Squidoo : show

A Squidcast is a squirted message, sent from a lens.

Lensmasters can send Squidcasts from their dashboards, from a column called 'cast. Just find the lens you want to Squidcast about, write your note, preview and go.

It goes to anyone who is part of your fan club, and it goes to anyone who has favorited that lens.

Incoming Squidcasts show up in your Favorites tab. Soon it will be possible to receive Squidcasts by email or RSS, if you want.

You can unsubscribe from any Squidcast at any time by unfavoriting the lens, or quitting the fan club for that lensmaster.

You can see pictures of everyone who has fanclubbed you, on your bio page.

You can see pictures of everyone who has favorited a particular lens, right in the sidebar of that lens.

How many people have favorited your lens or fanclubbed you will eventually count in the LensRank secret sauce.

For those of you who thrive on theory, here's the big idea: Squidcasting puts you in charge of more than just a webpage... it puts you in charge of a conversation. If you place yourself at the center of your topic, if you develop permission to talk to people who are interested in it, then you're creating something priceless: an attentive, relevant fan base.

You've already done the hard part by making remarkable lenses. Every day there are people stopping by your page who want to learn or find out or buy or talk or share. If they think you're authentic and readable and likeable and passionate about your topic, they'll follow your lens. And you can make it worth their while by Squidcasting your latest finds, thoughts and pearls of wisdom about your topic.

Squidcast: Sure, you can call it Pingtwitterfortunecookiemicrobroadcastfavoriting if you want. We call it sweet as sugar.

It's easy to imagine Squidcasts working like this...

  1. Kate could 'cast to interested fashionistas every time she reviews a new bag.
  2. Muddy could let Francophiles know when she discovers another great cafe in Paris.
  3. Christopher could keep supporters informed on progress over at A Day of Hope.
  4. SemperFidelis could weigh in with her reactions to Huckabee's latest debates and appearances, or keep you updated on his hotbutton issues.
  5. Frankie could Squidcast the latest about polar bears in the news.
  6. Seth could share the best blog posts about his new book.
What Squidcasts would you send?

A few notes of interest. Maybe....
  1. If your lens is below the "featured lens threshold" (if it doesn't show a green check mark on your dashboard) then you won't be able to send Squidcasts about that lens.

  2. Right now, the Favorites faceroll is only available to Maxed lenses. Stay tuned.