Earlier this year we launched a new version of Talk of the Sound with a new theme, new features and a mobile-optimized version for the majority of readers who prefer to read Talk of the Sound on their iPhone or Android rather than a desktop or laptop computer. There were a few kinks that had to be worked out. I am happy to report that these kinks are now being smoothed out.
One of my favorite new features is the ability of readers to rate content — to tell other readers what they think they are the best stories on the site.
While it has been possible to rate the stories since February we were not able to display the results of the ratings — until now.
If you check the tabbed box to the right near the top of the home page you will see there are three tabs: Comments, Top Rated, Scanner
Each allows readers to provide information to other readers: the most recent comments on the site are displayed under “Comments”, the most highly rated content over the past 30 days are under “Top Rated” and tweets about scanner activity using the #NRTalkScanner hashtag are under “Scanner”.
The idea is that as readers rate stories, the accumulated wisdom of readers brings the content most interesting to readers (as opposed to me as editor) to the forefront under the Top Rated tab. This is a tab I will be checking often to maintain a good sense of what readers find most interesting on the site.
In order to rate a story, a reader must be logged in to the site and make a comment on a story (technically known as a “post”) . At the bottom of every story or post, a logged in reader will see a comment form which includes a drop-down menu to rate a story (one to five stars).
The ability to rate stories and impact what other readers see among the best stories is an important benefit of being a registered user, a member of the Talk of the Sound community. If you have not yet registered, send me an email (robertcox@talkofthesound.com) with your full name and (optionally) a photo or image you would like associated with your account. We will do the rest.
You will also see various social media and “share this” icons where you can share TOTS stories you think your friends and followers will find interesting.
Give it a try and let me know what you think!
PS, for those who subscribe to the Talk of the Sound newsetter, you will notice we also fixed the image display so photos from stories are now rendering correctly! If you have not signed up for the newsletter (which we strongly recommend) just add your email using the form below
This is really cool!
Of course, I think it’s cool since I enabled it!