LivingSocial Blog - All

LivingSocial Gets a Makeover!

2009-09-03T19:47:00Z

Here at LivingSocial we're all about keeping things fresh and appealing, which is why we're proud to introduce you to the newly-redesigned LivingSocial! We appreciate your patience as we roll it out and welcome any comments you have at feedback@livingsocial.com.

We've been hard at work on a design that makes it easier to interact with your collection and see recommendations both from our community and your friends. Read on to learn more about all of the improvements we've made to the LivingSocial experience.

The first thing you'll notice is our new look. Gone are the days of the dark LivingSocial bar running across the top of your screen. In its place you'll find a nice bright green header, with a sleek silver navigation bar beneath it that lets you view your profile, collection, recommendations, leaderboards, settings, and our newest exciting feature: trends! The trends feature enables you to see what's most popular on LivingSocial by week, month, or all time. It also shows the the biggest movers, so you'll never be out of the loop on what's hot!

The next feature change you'll notice is the way you add items to your collection. When you visit an item page, you'll notice a beautiful blue button that says "Add to my collection." When you click it, you'll see a drop down that let's you add it to your collection as easy as 1-2-3!

Speaking of numbers, you're also going to notice that all item images on LivingSocial now have a number at the lower right hand corner. These numbers are there to show you what percentage of people like that item.

The last major enhancement we've added will improve the quality of recommendations we give you by basing them on the type of things you like in your collection. You can find our recommendations in three places: 1) click on the "recommendations" tab in the navigation bar at the top of the page; 2) scroll to the "Try Something New!" section at the bottom of the homepage; 3) you'll notice that sometimes we'll surface recommendations directly to you when you're on an item page. We hope you'll find our recommendations relevant and useful!

We know change is hard, but we think in this case it's definitely for the better and hope that you'll agree! We appreciate your patience as we roll the site out this week and work through any issues. We also want to know your thoughts and encourage you to share them with us at feedback@livingsocial.com. Until next time, keep LivingSocial!

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An update:

We know that there are some bugs in the current site, and our development team is working to fix them as quickly as possible. A few things that will be back in the next couple days (some of them broke during the push yesterday, others are still being re-worked):

Scrolling carousels on profile pages only
More interaction with your friends (friends list, what your friends are doing, etc)
Commenting/Discussions
Updated profile tab in Facebook
User medals on profile pages

...as well as several new features. Again, we appreciate your patience as we perform this massive upgrade. This new design is enabling us to bring more relevant content to you and will enable us to expand to include several of the most requested features from users.

Setting the record straight

2009-07-22T22:27:00Z

Hi everyone,

There have been a few articles and posts in recent days that claim LivingSocial sells or shares private user information from Facebook or our applications with advertisers. The claims are untrue, and are based on (false) assumptions and unchecked facts.

LivingSocial does not sell or share data with brands or advertisers.
We don’t share, sell or expose individual user data, Facebook profile information, or even anonymized aggregate data to others. Period.

Here’s how we work with advertisers: we allow them to request that we display advertising around specific areas of interest, like movies and music, in our application screens and on our main web site. An example of this would be if you're browsing lists in our music section, you might see an advertisement for a concert tour of a band. This is similar to how a sports site might have an advertisement for sporting tickets. But we do not pass, send, or sell any of your private data to them as part of that process.

We value your trust, and will continue to respect your privacy. As always, thanks for being part of LivingSocial.

Tim O'Shaughnessy
CEO

Honoring Michael Jackson - (Aug 29, 1958 - June 25, 2009)

2009-06-26T15:49:00Z

It’s a sad day for millions all over the world today as we cope with the loss of Michael Jackson, the undisputed “King of Pop,” who passed away yesterday at 50 years of age. Jackson was not breathing when the Los Angeles Fire Department responded to a call at 12:30pm (PST) yesterday, June 25, 2009. They attempted to resuscitate him, but to no avail. Jackson was pronounced dead at UCLA Medical Center at 2:26pm (PST).

The media has covered this extensively in the last 12 hours and major TV networks even canceled regularly scheduled primetime programming to run specials highlighting his life and times last night. Vigils were said to have taken place in multiple cities across the globe, honoring the late great pop star and proving that despite his increasingly reclusive nature and admittedly strange behavior in recent years, Michael Jackson had a tremendous impact on millions of people.

