attention will turn to marketing the site and increasing membership. We’ll begin to add social features to help you meet other people that share your interests.

For those that have been following us for a while you know that our initial plan was to release a network of niche social networks but we ran into some problems gaining traction and had to go back to the drawing board, where Startlike was born. Please know that while the roads we’ll take to get there may be a little different our target destination has not changed.

The code we developed for the original social platform (which was 85% ready when we realized a change in course was needed) will be tweaked and integrated directly into your start page to help you meet other people who share your interests and create real offline friendships.

If you are new, welcome to Startlike. We hope you will enjoy it and stick with us for years to come. You are among the first to get here and your feedback will help shape the site for the future.

As a side note, we have also received a fair amount of specific feedback about the functionality, features and design of the site. For example, in the past few days many people have suggested moving the Google search bar to a new location on the page.

We would like you to know that your voice is being heard. We can't react immediately to this type of request because such changes require us to design and test variations to find what works best. The current design is the result of several iterations and tests. If a common theme presents itself in the comments (like moving the Google box) we will be sure to test revisions in the future and get them in front of our focus groups. We hope that nothing is so “bad” currently that it causes a mass exodus of users but we have to be careful with changes and make sure we don’t break something by fixing something else.

Please give us feedback freely, but please be patient as we test and refine.

Remember even the greats like Google and Facebook weren’t built in a day!!

Stay tuned for more to come....

WARNING: Startlike may reduce desire to go outdoors!!

2009-02-20T13:00:00.000-08:00

First, I would like to say that we value all of our web visitors and their feedback. We especially appreciate constructive criticism because it helps us improve and we take our lumps pretty well (at least we think so).

That said, this one is just too good to pass up sharing. This is an unedited email we recently received through our feedback form.

Hi

I was on my facebook page and noticed your ad for photo of the day. you say enjoy the outdoors from the comfort of your desk. that is the exact opposite of what people should be doing. government agencies like the national park service and the U.S fish & Wildlife Service are currently prepared to spend millions of dollars to get people back outside. your product underminds that by encouraging people to stay indoors. so much of what is wrong with americans is that they are too sedentary and spend way too much time in front of computers. if you are going to promote the use of your product to users at least encourage them to use it temporarily until they can get outdoors. the key is to get outdoors go for a walk, get in touch with nature and in the process get healthier both physically and mentally

-Name Removed

So, we felt it was our responsibility to warn everyone that using startlike may pose a serious risk to your physical and mental health. Use it at your own risk!!!

Stop reading this blog and GO OUTSIDE!!!!

Hello world. My name is Startlike.

2009-02-10T16:14:00.000-08:00

Startlike is a new utility that lets you select a channel that interests you and set it as your browser home/start page. Every day you will enjoy an exciting photo tagged with a few “hotlinks” to explore your passion.

About 2 weeks ago a select group was introduced to our our limited alpha release covering 3 exciting channels (The Great Outdoors, Skiing and SCUBA Diving) and the feedback has been great. We are very excited about the things to come.

The initial release was a bare bones set of core features and we have since pushed three major updates.

1) We launched the Facebook Connect powered comment board.
2) You can now customize your News tabs with the Yahoo powered feeds of your choice.
3) The “My Links” tab was added which allows you to create quick links to the websites you visit most often.

We are currently working on a new Favorite and Share feature which will allow you to save your favorite Startlike photos to a Facebook album and share it with your friends. Once this feature is active and de-bugged Startlike will officially move into an open beta period and several new channels will be released.

Upcoming channels joining those already released will include: Golf, Exotic Destinations, Sportsman Adventures, World of Nature and Historical Places.

Thank you for stopping by and stay tuned for great things to come!!

I am SCUBA Diving on Startlike.com. What are you doing?
http://www.startlike.com

Post by: Jeff