Shyftr Blog http://blog.shyftr.com/ Shyftr news and updates. en-us Notice: System Changes and New Implementations http://blog.shyftr.com/post/24/notice-system-changes-and-new-implementations/ Over the past few weeks we've been trying to stay on top of the site performance. Having the site run and perform at a high level is something that we will relentlessly work towards achieving. The nature of the service will force us to continue analyzing how we handle our data. With that in mind, we are going to make some fundamental changes that may or may not affect your Shyftr usage.

The first measure we will implement will be to track numbers only dating back one month. If you are a daily or even occassional user, this most likely will not affect you. A month is a long time when it comes to near realtime access to information. If you don't use your account for more than a month, this does not mean that you will not have any numbers. It just means that your numbers will only date back a months worth of content per feed. When this implementation takes place it will take a few hours for the system to cycle through, and the new number tracking will be a permanent implementation - not a one time sweep.

It's important for us to do this because there is a database that is growing at such a rapid pace, effectively dragging down the performance and experience for everyone. We initially thought it would be nice for people to have the ability to go back and look through old content, but it's becoming clear that this is not important to users. Shyftr is being used as a near realtime content discovery and sharing tool, and we cannot sacrifice the performance of the site for a growing database that is rarely being tapped. Once we rollout the new way of handling numbers, we will remove a substantial portion of backdated data. This should alleviate much of the poor performance that we have been experiencing over the past few weeks, and possibly allow us to re-implement features that have been temporarily disabled (such as search). At the same time there may be some new features that come out of this. In the end, we will continue to evolve and enhance the user experience. It's time we trim some fat while making the system leaner, more efficient, and better prepared for future growth.

As we head down this path, we are looking forward to hearing any and all feedback you may have for us.

]]> Fri, 30 May 2008 13:45:00 EDT Fri, 30 May 2008 13:45:00 EDT Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/24/notice-system-changes-and-new-implementations/ Numbers Reporting http://blog.shyftr.com/post/23/numbers-reporting/ Over the weekend we made an adjustment to how we handle feeds and this caused a duplication of items that were already in the system. As a result, numbers were appearing for items that you may have already read. We sincerely apologize for this and hope it does not cause too much of an inconvenience. If you would like to quickly resolve what occurred, mark all your feeds as read and they will start tracking normally again.

]]> Tue, 27 May 2008 16:30:00 EDT Tue, 27 May 2008 16:30:00 EDT Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/23/numbers-reporting/ Toluu Integration http://blog.shyftr.com/post/22/toluu-integration/ Thanks to Caleb and the Toluu team for integrating Shyftr to the list of feed readers at Toluu. If you have a Toluu account and would like to add a feed to your Shyftr feed list, you can now sync them up. Check out all the details over at Toluu:

www.toluu.com/blog

]]> Thu, 15 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT Thu, 15 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/22/toluu-integration/ OPML Support Is Here! http://blog.shyftr.com/post/21/opml-support-is-here/ You can now import an OPML file or export your Shyftr feed list as an OPML file.

To access OPML, select the green plus button at the top of your feed list and choose the OPML tab. To import, select Choose File or Browse... and browse your computer for your OPML file. Once you have chosen your file, select the Upload button to start the process. To export your feed list, select the Export OPML link in the OMPL tab, and then save the file.

Please be patient if you are importing a large feed list as it will take a few minutes. The good news is, you will see your feed list build during the upload process. Do not refresh the page during upload. This will stop the file from uploading.

]]> Mon, 05 May 2008 17:51:34 EDT Mon, 05 May 2008 17:51:34 EDT Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/21/opml-support-is-here/ Adding Feeds Just Got Easier - And Other Updates http://blog.shyftr.com/post/20/adding-feeds-just-got-easier---and-other-updates/ Adding Feeds:

You can now add feeds without knowing the RSS or Atom feed URL. Here's how it works. For example, let's say I want to add the New York Times home page. All I have to do is type www.nytimes.com into the Add Feed form on my Feeds list (click the green plus sign and you'll see this form). You can also copy and paste the URL into the form. Looking for an even easier way? If you bookmark the Shyft It button, you can click Shyft It while on the New York Times home page. What if you want to add just the New York Times technology section? While on the New York Times site, click their 'Technology' link, then follow either set of directions above: copy and paste that URL into the Shyftr Add Feed form, or just click your Shyft It button.

Media:

Media such as video and audio can now be viewed inline in the reader, or through a popup window.

Search:

We've had to temporarily disable search for Feeds, Content, and Authors. You can still search for Members within the community. We will be working on improving our search tool so that we can bring these categories back as soon as possible.

Have a great weekend!

