Twellow Blog

Oftentimes people have commented on the usefulness of Twellow for finding people to follow, but once that is done, then what? We’ve taken this question and found a simple answer: Let people know what other folks are currently talking about in their favorite areas. Want to know who is commenting about their job search or, who’s offering jobs? Want to see what people are saying about your favorite sports? Try out Twellow and follow the comments under our newest Twellow feature: “What are people saying?“

This new feature provides our Twellow users with an additional layer of usefulness. Not only can you find people that have been categorized within a certain subject, you can also find people that are talking about that subject, even if they aren’t categorized by Twellow. And because people are constantly posting, you can see a more recent snapshot of those who are active in your areas of interest.

While our list of what people are talking about in each subject is not comprehensive, it does offer a good idea of what is going on in that category, and in a much more recent and updated manner. So if you’ve used Twellow in the past to find people to follow, bookmark your favorite categories and come back often to see what new and interesting people are talking about regarding your favorite subjects. We’re sure you’ll find even more people that you’d be interested in following!

Enjoy!

Matthew Daines
Twellow Lead Developer

Something we’ve noticed as we’ve worked on Twellow is the desire of many people to enter a more lengthy and feature-rich bio to their profile. With this in mind we’ve now added a section to user profiles where you, the user, can enter and edit Extended Bio Information.

This simple method allows you to add a much larger bio with up to 2,000 characters. You can also include some limited HTML formatting to further enhance the appearance of your Extended Bio. Twellow currently allows the following HTML tags which you can add to your Extended Bio:

• <p>
• <a href=”value” title=”value”>
• <i>
• <b>
• <br>

These basic tags allow you to create bold text, italic text, paragraph and line breaks, and to add links to your bio so you can better direct people to the information that you want them to find. This effectively allows you to post a mini-resume of sorts, so people looking for your particular talents will have a better idea of how you might be able to help them. Profiles with Extended Bios are marked in Twellow listings so you can see who has filled their Bio out.

Another modest change to the site is the highlighting of claimed profiles in Twellow listings. We’ve added a simple, blue background to any user profiles that have been claimed by their owners. This helps you to better see those listings that have been claimed, and thus the listings that are most likely to be relevant to what you are searching for.

So if you haven’t already, claim your Twellow profile and enter your Extended Bio information. Your listings and connections will be much better off.

Cheers!

Matthew Daines
Twellow Lead Developer

We continue to receive suggestions for new categories, so I’d again like to let our users know about some of the latest ones. We’ve also received suggestions for additional Social Links to allow users to expand their profiles even further.

Some of our newest categories are as follows:

• Social Science - includes Archaeology, History, Philosophy and Sociology
  
• Science - includes Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Geology, Math, and Physics
• Pets - includes Cats, Dogs, Ferrets, Fish, Guinea Pigs, Hamsters, and Rabbits
• Financial Services - added Banking, Insurance, and Venture Capital
• Poker
• Alternative Medicine - includes Chiropractic, Holistic Medicine, and Massage Therapy
• Paganism
• Lodging
• Tourism
• Travel
• Wine
• Unpowered Flight
• Music - added Singer and Songwriter
• Politics - added Conservative, Liberal, and Libertarian

In addition to these new categories, we’ve also added the following “Social Links”:

• Ipernity - social media-sharing service
• Ma.gnolia - social bookmarking service
• Stumbleupon - social bookmarking service

Special thanks to all our Twellow users who’ve offered their feedback on these categories and services.

Enjoy!

Matthew Daines
Twellow.com Lead Developer
twellow.com/user/iematthew

We’re listening to what our users have to say, and one of the things people have wanted is an easier way to login to their Twellow profile. With this in mind we’ve added a simple login page at www.twellow.com/login where you can now directly enter your screen name and password to login to your account.

In the past it was necessary to first find yourself on Twellow and then use the login form next to your listing. The new login page can be accessed from any page on Twellow via the login link at the top right of the website. After accessing the page, just go ahead and enter your screen name and password and we’ll get you right in.

For those who have already claimed their profile on Twellow, you will be welcomed back. For those who haven’t yet claimed their profile, logging in will automatically claim the profile and allow you to then edit your information and categories.

Thanks to all who’ve had questions and suggestions on this, and we hope you continue to enjoy using Twellow. And be sure to let us know if you have any other issues or questions about the website.

Thanks!

Matthew Daines
Twellow Lead Developer

Twellow is constantly improving, and one of the improvements we’ve added is the ability for you to link your profile to other social media services. We’ve put together this explanation of how to go about enhancing your Twellow listing with this social linking service.

The Social Links are simply small icons on the right of each user profile. For many Twellow listings these icons are faded out, indicating the person has not entered a link to a profile for that service. You can make your listing stand out by logging in and entering the links to your other profiles on the web. Each service for which you enter your profile data will then be displayed in full-contrast color, giving your listing an extra level of visibility.

To add your social links, log in to your Twellow profile and enter your username or ID for the various social media outlets that you participate in. We’ll then highlight these in your listing, giving other users a better idea of how to follow you on the web.

