I hope to have the new template up soon as well.  Once the new template is up I will open up the site to new sign-ups.  Keep an eye out for future updates this week!

the Communities ability is now available!!  You can find it at the bottom of the left menu in your admin panel.  I have also posted a message with the password to join the group in the admin panel – you won’t miss it!  I realize you won’t use this much in the beginning, but you’ll be happy to have it once traffic picks up… ENJOY!

That said… I encourage everyone to extend an invitation to friends, family, or significant other to join our community.  You can have them write a comment requesting a blog on this post or on the original one! 

I know I have talked about the “new direction” of Tangents here and there but I thought that I would give you a better idea as to what I mean by that.  Right now, Tangents is just a blogging platform using wordpress (as you know).  This will not go away, but instead enhanced with some new features (such as the ability to make communities).  So, as it stands, the original functionality of Tangents – a place where people can come and create a nice looking blog – will still exist.

The second part is a bit different.  The new “main” reason why someone may come to the site is to simply write a “tangent” about anything they want.  This functionality is kind of a hybrid of the ”wall” feature in Facebook and a Twitter “tweet”.  For example:  someone is at work and realizes that he hates writing memos.  He could go to tangents and type in something like, “boss is making me write another gosh darn memo blah blah blah blah”, press submit, and that’s the end of it.  Other visitors could comment on these Tangents should they choose to do so.

Seems a bit odd that people would go to a site to rant or rave about a topic, but for whatever reason they will (many sites do this quite successfully).  These individuals may come once to write a tangent, twice, or 100 times… they may even open up a Tangents blog after a few visits!

Moral of the story, tangents is going to become one busy place, buzzing with activity, random thoughts, and blog posts galore in the near future.  The process of gaining popularity through word of mouth (or more like word of print) will take some time, months even, but for those of you who have read “The Tipping Point”, you know that a time will come when the site will explode. 

I hope you guys will be just as excited as I am!

So, I have something that all of you may like.  Prior to launching the site to the public, I am going to create a special “Original Tangenteers Community” within the Tangents site itself …  it will allow all of you to do a couple of things.

First, no one else will be allowed into this community (unless given authorization of course).  You will be able to create Message Board topics and Wiki pages if you desire.  Most importantly, it provides an easy, centralized place where you can message one another, view each other’s blogs, have your blog viewed, or provide comments!

Look for this option to appear in your blog’s admin panels in the upcoming days (you will see a new “Communities” tab).  I will set up the community and most likely send out invites to all of you to join!

just thought I’d let you know that you probably won’t see much activity from me in the next week (I know you care so much about my well being, I didn’t want any of you to go into a panic)… I will be on vacation, soaking up a few rays with my boss, Jan. 

(Did you catch that reference?)

I have a lot of things planned for when I get back (including finalizing the new site design) … so get ready!  Until then, beaches here I come!

Take Care!

-Justin

well, I have to say that I am getting pretty excited about my upcoming vacation… but don’t worry, I won’t forget about all of you when I am gone!  In fact, I want to spice things up a bit among you Originals before we start making the major changes to the website…  I am going to run a contest, here are some details:

In the effort to get more bloggers BEFORE opening the site up to the public, I am starting the New Blogger Contest!  The name of the game is simple, the person who recruits the most new bloggers wins!  All you have to do is direct people (friends, family, or whoever else you think would like to blog on Tangents) to this post.  All they have to do is post a comment requesting permission to blog and mention who they were recruited by… THAT’S IT!

You see, when they post the comment, they will have to input their email address which will make it very easy for me to set them up with an account.  However, in order for your blogger to count towards the total, he/she will need to post more than one blog post.  In other words, they have to be active (i.e. set up their blog, write a few posts, start to interact, etc.).

The winner of this contest will have their blog featured on the Tangents homepage for two-weeks once we officially launch AND will receive a $25 gift card to a restaurant in their area! 

The contest will last until March 8th

Good luck and have fun!