]]> Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:29:00 EDT Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:29:00 EDT Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/20/adding-feeds-just-got-easier---and-other-updates/ RSS Feeds, Community, Publishers, and Revisions http://blog.shyftr.com/post/19/rss-feeds-community-publishers-and-revisions/ Over the past few days, much discussion has occurred regarding the nature of Shyftr and its service.

Shyftr is a social RSS reader. Like other RSS readers, Shyftr provides tools for people to aggregate, organize, read, and share RSS feeds they are subscibed to. One extension of this experience is the ability to discuss content that is read. All of the content is pulled in through the RSS feed, not HTML scraped, as some have speculated. It was important that we consider the viewpoints for those that felt we crossed the line. Louis Gray, Tony Hung, Mathew Ingram, Paul Glazowski, and Eric Berlin have all weighed in on their thoughts, and we have read many additional opinions.

All the discussions happening on Shyftr are initiated by the user. If a publisher is syndicating a full RSS feed, and discussions occur around an item in that feed, up until now, the full content of the article appears in the item being discussed. Shyftr provides full attribution to publishers, links back to their sites, and we do not remove advertisements nor alter the content in any RSS feed. With that in mind, we have decided to revise the format around our discussions. We will only display the title, author, and date of an item where discussions occur outside of the reader. We deeply respect content publishers, and it is not our intention to cause unease.

Shyftr was developed to help people find and subscribe to publishers that they otherwise would have never found on their own, through the community and network of friends. Having a community where people can share and discuss the feeds they read helps to facilitate this goal. As we build this community, we might make decisions that raise concerns, but we listen to our users and hope our overall efforts will get people excited to use Shyftr. If we make decisions that are not well-received, we will strive to make appropriate changes.

The conversations that have occurred over the past couple of days are healthy, thoughtful, and we appreciate all of the opinions that we have read. We will continue working towards building an environment that stimulates an opportunity for publishers to reach a broader audience, while respecting how that content is presented to our users. We hope that this change gets us back on track, addressing the valid concerns of publishers whose content comes to Shyftr.

]]> Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:03:02 EDT Sun, 13 Apr 2008 13:03:02 EDT Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/19/rss-feeds-community-publishers-and-revisions/ I got a little change in my pocket going jingle lingle ling http://blog.shyftr.com/post/18/i-got-a-little-change-in-my-pocket-going-jingle-lingle-ling/ Today we extend the functionality of your Pocket and how you share it. When we first created the pocket, it was based on the idea that there needs to be a place to save items for future reference. This makes sense for personal use. But the pocket was not friend friendly. So today we introduce the Pocket Blog.

The Pocket Blog:

Your Pocket Blog is an extension of your pocket. It is a standalone page where others can view not just the title of the items you've pocketed, but the entire post. If you know CSS you can customize the look and feel of this page (we'll follow up with another post on Customizing Your Pocket Blog). You can Pick Pocket any item that you come across in another Pocket Blog, addding it to your pocket.

RSS Feed:

You can Shyft or grab the RSS feed of any Pocket Blog. You no longer have to go to your friend's profile page to see what they're saving.

How to use the Pocket Blog:

You must first set your privacy settings to:
  • Profile - Everyone
  • My Pocket - Everyone
How to get to a Pocket Blog:
  • Select the Pocket tab on your or a friend's profile page
  • Select Pocket Blog link at the top of the list

At the top of your friend's Pocket Blog are buttons to Shyft the Pocket Blog or grab the RSS feed so you can use it elsewhere.

As we introduce the Pocket Blog today, sharing your pocket and following others has become a whole lot easier.

]]> Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:46:18 EDT Tue, 18 Mar 2008 20:46:18 EDT Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/18/i-got-a-little-change-in-my-pocket-going-jingle-lingle-ling/ Updates http://blog.shyftr.com/post/17/updates/ My Feeds

We added a new tab at the top called My Feeds. This is so you can get directly into the reader, no matter where you are in Shyftr, with one click.

Friends

Friends now appear in your profile when added. You can still manage your Top 15.

When you log in, the Home tab no longer appears at the top. If you would like to circle back to that page, there is a Home link at the bottom of the site or you can go to www.shyftr.com

]]> Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:04:47 EST Fri, 07 Mar 2008 19:04:47 EST Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/17/updates/ Search - Social http://blog.shyftr.com/post/16/search---social/ Today is a big day for feed and member searches. Here is what's new.

