While we're always improving and extending the features of NewsCloud's Facebook Connect Application Platform, here is a summary of what's available now:
- Runs as a Facebook application and simultaneously as a Web application via Facebook connect. For examples, see Facebook and the Web. This allows you to simultaneously strengthen your presence inside Facebook while extending your web site with our interactive crowdsourcing features.
- Facebook integration. Users log in via their Facebook account. Users see each other's names and profile photos which tends to encourage more civil behavior and discussion. Comments and Liked items can be automatically posted to users' walls or posted individually. Features work nearly identically whether the user visits the Web (Facebook Connect) or Facebook application site.
- Configurable front page of news and interactive widgets. The navigation tabs for any site can be customized based on the features you decide to integrate. The front page for each site can be fully customized on a regular basis to include news updates, featured stories and interactive widgets from each of our popular feature areas. The front page of the site can be configured via an easy drag and drop interface. Widgets are laid out to fit automatically by the Masonry Jquery plugin. We now also have animated slideshow widgets which help present more features in a compact form.
- Customized design skin for your brand. Working with our design partner EyeLevel, we can create a completely customized skin based on your brand. We can also now integrateTypeKit.com fonts. Geeks: we're using HAML and SASS to make customizing the skin programmatically quite easy for open source adopters.
- News aggregation. The news page provides for readers and editors to present news, top stories from third party sites and from select RSS feeds (wires). Readers can Like, Comment, Share, Tweet or Post their own story. Partners can automate integration of their own content via our CMS integration, including the full story content from an RSS or XML feed. Our wizards make it easy for users to post links to news stories from across the Web.
- Real time notifications. Notifications is what makes our application so powerful. Users receive real time alerts and emails when other participants respond to their stories, comments and other user generated content. The notifications keep readers returning to the site and help establish and grow online community.
- Advertising integration. Our platform has built in support for Google ads, Helios IQ (OAS), OpenX and can be easily expanded to support other solutions.
- Community blogging. You and your readers can post your own full length stories and blog entries. Readers can like, comment, share, tweet, tag and compose their own entries. Some of our clients recruit and manage teams of volunteers to create hosted blogging communities.
- Multimedia Galleries. You and your readers can post photos and videos to one or more galleries allowing for the sharing, commenting and rating of multimedia content.
- Predictions Game. You can set up topics and questions for readers to make predictions, such as Will Obama be re-elected in 2012? When questions complete, top predictors are placed on a high scores page. It's an excellent way to make current events fun and interactive.
- Classifeds & Lending Library (coming soon). We'll soon be launching a classifieds feature for our platform which allows readers to share physical goods with their friends and neighbors, sell stuff or give away unneeded items.
- Discussion forums. You can create multiple forums for readers to post topics on any topical area that you want to cover. Posts can be liked, replied to, shared and tweeted.
- Directory of Links & Resources. Given any set of categories you choose, you and your readers can create curated groups of links. This can be useful for providing standing resources such as top municipal websites in your area or something fun like crowdsourcing the best coffeehouses in your city. Readers can Like, Share, Tweet and Comment on items. Some partners are also using this to present deals.
- Ideas. Let your readers brainstorm on topics related to your city, your beat or the news of the week. Create any number of idea pages to help your audience crowdsource to find the best solutions to urban problems or the best response to a specific story. Engage them with the news and each other using idea pages.
- Questions and Answers. Create a resource on your site for people to get answers to the questions they need. Our Q&A feature lets readers ask questions that are then answered by you or other readers. It's also a great way to have readers give back - by volunteering their time to answer questions for other readers. This feature can become a great ongoing resource for your site and your community.
- Event Calendar. Create a crowdsourced or curated calendar for events related to your beat or community. You and your readers can import events from Facebook so they can be shared with other readers on your site. Zvent licensees can also import Zvents. Events can be Liked, Commented, Shared and Tweeted.
- Member Scoring System and Scoreboard. We offer a high scores page of top members. You can fully customize how your scoring system operates, choosing to emphasize participation (quantity of activity) or appreciation (quality of activity as judged by other members.
- Send a card (beta). Let your readers share photo or image cards from your site with their Facebook friends. For example, at Genome Alberta's GenOmics application, readers can send fun genes to their friends. A city-beat application could let readers or google searchers send postcards from your city. Currently requires customization on a per partner basis.
- Foreign language support. You can provide multiple language translations for the navigational and support text within the application. You can also allow readers to switch on the fly between one or more translations. Content and comment translation is a feature being requested by some of our partners - let us know if you want to contribute to this work.
- Widgets for your web site. Many of the widgets you see in the application can be embedded in your own web site or blog, or any third party site. So, it's easy to dynamically present links to popular content in your application from any other website.
- Revenue generation. In addition to advertising, we've integrated support for Outbrain which dynamically embeds sponsored links and related pages into your application and self-serve advertising service TrafficSpaces. More revenue generating features are planned.
- Shortcuts. You can provide friendly shortcut links to any feature in your site, e.g. http://theneedle.us/go/cycling links to the Cycling discussion forum. http://theneedle.us/go/viaduct jumps to Seattle's Viaduct predictions page.
- Background jobs and scheduling. Full support for Resque powered by Redis for scheduling background jobs and asynchronous processing.
- Site Maps. Automated generation of indexed site maps for search engines such as Google and Yahoo, assists greatly with SEO.
- Twitter Connect Integration. We allow users to tweet your content right from the application as well as support automated background tweeting of popular stories and content.
- Moderation & Flagging. Our system supports different user levels such as admins, editors and moderators and can notify you immediately when content is flagged by readers.
- Statistical Tracking. Our application is fully integrated with Facebook's Insight Statistics and Google Analytics so that your site's metrics can be tied into your existing web metrics. The site can be easily extended to support other tracking systems.
- Miscellaneous. Partners can fully customize the navigational and support text in the application.
- Online support. Full online support community discussions and FAQs powered by TenderApp. Visit http://support.newscloud.com to see what's available.