Once you’ve added your links, then your listing will highlight each of the services you participate in. You may add or remove links as you desire, so feel free to log into your profile and update as you see fit.

We at Twellow are constantly working to make things better. This includes complex things, simple things, and everything in between. And even as we continue to work on big, complex changes to how Twellow works, we also are implementing simpler changes, but positive changes nonetheless. So we’re glad to let you know about a few simple things that have recently been implemented on Twellow to make finding and being found a little bit easier.

Social Links

We’ve added a feature to Twellow that allows you to include links for various social media outlets in your Twellow profile. Simply log in to your profile and enter your user name or ID for your various social media profiles. We’ll put links to these on your Twellow listing to better show your presence on the web.

Latest Updates

We’ve also added a nifty little feature that pulls in the five latest status updates from Twitter and lists them on Twellow profile pages. This makes it easier for you to see what a person is talking about and if they are someone that interests you.

So come check out your profile on Twellow, and add some of your favorite social media links. Your friends and fans will thank you for it.

Regards!

Matthew Daines
Twellow Lead Developer
twellow.com/user/iematthew

Follow @twellowup now on Twitter!

People are often asking us how they can get updates on what’s going on at Twellow. One of the first things we offer is to follow this blog. But blog posts can be lengthy and not as frequent as we’d all like. Another way we’ve told people to get updates is by following some of the people here at Twellow (like @richord, @iematthew, and @mmcdonald) using their Twitter accounts. And a lot of people have asked us why we don’t just have a Twellow user they can follow. Well, we’ve asked ourselves that same question.

So we’ve gone ahead and done the obvious thing: we’ve created a Twellow user that people can follow on Twitter to get updates on the Twellow service! @twellowup is the new Twitter user that you can follow to get updates and breaking news about Twellow. We’ll be posting news such as enhanced website features, new categories, and other Twellow updates. After all, we like to keep our users informed about the great things going on here at Twellow.

Cheers!

Matthew Daines
Twellow.com Lead Developer
twellow.com/user/iematthew

Here at Twellow we’re constantly working to make things better, so we’re pleased to announce the creation of a few more categories to help you find the people you’re looking for. These have been created to specifically address requests from several Twellow users, so I’d like to encourage you to contact us with any suggestions you might have for new categories.

Some of our newest categories are as follows:

• Philosophy
• Activism
• Society
• Software Localization
• Life Coaches
• Authors & Writers
• Personal Development

I’d like to thank all our Twellow fans who’ve offered their feedback on these and other categories. You are the reason Twellow is here, and we aim to please. Keep the suggestions coming, and we’ll continue to make our service something special.

Enjoy!

Matthew Daines
Twellow.com Lead Developer
twellow.com/user/iematthew

We’re really excited to announce the release of one of the most anticipated features for Twellow: the Twellow Profile Editor. This new addition allows users to login to Twellow and edit their personal data.

In order to login a user must first verify their ownership of the Twellow profile. This is done by a user finding themselves within the system via the search feature or by going to their user profile page at www.twellow.com/user/twitter_screename (e.g. my profile page is found at www.twellow.com/user/iematthew since my twitter screen name is iematthew). Once the profile is found they can claim their profile by clicking the link on the right-hand side of their profile listing.

Once the profile has been claimed, Twellow will identify it as such and mark the listing as “Twellow Verified”. This means the profile can be managed by the profile owner. Profile aspects which can be initially edited include the following:

• Name
• Bio
• Categories
• Location
• URL

Users can then add themselves to up to ten personally-verified categories. This can be done by either verifying their listing in a category already identified by the system, or by browsing and clicking the “Add me” link found next to each category title on the site, as shown in the example below. The ten-category limit applies only to user-verified categories. Any non-verified categories automatically identified by Twellow do not count toward this limit.

Additional features will become available as the site progresses to allow for a more rich bio-editing toolset, but for now the bio is limited to 256 plain-text characters. As usual, user feedback is encouraged. Feel free to drop us a line at our contact page and let us know how the profile editor works for you, or let us know how we can improve it.

Enjoy!

Matthew Daines
Twellow Lead Developer
twellow.com/user/iematthew

We have some pretty exciting features coming online in the next few days. Twellow has definitely been a hit with a lot of people, so we’re working harder than ever to implement new features that will address a lot of questions about the service. The biggest question most of you have had is, “how can I edit my own categories?”

With this in mind, we’ve created and tested a prototype system that will allow you to have full control over how your information is listed on Twellow. Once we’re satisfied that these features are ready, we’ll make it live on the site and let you know. Keep watching the blog and be sure to follow my Twitter account for the latest breaking updates.

As for newly added features, we’ve added a simple FAQ to the site to help users find answers to their basic questions. Check it out on the website and let us know if you have any other questions you think would be good to include there. We’re always open to suggestions. After all, it’s you that makes Twellow worthwhile.

Cheers!

Matthew Daines
Twellow Lead Developer
www.twellow.com/user/iematthew