IZEA Blog

Well, folks, last week we named the last "RockStars" of 2008, on an episode of "TedTube." Congratulations to all, and we look forward to celebrating the rockstars of 2009!

Postie of the Month:
Postie Lori has been with the IZEA Community for quite some time, and is active on the message boards (a great resource for all things IZEA). Lori's manages several blogs, all of which consist of clean layouts, information relevant to their respective readers, and updated content. If you're interested those blogs are: A Cowboy's Wife, My Wooden Spoon, and Cowgirl Critiques.

Advertiser of the Month:
Zenni Optical has run several Opportunities through our consumer generated advertising marketplace; they offer fashionable prescription eyewear starting at $8.

RockStar of the Month:
Congratulations to Luke Mattern. Luke is a member of the Operations team (he's smart and deals with numbers) and has been with the IZEA family almost since the launch back in the Summer of 2006. Rock on, Luke!

In addition to naming December's rockstars we also held the last IZEA Loco of the year. Some of the photos are featured here. If you'd like to view more photos please visit our Flickr profile or our Facebook Fan Page.

Following are the "Twitter Tips" for the third week of December; there is not one for 12/26. Thanks to those who've been keeping-up with them:

My personal favorite is the last tip. Cleaning-up your blog every-now-and-then can make a big difference -- try it...you might be surprised!

If you would like to submit the tips for the final week (12/29-12/30) you can e-mail them directly to me.

Several days ago we announced the winners of the Sears promotion via an episode of TedTube. In case you missed the episode or had trouble viewing the video, the winners are listed here for your convenience:

$500 - Premium Contest

Ted (Ted.me)- @de1mar22
Liz Strauss (successful-blog.com) - Jennifer Hedden
Joseph Jaffe (Jaffejuice.com) - @Nminore
Chris Pirillo (chris.pirillo.com) - Kevin Jackson
Jim Kukral (jimkukral.com) - AmandaK
Chris Heuer (chrisheuer.com) - Lisa L.
Steve Spalding (howtosplitanatom.com) - @husseinad
Tamar Weinberg (techipedia.com) - Christina Brunetti
Aaron Brazell (technosailor.com) - Kate

$100 - Insiders Contest

Drew Bennett (benspark.com) - Val
Steve Sanders (steven-sanders.com) - Donna S.
Tim Jones (therealtimjones.com) - Tara Hill
Corrin Foster (corrinrenee.com) - Christina
Laurie Brosius (laviedelaurie.com) - @Karen215
Brett Bumeter (Something-about-harry.com) - Kim
Julie Vazquez (juliesjournal.com) - Jeanette Malan
Heather Smith (boatinginbeautifulbritishcolumbia.com) - Tracye Boyd
Kathleen Argonza (toughgirl101.com) - conniesview.com
Elizabeth Edwards (table4five.net) - Angie P
Lisa Martin (mythoughtsideasandramblings.com) - Oona B.
Mark Burstiner (markburstiner.com) - Becky Grady

Those bloggers who ran the contest on their site(s) should've already been contacted by the IZEA Team. If you haven't, or know one of these winners, please e-mail crystal[at]izea[dot]com.

Thanks to those who participated in this program! We look forward to many more in the coming year.

2009 is going to be the year IZEA takes over! We're so excited about what's ahead, and can't wait to share with you all of the awesome things we're working on. I can guarantee you won't see any of this from Ted or the IZEA Team:


Will you be along for the ride? We want "movers and shakers" who are going to be passionate about social media and a driving force behind making changes, not folks who are going to ride in the back and snooze.

What do you hope to see IZEA accomplish in the coming year?

Calling all Posties, Advertisers, and friends of IZEA! We hope you'll join us tomorrow for the last TedTube of the year, during which Ted will be announcing the winners of the recent Sears campaign sweepstakes (and you know how much fun we had announcing the Kmart winners last week).

You can watch TedTube live and chat with other IZEA Community members tomorrow at 4pm EDT by visiting http://www.ustream.tv/channel/tedtube. And if you're in the Central Florida area and have nothing to do at 3pm EDT, please feel free to stop by IZEA Headquarters for the last IZEA Loco of 2009! It's gonna be a good one.