Social feed searches
Feed search results now include:

  • Ability to Shyft the feed
  • The number of people that are subscribed to the feed
  • A random sample of 10 people that are subscribed to the feed (if you mark a feed as private, you will not appear in a feed search result)

You can now run feed searches based on topic. Try searching for a feed using: technology, sports, gossip. When you find a feed that you want to add, you can now see a sample of other people that are already subscribed to it. Maybe they have other feeds that you haven't heard of, but might be interested in. Go for it!

Social search:

If you check, Only show results with feed subscribers (social search), only feeds that have subscribers will show up in the results, and the order in which results are returned are influenced by social elements.

Members

You can now search for users by username or email address. Limited profile information is attached to each user.

You can also search for users based on topic. For example, check out these 3 member searches: new york, tech, guide. Hopefully, this will help you find people that share similar interests.

Our search has taken a big step forward. We've improved on the core of our search engine, and we've added some new features which will hopefully help you add, find, and learn about feeds more effectively.

]]> Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:11:48 EST Wed, 05 Mar 2008 21:11:48 EST Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/16/search---social/ New - Notifications http://blog.shyftr.com/post/15/new---notifications/ You can now receive email notifications for the following:

  1. When someone leaves you a comment
  2. When someone adds you as a friend
  3. When someone suggests a feed to you, or when someone suggests a content item to you

These settings are turned on by default. If you would like to disable any or all of them, go to the Privacy tab in your preferences, uncheck the notification(s) you would like to disable, and save your settings.

]]> Sun, 02 Mar 2008 18:21:09 EST Sun, 02 Mar 2008 18:21:09 EST Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/15/new---notifications/ Rolling Out Updates http://blog.shyftr.com/post/14/rolling-out-updates/ Today we are rolling out many updates to Shyftr. Some are behind the scenes and some you will notice in your every day use. We're constantly improving the efficiency of the site and the overall experience for our users and wanted to let you know of some improvements.

Behind the Scenes - we cleaned up how the feed list was built. The benefit of this will be noticeable in the time it takes for your feed list to load. The performance of your feed list has been greatly improved.

Folders - You can now view how your friends, guides, and other users organize their feeds.

Your Interface - You can now mark all feeds as read (a current tool available), or you may choose to mark all feeds as read past a certain date. For example, if you go out of town for a week and don't want to sift through 7 full days of back-logged feed entries, but would rather just see the last 2 days of entries you've missed, you can mark the feeds as read "Older than 2 days".

Invite Friends - We have a simple "Invite Your Friends" interface at the top right hand corner of the Shyftr site. In addition, once new friends register, there's a simple list of feeds for them to choose from right from the registration page. This is a "quick start" approach which we think will help new users get started successfully.

]]> Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:14:55 EST Tue, 26 Feb 2008 23:14:55 EST Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/14/rolling-out-updates/ Our blog has launched http://blog.shyftr.com/post/13/our-blog-has-launched/ Amongst a very large rollout of new features and site improvements, we've launched the blog. The Daily will now cease to exist as we publish all of Shyftr's updates in the blog.

Shyft the blog so you never have to come back to this page! You won't be hurting our feelings, I promise.

]]> Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:36:58 EST Fri, 28 Dec 2007 18:36:58 EST Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/13/our-blog-has-launched/ Thank You! http://blog.shyftr.com/post/1/thank-you/ Here are some current statistics that we're excited to share:

Feeds being indexed: 1,350+
Items of Content: 2,500,000+
Comments: 1,200+

]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:56:48 EST Mon, 26 Nov 2007 09:56:48 EST Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/1/thank-you/ Widgets http://blog.shyftr.com/post/2/widgets/ You can now use widgets to keep track of Shyftr content. Follow Shyftr activity, and your own feeds while on other sites or from your profile page.

So be sure to check out the Shyftr widgets page today!

]]> Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:58:21 EDT Tue, 30 Oct 2007 09:58:21 EDT Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/2/widgets/ Shyft It! - Toolbar Button http://blog.shyftr.com/post/3/shyft-it---toolbar-button/

Shyft It!
Now you can Shyft any feed right from your browser toolbar, using the Shyft It! button. You no longer have to copy and paste the feed URL. All you need to do is place the Shyft It! button on your browser toolbar (effectively bookmarking the button). Make sure that you are on the feed URL page and click the bookmark. This will automatically add the feed to your feed list.

Let others quickly Shyft your feed
Add the Shyft It! button to your blog and make it easy for others to add your feed to their feed list. All they will have to do is click the Shyft It! button on your page and the feed will add to the user's feed list. Use our code generator to quickly add the Shyft It! button to your page.

Go to the Shyft It Button Page to set yourself up!

]]> Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:00:29 EDT Thu, 25 Oct 2007 10:00:29 EDT Dave Stanley Dave Stanley http://blog.shyftr.com/post/3/shyft-it---toolbar-button/