Jackson’s death comes at a time when he was gearing up to start another world tour including shows in London’s O2 stadium that were widely regarded as the “Hottest Tickets on the Planet”, selling some 750,000 tickets at rates of 11 per second, 657 per minute, and 40,000 per hour, prompting this comment from a Ticketmaster representative: “We often talk about unprecedented demand, but this week we have witnessed a live entertainment phenomenon. Today, we saw well over 250,000 fans hitting the Ticketmaster site at 7am for the general sale tickets. This was undoubtedly the busiest demand for tickets for an event which we have ever experienced.”

His musical career spanned nearly 4 decades, beginning in 1971, and included sales of 750 million albums, 13 grammy awards, and 13 number 1 singles, earning him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records as the “Most Successful Entertainer of All Time.” He was known as someone who was very generous with charities and had an affection for children he claimed to be innocent, but that raised many eyebrows and actually landed him in court a few times. His life certainly seemed to be a rollercoaster with some great highs and some awful lows, which might explain why it was a heart attack that ultimately put an end to it. And yet, despite all the controversy surrounding him, one thing is certain: he will go down in history as a legend, the King of Pop, forever. He is survived by his three children, Prince I, Paris, and Prince “Blanket” II.

It’s not surprising that LivingSocialites love Michael Jackson as well. His major records show up in 15,209 collections and have been reviewed 700+ times. We’ve also got a whole host of books written by or about MJ in our Visual Bookshelf. Have you had the chance to review your favorites? If not, visit our Michael Jackson albums section to catalog your King of Pop albums and review them, or the Michael Jackson books section to do the same for literature.

We’re also seeing a lot of activity in our Pick Your Five and Polls applications, with many people picking their favorite Michael Jackson songs and videos. If you’d like to do the same, follow the links below!

Pick Your Top 5 Michael Jackson Songs

Pick Your Top 5 Michael Jackson Albums

What’s the Best Michael Jackson Album?

What’s the Best Michael Jackson Video?

And of course, you’ve always got the option to create your own Poll in honor of Michael Jackson to share with friends.

Oprah's Top 4 Summer Reading Picks

2009-06-23T22:24:00Z

She's the 2nd most powerful celeb on the 2009 Forbes Celebrity 100 and made $275 Million in 2009. She's built one of the largest entertainment/lifestyle enterprises in the world, and what Oprah likes, people get! So what is the entertainment diva recommending that you read this summer? Here's a list of O Mag's Top 4 Picks for Your Summer Reading as reported to ABC by Gayle King, editor of O Mag:

Columbine by Dave Cullen

"It's been a decade since the shocking school massacre at a Colorado high school stunned the nation, and journalist Dave Cullen's "Columbine" offers vivid details about one of the most disturbing days in the nation's history. It was a reported piece; he spent 10 years looking into it," King said. "He really paints the story and tells us things you didn't know." As it turns out, the LivingSocial community is ahead of Oprah's recommendation, and has plenty to say about "Columbine", overwhelmingly pointing out that it is a delicate balance between a morbidly disturbing and thrillingly informative read. Check it out this summer, if you haven't already done so!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith

This is what happens when you take one of the most well-known classics of all time and mash it up with themes from b-level movies with zombies and other shenanigans. Think Swan Lake ballet meets Rocky Horror Picture Show and you've got this unorthodox read in which a plague befalls a quiet town, causing the dead to return to life. The main character, Elizabeth Bennet is dead set (pun intended) on eliminating the presence of zombies in her fair town, but gets distracted by Mr. Darcy. What ensues is a lighthearted, cheeky read that includes romance and heartbreak, cannibalism, swordfights, and plenty of other gruesome things that would probably make Jane Austen roll over in her grave. The LivingSocial community seems mixed on this read, the main argument surrounding whether or not this is injustice to a classic or a funny, lighthearted satire worth reading. Throw in your two cents!

Provenance by Laney Salisbury & Aly Sujo

"In "Provenance," authors Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo tell the tale of an elaborate 20th century hoax in which John Drewe forges letters, doctors exhibition catalogs and bamboozles art experts into accepting a slew of "masterpieces." The investigative reporters detail the spectacular scam." As it turns out, LivingSocialites haven't yet sounded off about Provenance, but we're betting that changes now that Oprah's recommended it. If you've read it, be the first to dish the scoop to the rest of the LS community!

