SodaHead - SodaHead's Blog

New Features, Maintenance

2008-03-02T07:48:44Z

+7 raves

We've heard how much you love the new Find People Like Me and Like Minded: Are you really True Friends? features. And the evidence is obvious that SodaHeads have adapted to using the "Add Image" and "Add Video" convenience tools to comments, messages and blogs. The increased traffic result of new users and new features means we have to do a bit of house keeping. The maintenance (temporary downtime of the site) will start at 12 midnight Pacific Time and last for 30-45 minutes. Please check back at 1am PST Sunday morning. We try doing maintenance at off-peak times because we don't want to interrupt the "goings on", but this will make SodaHead faster and more reliable. Thanks for your patience!

Maintenance Tonight for SodaHead

2008-01-16T21:23:57Z

SodaHead

+3 raves

Because of our growth, SodaHead.com needs to move servers into a bigger building with more power and bandwidth. So we leave the comfort of our first data center and say hello to a new one that looks amazing. This means that the site will need to shut down temporarily as we run between the two facilities carrying the servers with really long cables and wires. Well, not really, we bought more servers and it is really complicated so just sit back and write your good thoughts down on paper and save them up for when the site comes back online. The maintenance will start at 11 pm Pacific Time. Thanks for your patience!

Newsletter January 11, 2008

2008-01-12T00:49:05Z

SodaHead

+2 raves

Now that your New Year's resolutions are as ancient history as 2007, it's time for your first newsletter of '08! Election 2008 This is going to be a super exciting year for the top online social polling community because there's some pretty important polling goin' down offline too! Let SodaHead be your top destination for interactive election coverage by posting and commenting on political polls. Find out what will happen in the elections before it happens by staying tuned-in at SodaHead. Check out some of the latest politically charged polls that your fellow SodaHeads are bubbling about:

Highlighted Feature Don't miss our first new feature of the new year! Flash your permasmiles because we've added PERMALINKS to each comment on all polls. Now when you see a particularly handsome comment you want to share with friends or refer to, you can link straight to it instead of skimming through every comment -- just click the graphic . Friends Grab your opinionated relative, your gossipy coworker, your know-it-all ex... everyone with something to say belongs on SodaHead.com, so invite your friends and duke it out on a poll! Contest Winner Congrats to the the winner of our UFC contest with Matt Hughes. The lucky SodaHead won a trip to the fight in Vegas - check out the photos! Thank You

Newsletter Dec. 21, 2007

2008-01-12T00:47:16Z

SodaHead

+1 raves

Happy Holidays Hey SodaHeads, Seasons greetings! It's hard to believe it's already the end of 2007 and we still don't have hovercrafts or a bullet train to Vegas. Still, there's lots to celebrate and reflect on before we toast to '08. Check out some of the cool "Best of '07" polls and throw in your two cents. Don't see any "Best of" polls you care to rant about? Create your own polls about topics you care about and send them around to your family, friends and co-workers to reminisce about some of the best moments and developments of the year. It'll help you forget you still can't teleport to work in the morning. And of course, we have a snazzy new feature for you to play with on the site while you're home enjoying your holiday break! We've added a "search for images" button so you can dress up your polls without flipping back and forth through search engines to find URLs. Based on the question or answer text you typed, we'll give you some relevant image options to attach. Now you have no excuse to leave your polls naked and photo-less! Get creative and have fun! Also, check out the winner of the pimped profile contest - leave the winner a comment, maybe ask for some help customizing your profile. Look forward to more contests, swag and prizes. SodaHead really broke out this year thanks to some great new content partners, a sleek new design, and most of all our fantastic and outspoken SodaHeads! Have a safe and happy New Year! Thank You, - Team SodaHead

September Newsletter

2007-09-05T08:10:23Z

SodaHead

+2 raves

Hey SodaHeads!

We've been slaving away all summer working on a new site design that will knock your socks... or at least your flip-flops... off. With the help of your feedback and opinions, We finally nailed it and we'll be unveiling the new and improved, ultra-sleek SodaHead.com THIS THURSDAY NIGHT. Get up bright and early Friday to be the first to lay your eyes on the new site and start discussing it!

SodaHead will be hitting Vegas this weekend to crash the MTV Video Music Awards! We'll be patrolling the red carpet with some fancy video equipment we can barely operate, asking the opinions of your favorite musicians and celebrities on all the hottest SodaHead issues. Who knows - we might even be escorted off the premises. You'll have to check SodaHead.com to find out!

We'll also be using our Vegas VMA vacation to launch SodaHead On The Streets! No, we haven't been evicted from our office. SHOTS is a new feature where we'll be hitting the streets to get opinions straight from YOUR mouths. And what better place to start than with late night drunken revelers on the Vegas Strip?!

Viva Las Vegas SodaHead!

Shout out in these latest hot issues:

* What Should Michael Vick's Sentence be?

* Top 10 Reasons why you should support Hillary...

* What's your favorite rock guitar riff of all time?

* Who will win the Heisman Trophy in college football this year?

