A Push for MGOBLOG app notifications
I was thinking yesterday before the Peppers commitment and came up with a genius idea.
What if the MGOBLOG app had push notifications every time something important happens (Hello posts)?
I know a lot of members use this blog at work, school, etc. I just thought that this idea could be explored more. I check MGOBLOG at least once an hour but there are times when I can't check it and would appreciate knowing when a new recruit comes on board.
There could even be settings for what notifications are sent out (new front page material, new diaries, etc.). Just thought I would throw this out to the board for thoughts.
EDIT: Also direct reply notifications!
GO BLUE!
And decrease the number of hits to the website, thereby reducing ad clicks and reducing website revenue? Personally I don't mind having to hit refresh fifteen hundred times a day.
I guess I didn't think about that but IMO, if a person were to get a notification on their phone, chances are they will log in to the blog on a computer even more because they would want to read the material on a bigger screen than their phone.
The notification is typically a link to the blog article. It could actually increase traffic.
But it still counts as a hit any time a person views the website, even if the same person does it fifty times in a day, that is fifty hits. And in larger quantities people are more likely to click the ads, especially if they see there us no update. And so if people got out of the habit of checking the site several times a day and just waited for the notification on their phone, the site will get less hits.
I have never clicked on an ad on this site (on purpose at leat), and I've never donated any cash at all... I would pay for an app.
So in my case at least mgoblog would benefit financially.
jdon
Anecdotally you are correct. I want to see a market analysis and cost/profit analysis to determine how effective this proposal is.
What if you just donated the money to make up for the difference?
I've had the same thoughts with respect to whether or not to add push notifications to the iphone app. I have no problem with people checking the app every other minute.
It's not too difficult to do, but it does require some server side resources (which I do have). It would also require some work to scan for new posts and filter out which ones are notification worthy.
I think it's lower on my list then figuring out a way to show points. I also just submitted an update with some minor things that have been bugging me:
- Added comment counts to front, board and diary lists
- Added pull to refresh on lists
- Added show/hide buttons for posts with over 50 comments
- Added refresh button to top bar for posts
Keep up the great work! Do whatever you can!
Second that.
I think this is an awesome idea- especially for front page info.
Would love phone notifications. Especially if it could be customed, like front page posts, direct replies to my posts, etc.
A direct reply notification would be awesome. That would definitely increase my number of visits to the site.
Great idea. But I have another question:
Is it really expensive to have a forum setup like, say, slickdeals? It's such a nice interface, the reply system is great, PM system is wonderful, and the forum notifications that tell you if someone replied to your post is excellent. It seems like an easy system that you'd just plug-n-play, but I have no clue. I would love to contribute to something like that. The notifications would then essentially be built in, people could trigger notifications based on keywords, etc. Just thinking out loud...
Ill settle for the old points system back.
Or at the very least the old voting system, if Brian prefers them to not affect MGoPoint totals that is fine with me. I miss genuine posbangs and negbangs!
You can turn on notifications for MGoBlog or Ace or Heiko if you'd like to.
Not everyone has a twitter, let alone tweets often.
I agree it'd be a great function to add ot the app. I was just giving you a work around. You don't even have to ever tweet. Just install it on your phone. Follow MGoBlog and the other authors and turn on push notifications.
that updates with every post, not just stories on the front page but forum topics and diaries too. Can't remember what it's called, though.
Here's the tweet for this post:
A Push for MGOBLOG app notifications: I was thinking yesterday before the Peppers commitment and came up … j.mp/10BXuxW #MGoBoard
— MGoFeed (@MGoFeed) May 27, 2013
Although this is pretty cool, you can't customize this for specific notifications.
How many threads, diaries, and front-page items are posted a day? A few dozen, maybe? Is it that hard to ignore the ones you're not interested in?
Not everyone has an android phone.
I assume the same is true for Blackberry and Windows phones.
I wish you could moderate from the app without opening the full site.
Push notifications aren't likely. It requires a dedicated server and for all of your phones to maintain a connection. The next best thing is for the app to phone home every so often and check for news then alert you if it found anything. That would result in a lot more traffic for the site and less ad revenue. Plus, it's an independent developer doing it in his free time. All in all, I'd say it's not likely to happen.
Ya I honestly don't know what it would take to make this happen. I just thought I'd throw out the idea and see what could be done.
It would be better if there was a threshold that you could change depending on what types of posts you wanted notifications for. Something like:
All MGOblog board posts
All frontpage posts
All diary posts
All posts with Kate Upton and/or muppets
Option #4 better be on there.
No kidding. I would hate to miss the muppets.
Your notification ringtone should be the muppets singing "Temptation", obvs.
I have a system, whenever I read a Hello post I immediately text my brother with a Hello: Someone and the other way around, I almost never lose a thread.
This is a great idea that would make use of the app much better
Big fan of the direct reply notification.
While we are giving app suggestions, I would like to see the comments on my phone in chronological order instead of scrolling down to the bottom of the screen and working backwards. And as others have mentioned, showing point totals and the ability to vote/mod comments. Even if these changes arent made I'll still use the app just as much as I do now, which is often.
You know you can dictate your comment order on the login page, right?
And not a little. Kickstart the idea.., we are all guilty of not sending funds to this site ( at times) anyway.
How about first getting some board software and servers that aren't from 1999?
A push as in "push notification" lol iphone joke.
*Goes and sits in corner*
I guess it'd be cool, but I'd still check mgoblog a million times a day anyway. Sometimes I check even late at night when I know nothing new is posted anyway lol. I'm sure I'm not alone.