The Secret Life of Lens of the Day

When Squidoo was brand new, as the more editorial cofounder of the bunch, I had a challenge that we still have today: How to show off some of the coolest lenses that hit our radars each day? How to teach new lensmasters how to make great stuff? How to reward people for creating pages that stand out, for innovating and storytelling and experimenting and sharing?

Because I sometimes believe in showing instead of explaining, in early 2006 I came up with a Lens of the Day blog. Every day (or thereabout) I would pick one lens, just one, and spotlight it. I used to write the blog myself, but over time I got help!

New lensmasters could see what "great lenses" actually look like. And experienced lensmasters could get a shot at wearing a crown for a day and getting a little (or a lot) extra exposure for one of their lenses.

The blog has been running since then. That's a double a couple of hundred very diverse, topnotch lenses featured to people who care.

Some weeks or months on Lens of the Day are busier and more blogged than others. There are times when Lens of the Day has gone on hiatus for technical updates or holidays, or for unforgivable reasons (we got really busy building stuff for the site instead). But for the most part, on average, it is a regular and perhaps enlightening way to discover some really interesting uses of Squidoo.

As of October 2009, LotD was put into the capable hands of our Community Organizers. I no longer write it, but I'd be lying if I said I don't have a very soft spot in my heart for the Lens of the Day blog and all its winners.

You can follow the blog by bookmarking it, subscribing to the RSS feed, or best: subscribe by email, so you get the Lens of the Day selection in your inbox every morning.

Here's the link again. Go check it out.

P.S. The logo at right is the 'classic' design for LOTD winners. We no longer use it in the site, but here it is for a bit of nostalgia!

1. You don't have to be nominated. Sometimes, lots of times, we just pick what we stumble across and love. So make something great, and who knows...

2. Yes! You can absolutely nominate your own lenses, or those of someone you love! Submit your nomination here. It helps if you include a little writeup.

3. Lens of the Day does not a Giant Squid make. And vice versa.

4. Kimberly and Bonnie and Robin don't take bribes. They do love cookies though...

5. Yes, we've had guest LotD editors before, like when we had a charity coordinator working with us, or smart interns, or sometimes even lensmaster contributors. But for the most part, it's just Kimberly and Robin and Bonnie.

6. It's hard to pick a lens, one lens, out of the thousands and thousands and thousands (did I say thousands? make that millions) of really smart, helpful, moving pages. We wish we could feature them all. If yours doesn't get picked when you want: a)it's not personal! b) hey, there's always tomorrow.

7. No, you don't have to have a Guestbook on your lens to qualify for Lens of the Day. But yes, Guestbooks and other interactive modules like the Duel and Prediction modules are pretty darn cool.

8. Your lens does not have to be in the top 100. There are no lensrank requirements for LotD. But yes, it just so happens that lots of the best lenses on Squidoo also perform well in LensRank.

9. No, Lens of the Day is not our only job. It's probably 1/100dth of what we do here. But we do love it.

10. Yes, you could get featured more than once. We make a concerted effort not to do that much, since there are just so many people making such great stuff, and we'd love to give lots of diverse people a chance to get discovered. But sometimes it happens.

Chances are if you were picked recently, though, you won't get Lens of the Day again for a long while. Doesn't mean you shouldn't keep making great stuff.

The best way to keep having fun with LotD, after you win, is pay it forward by nominating someone else. We pay extra close attention to nominations coming from recent winners because, well, clearly you know what make a lens good!

11. If you trick people into thinking you were picked for Lens of the Day, but you really weren't, we'll lock your lens. Trickery doesn't fly here or elsewhere.

12. Please don't promise Lens of the Day to anyone. If you're running a volunteer lensmaking contest, that's great. Really great. But LotD isn't a guaranteed prize to give away. Of course, you can send a lens our way for a looksee, and who knows...

13. The best way to get picked, really, is just to be kind, highly creative, try new things, and make lenses that are true to you. And don't be shy to let us know about them.

Generous, Well written, Humorous, "Top 10" lists, Useful, Innovative, Experimental, Storytelling, "Best of" lists, Charitable, Well designed, Fringe, Timely, Incendiary (in a good way), Debate-worthy, Crafty, DIY, First person, Genuine. Oh yeah, and puppies. Puppies go over big. Zombies too. Puppies and zombies. Go figure.

I look for lenses that are a bit out of the ordinary...unique is one of my favorite words. I also love everything pop culture, vintage video games, inspiring tales, family stories, local history, lenses with heart, anything having to do with sci-fi (like Star Wars), dessert (I'm a sucker for good brownies), about me lenses, beautiful photography, lenses with an artistic layout and hobbies...I really love a good hobby lens.

I love to learn about new things so the lens topic isn't really that important to me. I look for lenses filled with great content that were written by someone who is passionate about their subject. And yes, I can tell when someone is really into their topic. I want to read something that I can bite my teeth into and walk away with some new ideas swimming around in my head. I'm not in the market to buy anything but I do love finding out about new trends and I'm particularly interested in sub-culture habits and habitats. I don't know why.

Oh, and I love to see great pictures... lots and lots of great pictures.

The trick is to first not to catch my eye in a bad way. Gaudy colors and CSS, missing bios and avatars, lots of stuff for sale with no content to back it up - those are all icky things no one likes on a lens. But they're easy to fix, and it's more of a challenge to commit to going above and beyond the basics to design a lens that's special.

Where does special start? I LOVE seeing photos you took yourself, step-by-step directions, personalized product reviews, classic color themes, modules used in exciting new ways, a guestbook on every lens, interactive modules and quizzes, honest opinions and pure passion (even if you think you can't write, tell your story anyway). I love reading about funny family stories, recipes, gardening, crafts, DIY, travel, business, gadgets, books, movies, volunteering, product and service reviews, and iApps. I'm especially in love with lenses used in unique ways for topics I would never have thought to put on a lens.

If your friends first say, "Why would you write about that?" and later say, "Wow, neat!" that's a sign of something exciting.