Archive for June, 2009
Rest in Peace
June 26th, 2009
Heartbreaking news today.
We lost both Michael Jackson and Farah Fawcett.
I feel like I’ve lost 2 childhood friends.
May they rest in peace.
Posted in 
Summer School Lenses are HOT
June 26th, 2009
I offered to be the caretaker of the Giant Squid Summer School Assignment lenses because I was expecting huge things from our Giant Squid Lensmasters and I selfishly wanted to be the first one to see their assignment lenses. I have to say that I haven’t been let down at all! All of the participating RocketMoms are doing a great job of keeping up as well!
The assignment for last week was to create a lens about your most prized possession. As of this posting I’ve read through 48 lenses, each one just as interesting and entertaining as the last. We’ve gotten a nice mix of serious and sentimental, cute and comedic, and even enticingly educational.
It’s fun to witness the way a single assignment can be interpreted in so many awesome creative ways!
If you’ve got a little time to spare, you’d do well to stop by the Summer School Week #2 Assignment Lens HERE and visit the creative works of the Giant Squid Summer School Class of 2009.
Summer School Week One Assignment Lenses: Caption Contest
Summer School Week Two Assignment Lenses: Most Prized Possession
So long, Dark Ages
June 24th, 2009
As I posted a few weeks ago, it’s time to update our old “min” lens design from the dark ages. It’s a few years old by this point, and for coding and debugging and style reasons, we’re upgrading it to the recently released new “max” design.
What does this mean? If you’re new to Squidoo and this sounds like gibberish, skip this post. It’s not going to change the way you build and publish and promote your lenses. Just keep on doing your thing.
If you’ve been around for a while and currently have a min lens, starting on Thursday it will inherit the max lens default style. In short: Min gets a facelift, and Max becomes what it was intended to be — the experimental choice for lensmasters who enjoy having the first mover advantage of trying out new stuff on their lenses going forward.
One caveat: For the sake of simple testing, the 2-week long experiment with ads will run on all lenses on the site, regardless of max or min status. (Unless you chose the charity opt-out setting, of course).
Only one week to go to be a Giant Squid!
June 24th, 2009
I wanted to address a few questions and give some last minute tips about becoming a Giant Squid.
- You MUST apply in order to be considered for Giant Squid or 100 Club status. Just send your Squidoo Profile page to giants@squidoo.com or 100club@squidoo.com for the 100 Club by midnight EST on Tuesday, June 30th, that’s it!
- Try, try again! If you apply and don’t get in try
again. You will not be penalized at all for applying, in fact we
encourage it! It’s also a great way to gauge your progress and keep
challenging yourself. - Quality content is key. One of the main things we
look for is quality, creative, original content. Create lenses from the
heart. Write what you know. Be a leader! Cookie cutter lenses are not
only boring but won’t impress us for Giant Squid status. - Review the guidelines. If you follow these guidelines you’re sure to succeed. But if you’ve got this stuff in your lenses you might want to make some improvements.
The bottom line is that we want you to succeed! We are thrilled to
pick the new Giant Squid each quarter and are just as excited as you
when we make the announcement. This is a team effort and we are on your
team. Good Luck!
Who Will Be the New Giants
June 24th, 2009
Are you ready? Have you got 50 awesome Squidoo lenses?
Don’t wait a minute longer, apply today by sending us a link to your bio page.
giants(at)squidoo.com
Deadline to apply is June 30, 2009
And to think some people take summers off!
June 21st, 2009
Here at Squidoo, Summer is a time for fun projects, new experiments, and working extra hard while everyone else is off frolicking at the beach.
If it feels like we’ve put a lot of new stuff in front of you in the last few weeks, it’s probably because we have! From a new max layout and more modules, to a suite of look&feel themes for your lenses; from purple stars and Giant Squid Summer School, to a new direction for spam and junk policies. And we’re not done yet. Not by a long shot.
This note is to give interested lensmasters a heads-up on what we’re doing next. Starting Sunday at midnight EST, we’re embarking on a 2 week experimentation with ads. Before the words are even out of my mouth (off my fingers?) I know many of you are groaning at the idea. Oh no, not ads!
I know, believe me. But here’s what we’re aiming for, and what I hope you’ll keep in mind when you see them.
We believe in investing in our community. We believe in giving you tools and platforms and connections for making terrific lenses that you enjoy and benefit from. If you’re here for the money, we want to help you make as much money as we can from your good work. For you or charity.
Now consider the circumstances. 2009 is not a terrific economy for advertising. Ads aren’t worth what they used to be. When that happens, the overall ad pool that lensmasters benefit from goes down. And unless you made it up with your directly attributable module sales (many of you do!), your royalties last month might have felt a little light in the pockets.
So here’s what we’re doing.
Over the next 2 weeks, we’re going to run some advertising tests to see if we can reach previous levels. To start, we’re going to try a new display ad unit at the top of lenses. It will run from Sunday at midnight EST for one week. We’ll watch numbers, and if they’re considerable, we’ll work on a way to design that spot even better. If the numbers aren’t worth it, for us or for you, we’ll take the ad down. And try something else the following week.
What this means is that 2 weeks from now we should be smarter about what (if any) new ad layout works better on lenses, while being very sensitive to maintaining the integrity of your content and continuing to create a good experience for you and your readers.
As always, if you’re not here for the money, consider changing your royalties 100% to charity. Then you can opt out of display ads on your lenses in one click.
Thanks for your patience.
Week Two
June 20th, 2009
Just a Quick Reminder that the Week Two Summer School Assignment Has Been Posted and today is the last day for sign-ups!
Purple Stars Awarded Week Ending 6/19/2009
June 20th, 2009
These are the Purple Stars that were scattered during the week ending June 19, 2009.
What are my Pets trying to tell Me?
T-Shirts for Loved Ones of Navy Nukes
A Special Shining Star on Squidoo
June 19th, 2009
I’ve said it before and I’m going to say it again: I love lensmasters on Squidoo.
We have givers, helpers, teachers, leaders, and mentors far too numerous to name. They all shine like stars, but some stand out like the sun in a clear, blue summer sky. One who does is lensmaster Kim Giancaterino.
This week Kim published her 250th lens. To celebrate, she decided to use her SquidAngel powers to squid-bless 100 lenses chosen from those belonging to her nearly 1000 fans. She features all of those, plus a few bonus choices, on the lens she calls A Day of 100 Squid Angel Blessings.
Congratulations, Kim, for reaching that amazing 250 mark, and thanks for bringing sunshine into my day more times than I can count.
Small (but popularly requested) update to SquidThemes
June 19th, 2009
Just wanted to let you know that you can now pick a theme and add it to all your lenses at once. In one click.
Oh, and you don’t have to publish your lenses in order for the theme to work. Just select a theme for the lens and voila: it instantly shows up.
This is what you’ll see in your Workshop:
