TasteSpotting: Your Opinions Appreciated

hey fbs'coolers...it's sarah, just about to fall over from putting tastespotting v2 back up. *whew*

first, thank you to everyone who has shared very honest (the "*ouch* that hurt me, but i needed it" kind of honest) opinions and feelings in the comments of previous posts about tastespotting. that, plus the emails, IMs, and blog posts around the foodweb from everyone have been a tremendous help in refining tastespotting's future. there is still much left to do!

which brings me to the second...we just did a redesign on the site, and while the functionality is about the same (with the addition of being able to crop photos on the site and see a preview) and there will be more to come, it's fairly dramatic change in color scheme/look and feel. i would SO VERY MUCH appreciate it if you could share your opinions about it.

does the dark background behind the pictures make the food (*smack* me for using this term) POP? does minimal color (black white and gray) let the food stand out? does it feel clean? or is it too dark? drab? someone actually called it "scary."

thanks so much to everyone in advance for any opinions you have...if you'd rather share your opinions with me privately, you can also email me: sarah[at]tastespotting[dot]com

i'm going to go eat a cupcake now. they've been showing up all over the site.

This Post was written by Sarah from TasteSpotting

Tastespotting: Your Opinions Wanted

I'm new to Tastespotting (I know, I know, where have I been?) but I see a lot of familiar food bloggers over there. I realize it's just changed hands (and I did read the recent post and comments on fbs re its disappearance), but I'm wondering what you think about the site, if you see a lot of traffic to your blog from the photos you post there, your experiences, etc.

My main question, though, is this:

How long does it take from when you upload a photo to when it appears?

I did manage to register, and it told me my first photo sucessfully uploaded, but that was several hours ago and there's no sign of it yet. They don't tell you if that's normal. Actually they don't tell you much of anything anywhere. I can't find a Help section, though one was mentioned in Nika's post on fbs last year about Tastespotting.

I also read on her post that the photos need to be cropped to 250x250. Am I just missing the page where it tells you all this stuff? Maybe that's why my photo didn't get published, because it was the wrong size?

It also looks like they've taken down the language regarding all submitted photos becoming public domain.

Your thoughts and help greatly appreciated!

7/1/08 UPDATE:
After I put up this post, I received a very nice email message from Sarah at TasteSpotting which included the following:

we're working on the site, and are heads down trying to get features smoothed out before we do stuff like the About an the FAQs pages (which we are working on right now), etc. :)As for "How long does it take from when you upload a photo to when it appears?" it could take anywhere from RIGHT NOW to up to 24 HOURS. however, as we are getting back up and running, it might actually take a little bit longer, since we have a limited number of people doing everything for the site right now. please be patient with us. :)

you don't HAVE to crop the photo, as there is a cropping tool on the site. however, the cropping tool isn't perfect and because it goes off a formula, it doesn't necessarily leave in the best part of the picture; so, if you want your photo to appear in a particular way, it's best to crop it to a square first (250 x 250) before uploading. we are working on features that will make it easier for the whole submission process anyway :)

In the meantime, I had already resubmitted my photo, this time cropped to 250 x 250 and it was published that same night.

I noticed today that there is now an ABOUT page on TS, and there are FAQ, etc. pages under construction.

I also came across this interview with Sarah which answers a number of questions including why/how submissions are chosen/not chosen, etc.

Then my ever helpful pal Beth (aka kitchenMage) alerted me to this site created by Jean at Notcot, founder of the original TasteSpotting.For the record, I did have quite a few visitors come to my blog via my photo on TasteSpotting.And for those of you who can't get enough food porn, FoodieView (which is a recipe search engine, restaurant guide, publisher of the weekly Recipe Roundups written by food bloggers, etc.) is about to launch "Foodie Views of the Day." You can read a little more about it here.

And thanks to all of you who left helpful comments about your experiences with TasteSpotting and beyond here in this post.

This Post was written by Susan from Farmgirl Fare

What happened to Tastespotting?

Does anyone know the story behind the message on the Tastespotting site? It says:

"Thanks for a great 18 months! In light of recent legal complications, NOTCOT will no longer be operating tastespotting.com"


This Post was written by Ann from Redacted Recipes

Social Media is a goodness. Whats your Digg Saturation?

Using "Social Media" is one way you can increase the readership of your blog.

What is social media?

One can say that the latest iteration of the popular web, called Web 2.0 by some, is driven by and predicated on the dynamics that arise from social media.

The Wiki defines social media as:

"Social Media is a term that is used for a broad spectrum of topics, and has several different connotations, however in the context of internet marketing, Social Media refers to a collective group of web properties that are primarily driven by the users. For example, blogs, discussion boards, vlogs, video sharing sites and dating sites." SOURCE

There are several sites, known by many, which make social media happen for blogs, including:

• Tastespotting (I LOVE THIS ONE!)


• Digg


• StumbleUpon


• Reddit

If you would like to get a sense for how many times your blog has been dugg, type the following into your URL field at the top of your browser and hit enter. Make sure to replace YOURBLOGURL with, well, your blog URL.

"http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Adigg.com
+YOURBLOGURL.com"

I had to put a break in that URL for it to show here, you will want it all on one line.

I am not a digg-master but I think the way to be dugg is to digg other sites yourself.

I have been stumbleupon'd MUCH more than dug and I understand stumbleupon better. In both case, using the service to recognize other blogs will help people find your blog.

Digg is not abundantly food blog friendly while Stumbleupon is relatively agnostic when it comes to topic.

Tastespotting, OMG, is food porn nirvana and if DRIVES TRAFFIC like a feverish madness.

Tastespotting traffic also seems to go deeper while stumbleupon, due to the nature of it's user interface, tends to just flitter across the surface of your site.

This Post was written by Nika from Nika's Culinaria