I've been dropping hints about cool new stuff going on behind the scenes, and I'm pleased to let one of the cats out of the proverbial bag: a new SocialTrade.
SocialTrade, launched a number of months ago, has been a screaming success at getting people to "stack" cool financial content into the site. There are about 8,000 items, neatly categorized in various stacks around the site, and I'm really pleased that the interface we conjured up makes it apparently so easy for people to contribute.
What bugged me about the site, though, is its lack of a true home page. It was organized more like a library that anything else, and that took away from the "live" nature of the content. I therefore put together a design for a home page with three principal elements:
(a) A trio of buttons which let you skip off to the library-ish interface (My ST takes you to your stacks; Browse takes you to the categories; and Help takes you to the help section).
(b) A Live Event Feed which, in real time, shows you any events that happen within the system, including new items stacked, new comments, ratings, restacks, profile changes – – everything. And there are more innovations coming to this section, I assure you.
(c) A dynamic right column, which whisks through various highlights of the site automatically; you can click on the title of the column to go to that section, or you can click on any individual item to bring it up in a pop-up window.
I'm also pleased to announce user-to-user messaging. If there is another SocialTrade to whom you'd like to write, just go to their profile and click the button you see here. No, I am not showing any email addresses on the site. When you write someone, they will see your email, but they can choose not to respond to you if they prefer to remain spooky and anonymous. However, this provides a safe, convenient way for SocialTraders to reach out and connect with one another beyond the confines of the system. (My adjunct dating site is still in the works; I'm challenged by the fact that the preponderence of participants are middle-aged men……..highly attractive, to be sure, but mostly men nonetheless).
You will also find, when you get to the bottom of the Live Feed, that it will automatically load more content in reverse chronological order. And, of course, you can click any item of interest to see it in detail. The ability to rate items and comment on them directly on the live feed is forthcoming.
We have also totally reworked all the content of the site to be "responsive", which means, for instance, that it's tablet-friendly (hello, iPad users!). I took a snapshot from my iPad last night:
In any case, I am thrilled with the new features, and I hope you them too. Check it out! And if you haven't signed up for SocialTrade yet (which is free), please do so!
