My AOL Product Blog
It's a two-way street. We'll tell you about new features we're building and things we're thinking about - you tell us your thoughts and what you want us to build.
- Last build:
- Language:
- en
- Feed URL:
- http://journals.aol.com/fbblog/TheFeedbackBlog/rss.xml
RSS FEED IDEMS: My AOL Product Blog
- Just Some Friendly Suggestions
As we mentioned previously on the My AOL Product Blog we have been working on a number of different new ideas - today we are happy to start testing them out by introducing personalized content recommendations in My AOL. We hope that our recommendations can help you to combat information overload as well as introduce you to appealing content suggestions. Though launched within My AOL, please keep in mind that these new recommendation features are still considered beta products as we continue to perfect them.
Recommendations were added in a two pane design highlighted in the lower pane of My AOL, shown below and found here. The two panes can be explained as follows:
1.) Recommended Content - These are personalized content recommendations. As you click on headlines within My AOL, we (well, our computers) “learn” what you like and suggest similar stories. This information is used solely within My AOL and strictly for the purpose of delivering new, relevant content to you. Your preferences are stored in your history file, you can clear that file at any time.
2.) People Like Me Content – Leverages “wisdom of the crowds” to offer additional suggested readings. As other people use My AOL, they occasionally click on stories that are similar to the items you have selected. Our system recognizes these similarities and provides additional content that might be of interest to you. This information is stored in your history file, which you can clear at any time. Click here for instructions.
Both of these features use a simple and confidential process used to provide friendly suggestions: We hope you find something you like!
Mon, 20 Nov 2006 16:07:16 GMT - Favorites!
We've been so busy working on "things to come" that I haven't had any time to post. But I've noticed more comments about Favorites as well as being able to import/export lists of feeds. We will definitely be providing you a way to import/export your list of feeds in the future.
On the Favorites front...
Did you know you can currently access your favorites on the Web via your screen name? This great little feature doesn't get a lot of promotion, but try it out and let us know what you think! Go to http://favorites.aol.com and sign in - you can add new favorites or import your favorites from the IE browser. It's a handy feature if you like being able to access your favorites from anywhere. AND, as an added bonus, if your favorite sites have associated feeds, you can view all the latest headlines right within the window and then click to go to the site. Here's a screenshot of mine - you can see the item "engadget" is open and lists the latest headlines from their feed.
What do you think?
jc
Tue, 31 Oct 2006 18:21:02 GMT - "feeds"
Syndication, feeds and the word RSS may seem foreign to a lot of people. Recently, the blog, Back In Skinny Jeans, took on explaining RSS the way Oprah would explain it. According to the article:"...in Oprah speak, RSS stands for: I'm "Ready for Some Stories"."We are curious how you would explain all this techno-mumbo-jumbo – how would you explain feeds, RSS and syndication? What made it click for you?As always - thanks for your continued feedback and cool ideas. I'll post more of the stuff I've discovered in the comments soon.-jc
Wed, 11 Oct 2006 13:54:48 GMT - now we're talking
just wanted to call out some of the suggestions we've seen in the past couple days - thanks for the input.
-- alphabetize My Favorites
-- save my feeds in a more reliable way
-- add personalized categories
-- ability to collapse the boxes for feeds
-- feed sharing
you may have noticed that I didn't list anything in here about changes to mail or general aol access or even the current political scene in the US - while I love the fact that you're visiting this blog and participating, there's not much my little team can do about all that! we're laser-focused on improving the MY AOL product including feeds and favorite places. but we'll pass on comments to other teams at the office as much as we can.
i know there are more features you'd like us to build, so keep the suggestions coming! and by the way, while you're at it, let us know if there are other feed readers out there that you currently use and like. if you don't use feed readers, do you have other habits around keeping up with news and blogs? do you just use a list of bookmarks? go directly to sites that you like and forget about the rest?
-jc
Sun, 10 Sep 2006 15:44:34 GMT - MyAOL Wish List.... Tell Us What You Want
As has been mentioned in previous posts, a new and improved MyAOL is coming soon. We can't say exactly when, but promise it'll be worth the wait!
MyAOL is intended to be your online launching point and a collection of your favorite things on the web. If there are specific features that you want to see in a future version, let us know. Tell us how we can better help you organize your online life, entertain you, and/or help find what what you're looking for online.
