1) Universal Search. While search is a no-brainer for almost any website, it was a little different for us because we have so much content in our system and so many different content types. Page specific search functions will remain in some places, but we placed the new search bar in the header so that it's always available. You can now search all content types at once or specify a content type using the dropdown. Small feature, big usability improvement.
2) 
Email Notifications and '@' Replies. Instead of sending emails to users bugging them to come back to the site, we wanted to figure out how to give them something valuable that made them want to come back. You can now mention other Pinyadda users in your comments on any news item using the '@username' convention, and they'll receive an email with a link to the article and your comments. You can also choose to receive email updates when another user replies to a comment you've made. Our internal experimentation with this feature went great (we really liked it) and we've already noticed a big jump in user engagement since bringing it live.
Email Notifications and '@' Replies. Instead of sending emails to users bugging them to come back to the site, we wanted to figure out how to give them something valuable that made them want to come back. You can now mention other Pinyadda users in your comments on any news item using the '@username' convention, and they'll receive an email with a link to the article and your comments. You can also choose to receive email updates when another user replies to a comment you've made. Our internal experimentation with this feature went great (we really liked it) and we've already noticed a big jump in user engagement since bringing it live. The core idea for Pinyadda came in part from the need for a better way to manage group email lists where lots of great content in the form of both links and commentary were being shared. These features solve a big part of that problem that's something we're really happy about.
3) While it's not exactly a new feature, we've completely overhauled the Initial User Experience, including a brand-new Getting Started guide, a handful of prompts to help new users understand our core functionality, and host of interactive help icons all around the site. Making new users feel at home and letting them know that we're here to listen and help is huge priority for us and we'll continue to work hard to make each user's experience the best it can be. (If you're a user, feel free to email or call me at any time. I mean it!)
4) Again, not really a feature, per se, but we made a host of UI Changes and Language Adjustments to make things more clear around the site. We continue to abide by a "simpler is better" mantra when it comes to UI design and while we're not all the way there the latest changes are a big step in the right direction. We've included more visual cues, simplified navigation, and improved aesthetic consistency. If you noticed the changes, let us know what you think!In the coming weeks you can expect to see even more improvements, including all new pages for adding People, Sites, and Tags, the ability to email items to friends outside of Pinyadda, and number of integrations with existing social networks. Suggestions and feature requests are always welcome. You can send them here.
If you're already a user, thank you. If you're not yet a user, head over to the site and sign up for an account. We can't wait to hear what you think.
