We're working on three fixes here at Xanga HQ:

Fix #1: Commenting or Editing in Internet Explorer - FIX COMPLETE!

We got some reports that since last week, some recent versions of Internet Explorer were having trouble commenting on some Xanga posts. We dug into it and were able to identify the bug.

As of this morning, this should now be fixed! Please let us know if it's working again for you!

Fix #2: Signing into the Xanga app, Part 1 - FIX COMPLETE!

Some users reported problems signing into the Xanga app. In some cases, this was due to really long passwords.

We rolled a fix for this last week, and so hopefully that's helped with mobile signin!

Fix #3: Signing into the Xanga app, Part 2 - PENDING

Some other users also reported problems signing into the Xanga app. It turns out that these users had certain characters in their passwords that the mobile app wasn't happy with (e.g. ampersands, plusses and question marks).

We will be rolling out a new version of the mobile app within the next week that should fix this up! If you'd rather not wait, you could always reset your password here:

* http://www.xanga.com/private/editemailpassword.aspx

Hope this helps, guys! Let us know if you're running into issues with any of the above, especially Fixes 1 and 2. Thanks!

Xanga's Android App is now avilable for free download from the Android Market!

It's only been two days since we launched Xanga's iPhone and iPad apps, and already Xangans from 24 countries have installed the apps! Thanks for your support, and for the five star reviews! We're collected a few bug reports, and are working to fix them up in a new iPhone version shortly.

Next up: we'll be releasing a Kindle Fire app. It's pretty amazing to be able to support so many different devices! A big hat tip goes to PhoneGap, the open-source mobile development framework that let us build mobile apps using JavaScript, HTML and CSS. Their support has made it possible for us to build one mobile app that works across multiple platforms.  Thanks guys...

We'll consider additional mobile devices, although I should warn you that we've run out of mobile devices that we own and can use for testing. If there are particular devices you'd like to see supported, please let us know in the comments!

In the meantime, we hope you guys enjoy the Xanga Android experience! Let us know what you think...

Exciting news... Xanga's iPhone App is now available for free download from the iTunes App Store!

Just go to the Apps Store icon on your iPhone and search for Xanga, and you can download it for free there.

This iPhone app will let you easily:

* Check out your own subs, recs and feedback with a swipe of your finger.
* Post blogs, photos and pulses easily from your phone (and edit them too!)
* Easily Comment or Rec other people's posts.
* Check out someone's Xanga site and see all their posts all in one place.  Continue reading →

Hey guys - a quick update on a few things:

1. Mobile App

We just wrapped up testing, and are submitting our mobile app to Apple as we speak!  Going to get Android out the door next.

2. Xanga Chat

We upgraded our server software over the weekend, and ran into an issue with the chatbar so we had to turn it off.  We'll look into fixing the chatbar as soon as the mobile app is out the door!

John

Recently, a small ad started appearing on the bottom left of our partner-powered chat bar. It was annoying and not something we would have approved. We let our partner know right away that we weren't ok with the ad, and they have removed it.

Sorry for the inconvenience! We've let our chat provider know that we're not cool with those sorts of ads in the future, so we're hoping that moving forward this won't be an issue.

John

We've been talking to Xanga Product Council members over the past few weeks. (Thanks again, guys!)

Without any prompting, about half of the people we talked to brought up the Xanga frontpage. We've been showing an auto-generated list of Top Blogs on the frontpage for about a year-and-a-half now, and the results have been mixed. People love that it drives traffic to a lot of member blogs... but we also got feedback that:

• Top Blogs doesn't always showcase the highest quality blog posts.
• People wish that there was more of a human touch to the posts.

We actually used to have humans involved back in the day...

1) FEATURED WEBLOGS

Many moons ago, we selected blog posts by hand for the frontpage. This was successful in maintaining a high quality of posts.

But we got some feedback that people would like to see the frontpage update more frequently. Also, there was a request to see more democracy in the selection: in other words, to let the Xanga community participate in the selection of frontpage posts.

2) TOP BLOGS

To address these issues, we started featuring our auto-generated list of Top Blogs on the frontpage in May of last year.

That helped address the issues with the frontpage not changing frequently enough, and involving the community more. But so far, it hasn't done as good a job in terms of quality of posts.

---------------

Based on the feedback to date, the ideal solution would:

• Update the frontpage fairly regularly
• Involve the Community (but not allow voting fraud)
• Maintain a high quality of posts

We have some ideas on how we could achieve all three of these things... but first, wanted to make sure that list sounded right.

