In Beta: Comment via Cullect
Last night, at Ignite Minneapolis, Tom Elko demo-ed a new feature of Cullect that we’ve dubbed ‘Comment via Cullect’.
‘Comment via Cullect’ is a re-working of the Item Stats widget that’s driving the URL shortener.
Here’s the recorded video from the event, Tom’s presentation is about 50 minutes in.
Thanks again Tom – I’m excited to have this out in the wild.
HOW TO: Build Your Own URL Shortener in 2 Steps
First, pick up a domain you’d like to use for your short urls – i.e. mine.url – and turn on a webserver.
To Receive a Shortened URL for your domain from Cullect:
Add the Cullect Item Stats javascript widget to an HTML page, passing it a long URL and your domain:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://cullect.com/item.js?only_link=1&link=[the-really-long-url]&domain=mine.url"></script>
To Redirect a Shortened URL from your domain
Add the Cullect redirect to your .htaccess file:
RewriteRule ^(l?[0-9]*)$ http://cullect.com/redirect/$1?domain=mine.url [L]
You now have your own custom domain URL shortener with all the bells and whistles Culld.us has. For extra credit – play around with the options in the Cullect Item Stats widget
Introducing the Cullect Item Stats Widget
The Cullect Item Stats widget shows 2 things:
- An item’s ‘Short link’ from Culld.us
- The number of times a given post has been ‘Recommended’ in Cullect (this won’t show if the number is 0)
Here’s the code for the widget:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://cullect.com/item.js?link=[items-permalink]"></script>
If you’re using WordPress and comfortable hacking your template, paste this code:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://cullect.com/item.js?link=<?php the_permalink() ?>"></script>
Important Rank Update: Now Includes Culld.us & Widgets
Now, every time a http://culld.us link is clicked (i.e. the ‘Short Link’ next to each item in Cullect.com reading lists) it influences the item’s Important Ranking.
Same goes for each page with any Cullect widget on it.
It feels good to tie everything together.
Feed Stats Widget Update: Feed URL Option Added
Up until just a few minutes ago, the Cullect Feed Stats widget guessed the feed from the auto-discovery tag in the HTML. Sometimes it guessed wrong.
That can happen when a single site has (or historically had) lots of different feed URLs. For example, WordPress automatically generates a number of feeds: ?feed=rss2, /feed/rss, /feed/atom, etc not to mention Feedburner or Pheedo redirects. All of which may have a different set of subscribers.
Now, you by using http://cullect.com/feed.js?feed=[your-feed-url] you can specify exactly which feed you want stats for (and even compare the popularity of different feeds).
As an added benefit, specifying the feed will cut the widget’s load time – and therefore the load time of your page.
Cullect Serves Publishers Too.
Exactly. From the beginning, I wanted Cullect to be useful to feed publishers as well as their readers.
There are a number of ways it’s doing that now,:
- Readers can donate a percentage of their monthly Cullect subscription to their favorite blogger, podcaster, writer, publisher (yes, these donations directly impact a feed’s important ranking).
- The Cullect Robot says which reading lists a feed is in and any monthly donation amount.
- Cullect Feed Stats widget can display a feeds most important items or it’s recommended items.
- Cullect recognizes comments-url tag and links to the original feed item.
How To: Customize Your Feeds’ Cullect.com Feed Statistics Widget
Cullect has a simple javascript widget that displays all the information Cullect has about your feed, all in a single line of code, all ready for embedding on your own blog:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.cullect.com/feed.js"></script>
You can see the Feed Stats widget in action right here at blog.cullect.com and at GarrickVanBuren.com. For more the sites using it, check out the Widget archive of this blog.
By default, the Feed Stats widget shows;
- 10 Most Important items as ranked by Cullect.com’s Importance algorithm
- Amount of money donated and number of patrons to the feed
- The lists of reading lists the feed is in
- Link to create new Cullect reading list with the feed
- Link back to Cullect.com
If you’d rather show the 10 Most Important items, change the code to include “selected=recommended“:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.cullect.com/feed.js?selected=recommended"></script>
If you only want the 5 Most Recommended items, just say “count=5“:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.cullect.com/feed.js?count=5&selected=recommended"></script>
If you don’t want to show the donations (”show_patrons“) or the Reading Lists (show_lists), change the code to:
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.cullect.com/feed.js?show_patrons=0&show_lists=0"></script>
And, just like that you’ve customized the which statistics Cullect displays on your blog.
The Feed Stats widget, like all Cullect.com widgets, adopts the CSS of the site they’re embedded on. If you’d like to change how it looks, here’s a breakdown of the HTML & CSS. Make it look cool.
<span class='cullect-widget' id='cullect-feed-stats'>
<h3>[Your Blog] at Cullect.com</h3>
<ul id='[recommended-items OR important-items]'>
<li></li>
</ul>
<p id='feed-patrons'></p>
<p id='feed-reading-lists'></p>
<p id='start-reading-list'><strong></strong></p>
<p><small></small></p>
</span>
The Psychic Cost of Transparency
The Cullect Feed Stats widget displays everything Cullect knows about a feed; recommended posts, number of reading lists, amount of donations, number of patrons. The goal is to be transparent with publishers about the life of their feed within Cullect and show the importance of their feed to new readers.
All these metrics are volatile.
We can now actually ask these questions. If Dave knew the missing reading list’s number, he could dial it up. Was he part of a mass unsub? Did the tone of the reading list change such that EGC didn’t seem on-topic any more?
Sure there’s a possibility the answer is still unsatisfying, but it’s still one more step closer to the larger goal of connecting publishers and readers.
Widget Sighting: Minneapoliscast.com
The log files told me Tony Thomas added the Cullect.com feed stats widget and a reading lists widget to Minneapoliscast.com.
The reading list widget is from Cullect.com/206 – Tony’s curation of Minnesota music blogs. If you’ve got VLC (or another music app that understands m3u) load up http://cullect.com/206.m3u and give it a listen.
Update: If you prefer pls, that works as well – http://cullect.com/206.pls
Either playlist format works just fine in iTunes.
Go to Advanced -> Open Stream…. and enter one of the above URLs.
Evil Genius; Feed Stats Widget Sighting, Call for Support
Dave added the Cullect.com Feed Stats widget to Evil Genius Chronicles yesterday (right below his Google Shared Items widget). This is makes me super happy, because, as you can see, a number of Dave’s posts are recommended reading within Cullect. His widget effectively shows one of the promises and intentions of the Feed Stats widget – creating a ‘Best of Your Website’ as determined by the members of Cullect.com.
Also notice the $0/month donated by 0 patrons in his widget.
We need to change that. Join Cullect.com and forward a percentage of your membership to Dave. It’ll make him even more important. The easiest way to do this: click the ‘Start a New Cullect.com Reading List with Evil Genius Chronicles‘ link in Dave’s widget.
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