Thanks,
Team SodaHead

Newsletter - Aug 20, 2007

2007-08-21T05:56:48Z

SodaHead

+1 raves

Hey SodaHeads!

While you've been lobstering at the beach and enjoying tropical beverages with mini umbrellas this summer, we've been hard at work tweaking SodaHead.com, adding new features and changing the ones you've been frustrated about. We even have a FULL site enhancement in the works...and let me tell you...it looks amazing! What can we say...we only want the best for our SodaHeads!

We always love to hear how you feel about SodaHead! Even when we're nodding with our eyes glazed over, we really are listening! How did you discover SodaHead? What do you want featured in your SodaHead newsletters? Do you know your SodaHead pals personally? We'll send the Top Comment on each of those SodaHead polls a cool SodaHead prize pack, just to prove we care!

For those of you who are also trapped in an office all summer, live vicariously through your friends' summer themed polls - rant about your favorite summer food and drinks or share a story about that nude beach you frequent. Or better yet... make yourself feel better about your lack of vacay by telling your best (or worst) vacation horror story. Aren't you glad you didn't go anywhere??

Flash Poll Widget

2007-06-07T23:45:27Z

SodaHead

+1 raves

We feel very proud of the newest feature -- the new SodaHead Flash Widget: the best polling widget in the world!

Anyone can create a free poll and share it using the embeddable flash widget on virtually any website, including MySpace. You can see poll's pictures in detail on the widget. Thousands of MySpace profiles have already served hundreds of thousands of flash widgets.

So start embedding your favorite polls as widgets on your friends' MySpace comments or use our tools to automatically post to your profile or bulletin on various sites. (Find the tool by clicking "Forward this to a friend" from any poll page.)

You don't need to use the widget here on SodaHead, but you can! Post it in comments, or in your blog.

Let us know what you think!

Quick SodaHead Update

2007-04-20T06:58:28Z

SodaHead

+7 raves

We've stayed very busy working on SodaHead. Nearly everyday we have new features roll out. This blog entry will identify just a handful of them.

The team improved the navigation and enhanced layout items.

The new poll widget (embeddable Flash object) has some slick features. It works well on sites like MySpace and on other websites.

Also, you can now forward any poll to a friend using your contact list from Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo, MSN, etc.... If you want to get a lot of votes and opinions from your friends, send it to them via email.

We've started working on some other features that we have to keep quiet for now. But check back soon to see them in action.

Remember to click "Contact Us" at the bottom of the page to send a note on what you want to see us build next. We constantly listen to your feedback!

Thanks,
SodaHead

Poll Widget 1.0 now available for Export!

2007-03-21T05:15:03Z

SodaHead

+3 raves

SodaHead releases Poll Widget 1.0! Export any poll and post it on any site that allows embeds. Add it on your MySpace profile or on your friend's comments. Embed it in your blog or ANYWHERE! In addition to voting, the widget displays the Question, Answers, Images, and Results. It even displays the Profile Image of the SodaHead User who is voting!

We are innovating the Social Voting arena. So, in true SodaHead style, when any vote is cast using a widget by a SodaHead, we include it in their SodaHead Vote History! That means, when SodaHeads vote on your poll embedded on another site, their votes still count!

Just find any poll you like and and copy the HTML code from the Embed field. Paste it wherever you like! Feel free to change the height and width -- for best viewing size, use width="300" height="450". We will soon allow customization of the widget and add some really neat features to it.

We look forward to your comments on the widget since we have lots of plans to further develop it.

New Features Coming Soon!

2007-03-17T00:42:34Z

SodaHead

+2 raves

Since our launch last week you have given us a lot of great feedback and requests for new features. We've been working hard to deliver them to you.

Here are some of the new features you asked for and can expect to see in the next update!

Invite - A lot of users have asked how they can help us introduce the site to their friends, so we've added an Invite link to the menu bar. Simply enter up to 50 of your friends, family and colleagues email addresses. Also, you can always invite people to the site using the "Share Poll" link from a poll page or emailing/IMing the link to the poll.

Media Center - Now you can add rich media to any poll. Find an interesting video or picture and take a poll to the next level by adding it to the Media Center on any poll page under Trivia.

New Activity Highlighting - First we gave you a blinking SodaHead to tell you what new activity was happening on your content. Now you can find that content easier. Next time you click on your activity look for bolded text and blue highlights that indicate what activity is new!

Also, you can clear your activity page now by clicking the "Clear" button at the bottom right hand side of the page.

Raves Safety - No more accidental negative Raves. Now, when you Rave something down, you will be prompted to confirm your selection. So, if you get a negative Rave, you can't dismiss it as an accident!

Enhanced Search - Now you can search the site for any content and text in polls, blogs and user profiles!

Pagination - We are working quickly to improve our user interface and changed the style of the page numbers to include text and a bigger click area.

Category Counts - Ever wonder how many polls are in any given category? Ever find yourself drilling down into categories with no content? Now you can see the number of polls in any given category. The number is displayed in parenthesis to the right of the category.

Please let us know what you think of the new features and what else you want us to build. We love hearing from you!