Stormy Weather: The Life of Lena Horn by James Gavin

The beautiful Lena Horne became a pioneer for African-Americans in the arts. The singer and actress was the first African-American woman to win an Academy Award for best actress, and "Stormy Weather" offers insight into her career and personal life. As with Provenance, Stormy Weather is still awaiting some good ol' fashioned LivingSocial critiquing, so be sure to leave your thoughts if you've read it, or once you have done so!

So go on, LivingSocialites, and get your read on this summer. And if you happen to knock these out and want to learn a bit more about the gal who recommended 'em to you, go ahead and scoop up The Uncommon Wisdom of Oprah Winfrey: A Portrait in Her Own Words and give it a read as well.

Can You Get "Wrapped Up in a Kindle?"

2009-06-22T21:11:00Z

Let's talk about Kindle, Google, and the digitization of books in general for a second. We here at LivingSocial have a Kompany Kindle, and we like it plenty. The size, weight, and convenience make it a pretty cool little device to have, especially for gadget geeks. And hats off to Amazon for making the screen so realistic looking - it's hard to even tell you're not reading an actual page sometimes. That being said, there has been some serious resistance to the digitization of books because people argue that nothing can compare to the actual feel of a book - some people say they even love the smell of their books! Typically I'm not smelling my books, but I suppose I see where they are coming from.

The question is, can it be prevented? Is it even worth asking that question at this point or is the digitization force one that cannot be stopped? The recently released $489 Kindle DX, which boasts a larger screen designed specifically for periodicals, textbooks, and other large-format reading sold out just 3 days after it started shipping this month. And earlier this month Jeff Bezos reported that of the 300,000+ books available through Amazon for purchase, either for the Kindle or in physical form, Kindle orders represent 35% of all book orders. Promising numbers for Amazon supported by people like Scott Stein who wrote on the CNET gadget blog, Curve, that Amazon is cheaper, more convenient, and even enables people to download books to their iPhones by way of the Kindle app, a feature that is really quite convenient. Of course, the flip side of that argument comes from traditionalists who argue that there's just no replacement for a real book.

And of course, as with any popular internet trend, it's only a matter of time before Google latches on and decides it wants to find a way to reinvent the wheel. Most recently, Google has been battling with the Department of Justice and Librarians everywhere for the rights to make millions of books available for reading and purchase on the internet. Arguments against Google surround privacy, as well as a monopoly that enables Google to inflate prices of books and have zero competition in the space. But those in favor point out that bringing books to the internet for the masses is a positive thing that will ensure books remain relevant in these ever-changing times.

So what do you think? We here at LivingSocial aren't exactly sure what to think. Our VisualBookshelf application serves as the online bookshelf for millions of books cataloged by millions of avid readers out there, and clearly it would take a lot of room to house that many books. Plus, we think the Kindle is nifty, but what about the age-old feeling of getting wrapped up "in a good book"? "Getting wrapped up in a Kindle" just doesn't have the same ring to it....

LivingSocial Events

2009-06-19T17:47:00Z

One part of LivingSocial that you have probably never seen is our LivingSocial Events page. Our events page help bring LivingSocial users in New York City, and soon others cities, together for free cocktails.

This event at China 1, is just one of our many upcoming events where you can meet other LivingSocial users away from the computer or just get all of your friends together for a free drink. Just RSVP to any of these events online, print out your code and show up for free drinks and a lot of fun.

If you attend one of these events or you have any suggestions, let us know what you think by emailing us at feedback@livingsocial.com or tweet us @LivingSocial.

Cheers from the team at LivingSocial!

Polls by LivingSocial

2009-06-11T20:15:00Z

A lot has been going on here at LivingSocial lately. You already know all about our nine LivingSocial categories and the PickYour5 Facebook application. Recently you might also have noticed our LivingSocial Pick Your Five)

Favorite movies of all time
Best TV shows
5 Things i don’t leave the house without!
Favorite Sports Teams
Favorite beer

Best Brews Around

2009-04-15T19:18:00Z

Best Brews

Ever wonder how many different brands of beer there are? Or how long it might take to try every single beer out there?