On Facebook? Visit our Fan Page and let us know you'll be attending either or both the broadcast and IZEA Loco.

Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow....

Several folks followed and submitted the "Twitter Tips" for week two (12/8-12/12), and after randomly drawing names I'd like to announce @ramanujam as the winner. Thanks for playing, @ramanujam. We'll be sending you a couple of fun IZEA items.

Here is a snapshot of the week's tips:

If you have collected the tips from week three, please send them to me via e-mail at ashley[at]izea[dot]com. We will be posting the three final tips this week, ending on Wednesday the 31st.

So what is CloudShout? Tired of reading about it? Not making much sense to you? Well, why don't we look at it first hand instead! :) Adam and I took some time before the holidays to create some videos that will hopefully demonstrate what CloudShout is exactly, and how you can use it on your blogs.

Installing CloudShout and using the Activity Hub:
Shows how to add CloudShout to your blog and how to use the Activity Hub.


Direct Download


Communicating:
Shows how to communicate with the people you encounter


Direct Download


What is a CloudShout App?
How to manage your apps, what the difference is between user apps and blog apps.


Direct Download


Application Demos:
Examples of the applications in use: FlickShout, LastFMShout, Checkers, DangFocus and more


Direct Download


Developing Applications:
Adam demonstrates developing a CloudShout application from scratch.


Direct Download
Google Group Link: http://groups.google.com/group/cloudshout-development


Have a wonderful holiday!!

104 boxes of cereal.

20 minutes in a local Kmart store.

3 sets of tools purchased from Sears.

2 visits to local Central Florida charities: Rock for Hunger and the Orlando chapter of Habitat for Humanity.

1 rockin' cereal wall.

These are just a handful of things that made up IZEA's "Charity Day" yesterday. We're looking to do more initiatives like this in the coming year so be ready to join us in our efforts; this was the perfect way to end the year.


Charity Day from Ted Murphy on Vimeo.

If you have any suggestions about charities, "for cause" blogs, or would simply like us to contact you to get involved in future projects feel free to e-mail us at charity[at]izea[dot]com.

Warm wishes from the entire IZEA Team during this holiday season! And thanks to those who have shared a little bit of themselves with us this year:

I. Goodies from Postie Heather (she always sends us good stuff). And yes...that is a light strand made from miniature liquor bottles:

II. And even more goodies from Postie Jody:

FYI...IZEA Headquarters will officially be closed the following dates, in observance of the holidays:

• Wednesday, December 24th
• Thursday, December 25th
• Friday, December 26th
• Wednesday, December 31st
• Thursday, January 1st

Here's what this update includes:

CloudShout Customization:

• You can now customize the color and skin of CloudShout on your blog to better integrate it with the look and feel of your site.

CloudShout Communication:

• IZEA GroupChat has been removed as a stand-alone app and has been added as a core app of CloudShout. This means that you no longer have to install GroupChat. Everyone has it.
• Added a button on the Hub that will launch the GroupChat application.
• Joining a Friend - if you see someone online that is not at the current site you are on, then you can "join" them at the site they are at with one click.

Launch Buttons:

• Developers may wish to create buttons for their applications that site owners can place anywhere on their site if they choose to. This acts as a quick launch method to getting to those app (the ones you think your community will benefit from the most) instead of user having to locate them in the Activity Hub.

App Search:

• Searching for apps is now a little more intelligent in finding the most relevant apps.

Other bug fixes:

• Fixed issue with the blog list sometimes not showing up on a user profile.
• Fixed issue with blog titles in the app store.
• Fixed issue with signup emails
• Fixed other display issues.
• Fixed issue where clicking on anything in the App Store in IE caused the user to appear to leave the page to other users on that page.

CloudShout will be going down for a short period of time while we roll out these updates.

UPDATE: The release is out with only a few minutes downtime. We hope you like playing with the customization options! Have a great holiday!