• Frequent updates
• Community Involvement
• High Quality

That sound right?

Over the past week, we've interviewed over a dozen members of our newly formed Product Council. The conversations have been incredibly helpful - thanks to everyone who has participated so far. (We still have a few more interviews, and will be tapping applicants for future Product Councils as well!)

We showed a lot of Xangans our mobile interface... and heard a few things loud and clear:

• If you have a lot of friends or are active on the site, then the universal inbox can be a bit overwhelming.
• A lot of Xangans like to click on the Feedback tab first, so you can reply to comments first.
• Another big priority is to read through your Subscriptions and recommends. Reading the Subscriptions lets you keep up with your most important reads... and checking out Recs gives you a feel for what everyone's talking about.

Given all this, we tweaked the interface so that you land on your Feedback.  We also made it easier to access your Subs and Recommends with one easy click!

We've also de-emphasized the overall Universal Inbox, to help address the feeling of being overwhelmed.

Please check it out and let us know what you think!

• http://m.xanga.com

In our conversations with Product Council members and other users, one point came up a few times: many Xangans love Footprints, but overall they are hurting Xanga.

How can this be true? After all, most people like to click into their Footprints and see who has been on their site. However, this has impacted Xanga usage in some unforeseen ways:

• Many users are reluctant to click around the site randomly, because they know they'll leave a footprint.
• If you find a Xanga site you really love, you can get nervous about reading more than a few pages since you know you're leaving footprints.
• There are some users who spend a lot of time on their footprints page, and then if someone reads more than a few posts... they will sometimes leave them an angry comment or message.

In other words, in some ways Footprints have had a stifling effect on browsing: it can make people less likely to explore the site and find new Xangans. That's not a good thing.

On the flip side though, some users value being able to see exactly who is visiting their site. Footprints Lock lets them do just that. But over the past five years, Footprints Lock has been one of our least popular features. And when we came out with Footprints Lock, we didn't have as many features that people could use to protect their site. But since then, we've launched Friends Lock.

Given all this, we'd like to get your thoughts on how to move forward. Here's our proposal: Get rid of Footprints, and rename them as Views. 

Right now, Footprints can sometimes show the username and location of browsers. We could simply remove username entirely, so you could only see which pages were getting Views - and not who was visiting.  You could still see the Location of non-signed in members though... and you'd also be able to browse and see your recent Views: as in, you could see which pieces of content that visitors were Viewing. You just wouldn't be able to see the username Footprints: i.e. the exact username of the person reading it. As a bonus, we would be able to kill Footprints Lock completely. 

It's our hope that this would encourage more browsing and exploration on the site. That would mean more traffic and more comments for all.

Before making any decisions though, we'd love to hear your collective thoughts. What do you guys think?

Hey guys. We've made significant steps towards our upcoming mobile app, and wanted to share some updates.

1) Updated Mobile Interface

We just updated our mobile website, and would love your feedback! It's located at m.xanga.com, and you can access it through this link:

• http://m.xanga.com/

So, what's new?

• Mobile Xangas - Now every user has their own mobile Xanga, where you see their posts all on one page. Just click on their username from your inbox, and you'll see what I mean!
• Unified Xanga site: When you view someone's mobile Xanga, you don't just see their weblog posts. Photo blogs, Video blogs, and pulses *all* appear on your Mobile frontpage.
• Mobile Pulsing - You can pulse right from the mobile interface. You can also see where you'll be able to add photos and videos when the app goes live.
• Edit more stuff - Now you can edit pulses, photo posts and video posts.
• Mobile subbing - You can sub and unsub from users right in the mobile interface, which is handy if you find a great post and want to sub to a new Xangan right then and there.

2) Streamlining and Focusing Xanga

This mobile app has been a part of a big effort we're making to streamline Xanga and to focus it on its core.

What does that mean? Well, we've focused more than ever on creating a clean interface where the flow is as seamless as possible. It's easier than ever to go from user to user, dropping comments and discovering new content. On a personal note, the biggest surprise for me has been how much easier it now feels to find new and interesting sites to read (and sub to, thanks to our new mobile subbing feature!).  Oh and also, we noticed the interface could use some extra zip, so we're working now on making it faster.

Please do check out our mobile website beta and let us know what you think!  (If you run into issues when accessing the beta, try clearing your browser cache.)

• http://m.xanga.com

ps As promised, we've picked out a dozen applicants from our post on the Xanga Product Council and have started scheduling Skype interviews for this week. The main focus of our first round of conversations: Xanga's upcoming mobile app!