According to Wikipedia, Beer is the world's oldest and most widely consumed alcoholic beverage, with more than 35 billion gallons (133 billion liters) sold each year! Add to that there are rumored to be more than 20,000 brands of beer, and you've got quite a task ahead of you if you plan to try them all.

We here at LivingSocial love us some beer - heck, we'd have to in order to dedicate an entire category to it! From dark beers to light; strong to weak; lager to stout; you can bet we've tried a bunch. That said, we're no experts, at least not compared to some folks who take their appreciation for beer to the next step; these people are true experts. There is a popular site that all beer-lovers should know about called Beeradvocate, which is where many of these experts to go talk about and rate beers. This is one of the sites that we turn to whenever we're looking for a cool new beer to try, or clarification about a brewery location or the spelling of a specific brew - a real almanac, if you will.

I recently found myself pondering, "what are the best beers on earth?" By no means is this question easily answered, however, sure as fate BeerAdvocate has taken a stab at answering it by compiling a list of what they deem "Top 100 Beers on Planet Earth" , using a fancy-schmancy statistical formula that eliminates a lot of bias you might find in other lists. While I totally encourage you to take a visit to their Top 100 list, I'll summarize the Top 10 for you here:

Trappist Westvleteren 12 by Brouwerij Westvleteren
Pliny The Younger by Russian River Brewing Company
The Abyss by Deschutes Brewery
Dark Lord Imperial Stout by Three Floyds Brewing Company
Kate The Great by Portsmouth Brewery
Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout by Russian RIver Brewing Company
Pliny The Elder by Russian River Brewing Company
Trappist Westvleteren 8 by Brouwerij Westvleteren
Masala Mama Indian Pale Ale by Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery
AleSmith Speedway Stout by AleSmith Brewing Company

But what about the millions of beer fans at LivingSocial? What do they like most? Well, I've got the answer to that as well. Here's the Top 10 most popular beers on LivingSocial: Beer:

Heineken by Heineken N.V.
Corona by Group Modelo
Guinness Draught by Guinness Ltd.
Budweiser by Anheuser-Busch/InBev
Stella Artois by Stella Artois
Coors Light by Molson Coors Brewing Company
Bud Light by Anheuser-Busch/InBev
Beck's by Haake-Beck Brauerei
Carlsberg by Carlsberg Group
Fosters Lager by Fosters Group Ltd

So there you have it - the Top 10 beers in the world according to the people at Beeradvocate, and the Top 10 most popular beers according to the people at LivingSocial: Beer. Have you tried them all? Be sure to head on over to LivingSocial: Beer to add them to your collection, rate, and review them!

Cheers from the team at LivingSocial!

Introducing Pick Your 5

2009-04-09T14:34:00Z

Here at LivingSocial, we are all about creating lists and categorizing stuff. With 9 subject areas already in place (from books to slopes) and more coming soon, our aim is to help you manage the things you like easily and socially.

It was with those goals in mind that we introduced a new LivingSocial experience on Facebook called Pick Your Five. Pick Your 5 is a simple application that allows you to quickly generate lists of five things, with a title you create, and share those lists with your friends. Every subject area on LivingSocial.com (video games, beer, books, etc.) is available to be picked from in Pick Your 5 along with new categories we’ve added especially for the Pick Your 5 app, like celebrities, hot sauces, countries, pro sports teams, and others.

Above is an image of the creation screen in Pick Your 5. Once you click “Finish,” your pick five list is complete, and it appears on your Facebook stream, so your friends can comment on your choices or pick their own.

Let us know if you have any feedback about Pick Your 5 by emailing us at feedback@livingsocial.com or tweet us @LivingSocial. Also, please, let us know which new categories you want in Pick Your 5 and which of those you most want to see expanded into new subject areas on LivingSocial.com.

How do you describe LivingSocial?

2009-03-12T13:17:00Z

First off, let me apologize for the long radio silence over the past few weeks. We haven't been taking an extended holiday, but rather working on a bunch of behind-the-scenes improvements and bug fixes. In other words, we haven't had any cool, new features to talk about, unless of course, you consider search engine optimization or database restructuring sexy.

