Announcement: Cinematical Introduces Socialthing!

by Scott Weinberg May 5th 2009 // 3:02PM

We've added a nifty new gizmo to the bottom of our pages, and we're hoping it'll give you more to do at Cinematical than just read a few posts, comment on how LAME we are for not liking Wolverine, and email the latest Eric Snider article to your mom with the subject line "OMG, sooo funny!" I've only been able to play around with our new Socialthing doo-hickey for a few minutes, and so far my favorite aspect is that Cinematical now has a nifty little chat room! To talk about movies in! With your fellow readers AND Cine-staff members!

I've been told that Socialthing does a lot more than just that, though. According to my notes, it can also help you...

Stay connected with the sites you love, wherever you are
Bring your social graph with you to the site you are on
Easily share your activity with buddies
Keep up with buddies' activities via feeds
Discover new content, buddies, etc.
Facilitate conversations with people that have like interests in a site's content

(That last one is the chat room geekery that has me all excited.) So please do give the Socialthing toolbar a little spin, and let us know what you think of our new toy. I plan to throw a few trivia parties and such in that chat room during the summer, so be sure you know how the gizmo works! If you'd like a little more info before jumping in, check out the official Socialthing site and nose around a bit.

UPDATE: We've decided to remove Socialthing for the time being so that we can take it back to the shed and build a much better model that all of us can enjoy. As always, we thank you for your patience, understanding and feedback.

[ UPDATE: We had some minor glitches with our comments sections over the weekend, but things are now back to normal. You can leave comments with your Cinematical login, and if you'd rather not use your 'regular' AIM handle for SocialThing, then feel free to register a new and fitting AOL screen name, like BobLovesCinematical or something like that. ]

38 Comments

Tags: featured

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)

5-05-2009 @ 4:17PM

Kwnart said...

Wow

So you have to log into that social thing system to leave comments?

Lame...

See ya...

5-05-2009 @ 4:24PM

BloodwerK said...

#1 - I'm with you. I have no use for social things...

5-05-2009 @ 4:43PM

esdavis88 said...

We're working on making it so you do not have to have an AOL account in order to leave a comment -- hang in there, folks

5-05-2009 @ 5:25PM

MCW said...

The bad part is I logged in with my AOL screenname (Which I never use for anything), and joined the chat, and it immediately displayed my email address (My AOL Screenname) to everyone in the room (And probably will right now too). Not like I don't already get enough spam email, but worse yet, AOL doesn't let you change your screenname.

So, yeah, I won't be using this one either until you get that going, es.

5-05-2009 @ 6:20PM

Rich said...

Hopefully there will be a way to disable the toolbar for it too.

5-05-2009 @ 5:40PM

CNS said...

This is really cool.

5-05-2009 @ 6:03PM

William said...

As useful as it may be for some people, is there an option to turn it off?

5-05-2009 @ 10:34PM

MarkH said...

Yes, please: add a way to turn off the toolbar. I will never use it, and it's just adding clutter right now.

5-05-2009 @ 10:46PM

Wayne said...

Yes, please kill it. It's annoying and useless.

5-05-2009 @ 11:56PM

Joe said...

I could see people that have AOL liking this but for me it is nothing I will or would use so no help for me. I hope there is a way to get the thing at the bottom of the screen to go away.

5-06-2009 @ 12:13AM

RoyM said...

please make it stop. where's the off switch? Cinematical is far too classy for this schtick.

5-06-2009 @ 8:24AM

MCW said...

Really?! I can see the other arguments... but "classy"?

5-06-2009 @ 8:46AM

Roy A. Mauritsen Jr. said...

I'm trying to butter them up! and since people on here don't post "first!" 20 twenty times like some other movie sites and they try to cover a greater range of topics not just the latest comic book movie, I'd call them classy comparatively. ( still trying to butter them up.)

5-06-2009 @ 12:24AM

YouFaceTheTick said...

Hopefully we can turn it off as it's super-annoying.

5-06-2009 @ 12:36AM

Geoff said...

Yes, a kill switch would be handy. I get the synergy and all, but it's quite annoying.

5-06-2009 @ 2:53AM

LordPaul said...

Wow! Web 2.0!

I don't like it, sorry.

5-06-2009 @ 6:51AM

SunKing said...

The idea of an integrated chatroom is a good one. Unfortunately, I will never pick up an AOL account, and I've been regretting using Bebo since I registered. I won't be using it and you should find away for people to have it disabled.

5-06-2009 @ 8:25AM

MCW said...

It reminds me of a constant pop-up alert bar, jacking my screen space away unwillingly.

I wouldn't mind it if it was less intrusive. I think users should have the choice, in their accounts, if they want to disable it or not.

5-06-2009 @ 9:27AM

Erik Davis said...

I don't know if I agree so much with you all, and, yes, I'm partial (of course), but I think it's a pretty cool tool that allows you to chat (my favorite part), but also allows you to view the site's feed, scroll through tons of posts, comments, share stuff - what have you. And it really doesn't bother me at the bottom of the screen; I barely notice it.

I think some of you have to get over your hate for all things AOL, and at least attempt to roll with it. We're here to work with everyone to heighten your experience here, so try to be cool, try to give things a shot and we'll see what we can do moving forward.

Keep in mind this is brand spanking new (we're the second site to ever have it), so there are some kinks to work out. But I appreciate you hanging in there for now and giving us feedback.

Thanks,

Erik

5-06-2009 @ 12:11PM

Wayne said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YXyqcobPNkE

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