- Follow-Up for Another Timeline Tool: Dipity TimeTube
- UGC = User Generated Content
- CGC = Company Generated Content
I'll show you a great live example for a product timeline
Out of fun (because I am a fan) I have added a nice product timeline for Gorillapod mini-tripods using a mashup of UGC and CGC. As I have not the rights to post script code I can only recommend to follow the link at the bottom of this article. Search performancing.com for Gorillapod to see about which product I am talking about.
Check the live example and you can see how you can add great dynamic content for your content niche or to (company) websites...
Dipity.com timelines - A short resume 1st
- You can add events to a timeline by subsribing to RSS feeds which works great
- You can add events directly in a timeline (nice media features!)
- Events can be opened directly in the timeline thus keeping readers on your page
- Every timeline has an RSS feed but only with text (Imagine looping RSS feeds...).
- The timeline flipbook mode works great for photos. Photos link to external articles.
- Flipbook mode is not so good for videos as they are not popping up. But they do pop-up and play in default view.
- List mode is beautiful to monitor the activities. Should be enhanced though (filter, sort order, etc.)
- All in all it is a great mashup to combine i.e. company information and user generated content.
Last not least: Besides having its own RSS feed every timeline can be embedded with a short piece of Javascript.
Example: Joby Gorillapod - Three mini tripods (media, discussions, support)
This timeline shows activities about the Gorillapod tripods (Gorillapod, Gorillapod SLR, Gorillapod SLR-Zoom) from joby.com. The Gorillapod timeline is powered by some Gorillapod feeds (Inspirations and To-Do checklist for general usage in brackets):
- Flickr Gorillapod LOVE photo pool (Your companies or a UGC photo pool)
- Flickr Gorillapod LOVE group discussion (Subscribe to a forum feed)
- Joby support forum: getsatisfaction.com/joby feed (Show off your great company responses)
- Flickr photos tagged gorillapod (A general feed)
- Google Blog-Search: gorillapod (Reactions about your products from the blogosphere
- YouTube :: Tag // gorillapod (Media enrichment)
Live Example: Gorillapod timeline on dipity.com
Your decision how to incorporate UGC or a timeline
More or less control about the timeline content
- More User Generated Content = less control
- Filter user content first = more work
- More Company Generated Content = more control, more work
Possibilities to incorporate the timeline
- You like the timeline: Embedd it
- You don't like the timeline but the content: Embedd the timeline RSS feed
- In any case: Deploy your own product news magazine a.k.a. newsletter (see below)
Such a timeline is a great opportunity if you have a pretty static company website but want to add dynamic content.
A short word on promotion and SEO
SEO with a timeline
Use i.e. FeedBurner to promote your timeline RSS feed as you can be pretty sure that articles talking about your product will contain your company and product name and will contain backlinks. The timeline RSS feed does not contain links but links to the sources and this way the search engines will note the original articles.
Promotion with a timeline
Such a product specific timeline is like a fresh newspaper about your company and/or product. Make sure to offer the possibility to subscribe to new content via email (RSS Feed to Email via i.e. FeedBurner). Classical old fashioned consumers or product fans will love the opportunity to be informed by a product specific newsletter.
Use your imagination and create your own timelines for your content niche(s).
Markus: Very interesting.
Markus: Very interesting. Looks as if you're really getting into Dipity Timeline. I haven't explored Dipity fully yet, but I'm hoping they have an API similar to how SIMILE Timeline does. But I like the ability to add editors.
Repository is the key
As I said in a comment to one of your other timeline articles: A timeline becomes interesting when it keeps the events instead of just showing a RSS feed dependent time window.
A timeline is a different kind of chronological publishing form which makes a lot of sense when you consider company usage. I have many website clients for whom such a tool makes sense because it is simply more impressing (read: more WOW) then simply mashing text snippets from RSS feeds. There are also loads of negative aspects but that was not the main point of my 'insiration'.
As you said in a comment at the other articles: Create an event feed.
I also love the translation of 'timeline' into 'automatic news monitoring' with a nice UI.
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