Thanks,
The MyAOL Team
Tue, 05 Sep 2006 18:05:13 GMT - CookiesI've seen a few posts from people saying that they've added feeds, but when they come back to the site, they don't see them. This is probably due to where you are accessing My AOL.Currently, My AOL is cookie based (it's not tied to your aol or aim screen name) - so if you always use the same browser on the same computer, you should always see your feeds. As you add new feeds, they'll be added to either the "Miscellaneous" category or to whichever category you choose. If you then use My AOL on a different computer or even a different browser, you won't see the feeds you added. Also, if you clear your cookies, you'll wipe out your feed subscriptions - so be careful not to delete your cookies.This is really convenient for some people, because they never have to sign in, they always use the same computer and browser, etc. But personally, I like the idea of being able to take my feed subscriptions with me from place to place, since I use lots of computers. And since I get to make product decisions now, this feature is on its way :)
Tue, 05 Sep 2006 02:21:59 GMT - Some questions about feeds
There are lots of questions being posted - unfortunately I can't answer any questions about mail, message boards or other parts of the service. But I can talk about feeds and other feaures of "My AOL"...
Question from folallampa: Why do my feeds show up on My AOL with a message that they have been posted 5 hours ago when they have not been posted for more than 1 hour ago?
The "posted" time is based on the timestamp of the published feed. So if the feed was published at a certain time, we look at that time and then show how long ago it was. What feed are you specifically concerned about? We can check to see if there's a discrepancy.
Question from cdelbiaggi: When I click on MY AOL, I expect to see what options I have selected for ME. Where is the option to get to MY FAVORITES or MY BUDDY LIST?
The current version of My AOL is a simple feed reader - meaning, it helps you organize content you subscribe to from around the web. We know lots of people want their favorites, horoscopes, etc - so we're going to bring that back. Stay tuned for more news on that soon. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Comment from b4contact: Would be great if I could share my feeds with some persons from my Blog. I see there is some possibiity to link to my AOL but Im not sure if the link will work for people that is not subscribed or registered to AOL
Best for your team!If I understand your request, you want to share your list of feeds with others. Right now there's no automatic way to do that (you'd have to email your list of feeds manually) - but we agree with you. So we're building an easy way for you to share your feeds with friends online (anyone - not just aol users). Thanks for your suggestion!
Ok - I'll comment on one non-MyAOL post- but only because I REALLY want everyone to have this information.
Comment from purrshana: I have been an AOL member for around 12 yrs. give or take some if you will. I am paying an ungodly amount of money for AOL service ($30.90/month)
Purrshana - thanks for using AOL for so long!! hopefully by now you've received an e-mail from aol announcing that you can use AOL services for free (if you provide your own internet connection) or pay a reduced rate for connectivity. Visit this site for details: http://aol.com/free - no more $30.90 per month!!
alrighty everyone - it's Sunday, so I'm going out to enjoy the day now that the rain has left the area. enjoy your labor day weekend!
Sun, 03 Sep 2006 15:40:34 GMT - busy busy
all i can say is 'wow' in response to all the questions and feedback we're getting. thanks for coming by! there have been some really insightful suggestions that we've taken back to the team - and the good news is that most are already in the plans.
just fyi, since our team focuses on My AOL we can't always answer questions about mail or other parts of the service but we'll try to help where we can.
make sure to check out these blogs from other AOL teams:
Community Info Blog (community related info)
AOL/AIM Web Suite Blog (for mail, calendar, pictures, alerts)
Wed, 30 Aug 2006 16:20:59 GMT - a new looktoday we launched a new look for My AOL - check out all that COLOR.it's a small step, but I think it improves the usability of this site. like it? hate it?as i mentioned before, we've spent a lot of time going through all the feedback you've posted and sent us through the beta site and we hear you loud and clear! GREAT THINGS ARE COMING :-) so please check back with us often as we'll be trying lots of new things over the coming months.jc
Wed, 16 Aug 2006 15:31:13 GMT - welcome to our blog
hi there!
i'm part of the new product team for websites like My AOL. we (me, jim, mary, mike, rob and others) want to use this blog as a way to let you know about upcoming changes and other things we think you should know about. but we also hope you'll leave comments letting us know who you are, what you think (be nice please! we're working folk just like you) and offering good suggestions that we can take back to the office.
the most recent My AOL site has been up for over a year now and it's been an interesting study. lots of feedback - good and bad. some people love the simplicity. others miss the traditional elements they had on our older "my" products - like horoscopes, weather and stocks. let me say THANK YOU to those people who took the time to provide feedback (good and bad). we're using that info to bring lots of big updates in the coming months.
we're all excited about the features we're building and anxious to roll them out and get more of your feedback. we're looking forward to hearing from you.
jc
Mon, 10 Jul 2006 16:32:04 GMT
