Angela...

It's a 30 minute call, OR a 15 question call.

Whichever happens sooner

Angela: It's just one call. Everyone will be on at the same time.

Oniyagi: Yep!

Would you be able to record the call-in, and upload the audio somewhere, so that people who can't phone in can listen to what was said? Failing that, a written transcript would be nice - I can't afford a transatlantic call...

thefluffanutta

I am so excited!

For example, what other things are in the pipeline?  Plexo was a big surprise I'm still trying to figure out how to best use.  I'm sure there are others coming ...

N376 wrote:

Can it be recorded as an MP3?

I'll be keen to download that and listen to it.

Just not keen on making a call from Australia to the US.

Awww, come on, I'll be calling in from Taiwan during the wee hours of the morning.

Huge chuckle over CD's post

I like your number 8.

If I had cereal to spurt I'd definitely be spurting right now!

I doubt I'll be doing any pontificating.  Just sitting at the feet of the masters.  Not enough time for me to drivel on.  And I'm not sure how coherent I'll be...it'll be 3:30 A.M. for me.

13 minutes 'til the call...

Chou Doufu's Sleep-deprived Notes on Squidoo's First-Ever Squidoo Call-in

For those of you who were unable to make the call, here are my Google Scratch Pad notes that I took during the call.  Remember, it was 3:30am to 4am for me here in Taiwan, so I know I didn't get everything and may very well got some things a bit wrong.  Other participants, please help fill in the blanks and correct me where needed.


1.  AnomalyMan participated while in his car!

They let you use the cell phone while driving in Atlanta, eh?  Just giving you a hard time AM, I'm *sure* you were using a hands-free set.  ;-)  (Then again, he *is* the AnomalyMan, he was probably driving hands-free.)

2. Anomaly Man inquired about how Squidoo plans to address the ranking "glitch".

The problem is that if you have a low-traffic lens that gets a spike in traffic, the visitor stats graph for that lens becomes useless.  One suggestion was to add date-range settings for the visitor stats.   The suggestion was taken under advisement.

3.  I asked about foreign language support. 

Answer: Not in the near future.  Limited resources, etc.  Focus on English world for now. 

Chou's Post-call Comments: Makes sense.  But in a year or two, Squidoo should seriously consider this for its further expansion.  I understand the expense involved in translating the interface to other languages, not to mention developing region-specific merchant modules.  It would be very expensive to hire the staff needed for that.  BUT, is it that hard to allow modules to ACCEPT/RENDER Unicode?  Including non-western character sets?  I only want to be able to paste Chinese characters into a write or list module and have it show up when I save it.  Just throwing that out there. 

4.  I asked about plans for more informative royalty and commission stats.

Answer:   Squidoo is looking into their affiliate data and have plans to bring out Amazon and eBay numbers.  Plans include a redesigned dashboard that will give lensmasters more info on where their earnings are coming from.  Also, while they make no promises, they are looking at ways to configure stats to share with users on the lens.  Examples of dynamic stats that you may be able to publish on your modules in the future: how many days in the top 100; traffic counters; and amount given to charity.  Squidoo is particularly excited about their plans to allow lensmasters to make visible to their visitors how much they are giving to charity (text/graphics) and see below how this will tie into a new Plexo widget...

5. Plexo

Quite a bit of talk about Plexo.  Much of it was along the lines of "What is Plexo"?  I'm not repeating the answers here as there are lenses and other forum discussion on this.

What has me excited are their plans for continued Plexo development. Highlights:


*     Squidoo is working on developing a feature that will allow lensmasters to import data from an existing standard module into a Plexo module. 

Chou's comments: VERY COOL!  This will make it easy to convert from, say, standard Amazon module to the Plexo version.  It would be best if there was a single module with a Plexo option tab, but there was no discussion about the mechanics of how the import.

*     More flavors of Plexo in the works, including video Plexo modules, and Plexo modules for additional merchants. 

*     Plexo is one of the first blog widgets.  It is just a start.  Other widgets in the works

*     The one next-generation widget that was specifically discussed was a "charity widget" that would allow a lensmaster to add a widget to a blog tied in with a charity lens.  The one feature that was revealed is that it would support "goaling".  E.g. set a goal for how much money you want to raise and track the amount your lens made for your charity against that goal.  Share that info in widget that you can post on your Web sites and blogs.

*     Plexo requires users to log in to vote in a Plexo widget


6.  Don from Southern California asked about tools for novices.  He would like there to be action plans, steps to more effective lens building, what to do in 1st 90 days. 

Response: Suggestions for his specific situation (he wants to promote his blog) were discussed.  He was referred to this forum and SquidU in general.

Chou's post-call comments:  Lens-purpose-specific action plans sound like a great idea for a SquidU artical and/or lens.  As for steps to more effective lens building, I think Squidoo does a great job with this on SquidU and with its tips at the top of the lens workshop.  Also, there are blogs out there with a lot of good info.  Don, if you've found your way here, post your questions in the "Help"or "Introduction" sections of this forum.

7.  Someone [didn't catch his name] from Toronto asked: when you join a group, do you get notification that it was accepted?   

Answer: Yep

8.  I asked about plans to develop a group mailing list?

Answer: For invites, you must create your own mailing address.  Squidoo will not share its members' e-mail addresses.  As for keeping in contact with lensmasters who have lenses in your groups, Squidoo does plan to roll out a module to promote group interactivity.  It would take the form of a group-specific forum or chatterbox.

Chou's post-call comments:  A chatterbox or forum would be very helpful, as long as there is an option to subscribe to it and receive e-mail when new posts are made to it.   I would prefer that this subscription takes place during the process of joining a group and that groupmasters have the ability to require subscription to the chatterbox as a condition to joining the group.

9.  Will Megan ever show her face?

Never.  You are not worthy.

10.  More calls in the future?

Squidoo is planning on monthly calls

11.  What happened to the Pony?

Seth used his telepathic powers to prevent me from inquiring into this conspiracy.


So, was the call a "success", yes.  Good info came out of it.  Not as many lensmaster were there as I expected, unless they were all lurking.  I expected more lively discussion.  But it did allow me to ask more of my questions, so I'm not complaining.  I recommend that you call into the next conference call.

Hope that is useful or interesting to y'all.

Last edited by ChouDoufu (12/19/2006 1:05 pm)

LOL...thanks for the recap.  I was at the hospital with a boo-boo.  Will have to save my bacon question until next month. 

Thank you for posting the recap.  I would have loved to be there.