Social Publishing, Toolbar, and Friend Feed

By KCTV Tech Staff, Nov 08, 2009 in How To's

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At the end of the day, “social publishing” is about publicly sharing things important to you, with others that may be interested in what you have to share. It’s like a digital megaphone. Suppose, for example, you’re walking through your local central park and your boyfriend stops and proposes marriage. After the crying and excitement subsides for a moment, you realize that there are people who need to know, some who might want to know, and some people you don’t know, who would find your exciting news good to know. You could call, text or email, all those who need to know, but geez, that could take serious time, especially when you want everyone to know as fast and soon as possible. That’s where social communication and networking tools, such as Facebook, Twitter, and yes, even MySpace, and others, come in real handy. There, you can “publish” your all-important message so that everyone you’re connected to, Family, Friends, Fans and Followers (your “Community”), can read, hear and even watch your personal broadcast, and then, if they give a hoot, instantly respond to your message with a message of their own (the Comment) like, OMG! I was wondering when he was going to ask you, and/or more subtly express their pleasure by telling you they “Like” your message and are happy for you. The best part is, that everyone in, and around, your personal community is delivered your message at the same time. You’ve been engaged for five minutes and already 1,000 people know. How cool. This is my moment!

Here at KoldCast TV, our community, our viewing audience, wants to know what others within the community have to say about the shows on our Network, so they leave episode comments in the Comments & Info window which appears for every individual series episode.

So, who sees these comments?  Everyone watching KoldCast TV.  But what if you want to share your comments with your personal community outside KoldCast TV.  You can automatically publish your comments to your social networks by registering and signing-in to KoldCast using our new social publishing features.

Simply click on the blue “Sign In” button found near the top of every site page.  A window opens providing you with the opportunity to register with KoldCast TV using the username and passwords you use with your favored social networks.  If you don’t use them, you can register with KoldCast TV only.

Once you’ve completed our simple registration and sign-in process, each time you comment on a video, as long as you’re signed-in, your comment will automatically post to your respective news feeds.  Registration is not required to watch KoldCast TV programming; but is required to use all social publishing and Friend Feed features.

When signed-in, the Sign In button is replaced by a new Profile button which, when clicked, opens your personal My Profile page where you can link and unlink your social networks, allowing you to control when, and where, you publish your comments.  My Profile is also the destination where you can change your KoldCast TV Username, Screen Name, Password, Email Settings, set your Social Publishing and Privacy preferences, manage your Linked Accounts (Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Google, with more on the way), view and manage your Friend List, upload and manage your Avatar, set language preferences, and view your own Social Profile, where we keep track of your commenting for you.  But this is just the beginning.

We’ve just added a new Social Toolbar, appearing at the bottom of every site page, which currently provides you with the opportunity to make friends with other KoldCast TV viewers who share the same interests.

Beyond connecting to our Facebook Fan page and Twitter feed from the Toolbar, you can now make friends and track their activity in the Friend Feed.  There are currently four (4) types of feeds that appear in Friend Feed:  Messages from KoldCast (black background), Friend postings (dark blue/grey background), Friend Requests (light blue/grey background), and posts from non-Friends with common interests (grey background).

So just how do you become friends with another KoldCast TV viewer? To get started, whenever you see a comment in a Comments & Info window, click on the blue username within the comment, and the Profile for the respective viewer will open.  Here you’ll see what shows they have commented on, what they have said about the show, a linkable episode thumbnail, their online/offline status, and a blue Send Friend Request button.  Click the Send Friend Request button and a message requesting friendship will be sent to the viewer.  Once accepted, this viewer’s comments and Likes will appear in your Friend Feed, and yours will appear in theirs.  And, you can view all your Friends, in one place, simply by clicking on the blue Profile button (page top), which only appears when you are signed-in to KoldCast TV.  Once your My Profile page opens, click the blue Friends List button to view your current Friends.

Remember, you control everything.  You control whether you publish your comments to other social networks, which social networks you publish to, and who your Friends are.  At the same time, we’ll introduce you to other KoldCast TV viewers with common interests; generally those who Like and/or who comment on the shows you Like and/or comment on.

Watch for more Friend Feed features coming your way soon.  Hey, by the way, I’m engaged!