As some of you have already noticed, my site host issued a new "site release" today which includes a few upgrades that should interest you:
1. Ability to upload either a stock or custom avatar. If you don't have an image of your own that you'd like to upload as a custom avatar, you can now choose from a couple of stock avatars so you don't have to live with the nondescript black male silhouette that is the default. I've only uploaded two stock avatars so far (shown below), but more will be coming soon. To change from the default avatar to a stock or custom avatar, simply click on your avatar in the upper right of the site, then click on "Edit Profile," and then edit the avatar area (the prompts are pretty self-explanatory, but email me if not).
2. Ability to like individual comments. Sometimes posting an actual comment or reply is overkill and all you want to do is give a quick thumbs up. You can now do so by simply liking an existing comment in the lower left of the comment (see example below). These likes will appear in the site and profile activity streams. Of course, you can still always like a clip or an entire blog/forum post in the upper right of that content. (And I recommend doing so, as it is these overall likes that drive clip rankings in the site's Hot Spot and Saturday Spotlights.)
3. Ability to see those who liked your clip/content. Now when someone likes your clip (or other content), you can easily see who your fans are! Their avatars appear directly under the likes in the upper right of each clip/content page, as shown in the example below.
I hope you like these new features as much as I do. Thanks go to my site host, Hoop.la, for continually responding to their customers' suggestions and adding features at no cost.