Not to worry, we're bringing sexy back. In October, we hired a kick-ass designer, Keith, who has been trucking on a more cohesive LivingSocial. The team has been pouring through user-feedback from the last year and contemplating what ways we can provide a better experience.

In doing so, we realized that we have an idea of who we are but aside from a few praise e-mails a week, we really don't know who you think we are. Our solution: we ask you.

Here's the challenge: Describe LivingSocial.

In one word, eight words, or one thousand fifty-two. Draw us a picture. Send us a video. Rap it. Write a poem (which surprisingly, our CEO can do well.) Be creative. Unfiltered is fine - we don't bruise too easily.

In exchange for your creative juices, we'll send you some LivingSocial schwag.

Tweet us @LivingSocial or drop us a line at feedback@livingsocial.com. And don't forget to send us your mailing address for the schwag. ;)

Show Images On Your Collection Page

2009-02-11T18:51:00Z

Today we have two small (but hopefully significant!) changes to announce that impact users’ collections. First off, the “Manage” page is no more. We renamed the page’s title in the header “My Collection,” which is a bit more accurate and easier to understand. In terms of functionality, the page is still the same, so you can still search your collection, give ratings, change statuses, delete, create lists, etc. all from that one place.

Along with the name change, we’ve added the ability for you to show the images of the things in your collection on your “My Collection” page. Click the “show images” link above your collection to display a small thumbnail image for each item. You can prevent the images from displaying by clicking “hide images” at any time. Hopefully, this tweak makes it easier for you to find the things you’re trying to find!

As always, please, don’t hesitate to drop us a line at feedback@livingsocial.com or swing by http://getsatisfaction.com/livingsocial.

What iPhone Apps do your friends use?

2009-01-29T19:55:00Z

After launching Slopes last week, we’re excited to announce our next new subject area: iPhone Apps. If you are like the LivingSocial team, we don’t have a ton of time to download every new app that comes out. Instead, we use the recommendations of our friends to figure out what iPhone apps are essential accessories.

A few weeks back, we decided to create LivingSocial: iPhone apps to solve this problem. Now, you can get recommendations, ratings, and reviews from your friends and figure out what apps are worth your time and money. Plus, we offer direct downloads to the iTunes store, so you don’t even have to go back and forth between your browser and iTunes.

From what we can tell, we’re the first site out there that integrates your friends into the iPhone app experience.

Get started cataloging your favorite iPhone Apps today. If you notice any inaccurate information or have any problems with iPhone apps, drop us a line at feedback@livingsocial.com or swing by GetStatisfaction.

Why is my Collection shrinking?

2009-01-26T22:21:00Z

We are constantly working to clean up the LivingSocial: Movies database. Thanks in large part to your moderation reports we track down duplicate movies and “roll them up” into individual movies on a daily basis. Lately, we’ve focused on eliminating things that simply aren’t movies that somehow snuck into our database, and rolling up duplicate movies that were released in multiple formats (ex: Gladiator [Blu-ray] and Gladiator [VHS]).

For those of you whose total number of movies in your collections have decreased: do not fear. Any changes you’ve noticed are simply due to duplicate movies being rolled up or non movie things (like posters and TV shows) being deleted. We know that many people have added TV shows to their collections, and while we are removing these from the movies database you can still catalog these shows in LivingSocial: TV Shows. This distinct area allows you to catalog TV shows, comment and rate individual seasons and episodes, and watch full length episodes for some shows.

If you see a duplicate movie or an incorrect title, please use the “Report Inaccurate Data” link on each movie page (as you can see above) to contact us directly.

As always, please don’t hestitate to drop us a line at feedback@livingsocial.com or swing by http://getsatisfaction.com/livingsocial.

Ski or Snowboard into LivingSocial: Slopes

2009-01-23T14:50:00Z

With winter in full effect, the LivingSocial team is pleased to announce our newest subject area: Slopes. Slopes allows you and your friends to catalog your favorite ski and snowboarding destinations, while getting recommendations from LivingSocial on where to go for your next winter vacation. In addition, we've integrated with SnoCountry, providing you with up-to-date information on the current conditions at each slope.

Slopes is the first subject to include detailed information, a trend you will see in all of our future subject areas. If you notice any inaccurate information or have problems with Slopes, drop us a line at feedback@livingsocial.com.