Coming soon...a more interactive home page

The front page is the hub of the Landscape Juice Network — the page that gets the most traffic and the page most visitors see first. It's an opportunity to hook in newcomers, and it's the best place too for members to engage.

Over the next 4-6 weeks, there will be new features added to make the front page even more compelling.

Rich text & media in all main page modules

The activity, blog, and forum features will support rich text and media. This means that if someone posts a video, you should be able to play it from the activity feed. And if someone posts a forum discussion with a photo or hyperlinks, those should appear on the front page as well.

It's a simple change, but making content more engaging on the front page is a great way to draw members deeper into the community - as well as help potential lurking members more eager to join.

Like and comment on status, and post a status from the front page

There's great potential in the status update feature - which lets members share updates and integrate with third party services like Twitter & Facebook -but it's limited at the moment because the update isn't interactive once posted to the LJN front page.

The upcoming changes will improve the status feature in two ways:

1) Let members post a status from the main page
2) Let members comment on and like status posts.

Inline Commenting

Adding the 'like' buttons across the network has seen a greater degree of interactivity and since they've been added to the inline activity feed, interactivity has really increased engagement.

I'm pleased to say that the inline 'like' feature will rise a level by letting members comment inline on the front page in the activity feed and blog module (a bit like Facebook does).

It'll be 4-6 weeks before these features are fully functional but I wanted to share it with you now so as you have something to look forward to;-0)

The new activity feed on the front pagewill go live early later today (probably early evening.

Here's what will be available to use:

Members can post a status from the main page
Members can comment and like photos, videos, blog posts, and statuses inline from the activity feed
The activity feed has a much tidier interface that makes it easier for members to interact with content in the feed
Videos are playable inline from the activity feed, and photo thumbnails are larger

These improvements will increase engagement across LJN and will make the activity feed a much better feature.

New chat feature coming soon

soon see a brand new and improved chat feature. This new chat will be a step up in just about every way, from interface to capabilities.

Don't get too excited, this will be two to three months before it's added but I just wanted to let you know in adavance.

Replies

Fenlandphil May 26, 2011 at 7:22am

Look forward to seeing the changes Phil.
Pro-Cut May 26, 2011 at 11:11am

Sounds like exciting new developments

Looking forward to the implementations Phil and thank you for all your hard work.

Marc
PRO
Phil Voice June 22, 2011 at 9:37am
The new activity feed on the front pagewill go live early later today (probably early evening.

Here's what will be available to use:
- Members can post a status from the main page
- Members can comment and like photos, videos, blog posts, and statuses inline from the activity feed
- The activity feed has a much tidier interface that makes it easier for members to interact with content in the feed
- Videos are playable inline from the activity feed, and photo thumbnails are larger
These improvements will increase engagement across LJN and will make the activity feed a much better feature.

New chat feature coming soon

soon see a brand new and improved chat feature. This new chat will be a step up in just about every way, from interface to capabilities.

Don't get too excited, this will be two to three months before it's added but I just wanted to let you know in adavance.
Matt June 22, 2011 at 6:31pm

Hey Phil... just wanted to find out exactly what the email was on about today... I'm sure I sort of get it but I just wanted to make sure.