Wibiya: Web-Based Toolbar for your Blog
Wibiya is a set of tools which allows you to connect your blog through Facebook, get more Twitter followers, RSS subscribers and post instant notifications to your on-site visitors through a tidy little javascript toolbar at the bottom of your web page. It also has a lot of handy gadgets that many people like to include on their blog like social bookmarking buttons, a translation widget and more.
Wibiya helps your visitors to browse your site, share their favorite posts and search through either your blog or Google Blogsearch. Because the toolbar shows up on every page of your site, it can help you to hook in users who arrive through search engines or inbound links from other websites. When a user arrive at your site they are greeted with your default notification, which could be a message inviting them to subscribe to your feed, and periodically updated as you add any new notifications.
One application to rule them all: The Facebook Connect feature integrates your visitors Facebook profile into a group on your site much like Google Friend Connect. Giving your readers the option to connect through a service they likely already have, such as a Facebook or Google account, is a great alternative to having them sign up or subscribe through an RSS reader. People would much rather connect through an account they already use every day rather than make a new account just for one of the many blogs they like to visit. It also displays your latest Tweets in a pop-up window when the reader clicks the Twitter button on the toolbar. Your Twitter timeline will show up in a scrollable window and there will be a ‘follow’ button for the user to follow you on Twitter.
Currently Wibiya is in private beta testing, so you need to request a beta key before installing the toolbar. I got mine in under 8 hours so that should tell you how easy it is.
Setting up the toolbar is a simple 4 step process which takes you through entering the details for your blog, choosing a theme for your toolbar, selecting which apps you want to use in your toolbar and finally, installing the toolbar on your blog. There is a plugin for WordPres and there is also Blogger and Movable Type set up options, and they offer a single line of HTML code which you can use to install the toolbar on any type of blog. Since the plugin didn’t seem to be compatible with my WordPress installation, I elected to use the code and place it in my footer template.
I use the Wibiya Toolbar on a local music scene website I am in the process of setting up with a partner, so if you’d like to see it in action you can have a look at North Bay Scene or sign up at Wibiya to request a beta key and try it out for yourself.
Written by Ryan Edmunds from CrunchPlay.comPosted on June 24th, 2009 and filed under Social Media
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10 Responses to “Wibiya: Web-Based Toolbar for your Blog”
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I think this will sure get people to visit more pages on your blog. Maybe get people to share their favorite posts a bit more?
Personally, I’m really excited about this toolbar. It reminds me of a windows Start menu for your website. Its also a lot like the app toolbar at the bottom of Facebook.
Was looking for this when I saw it on Shama.TV. Thanks for finding it
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Seems like a great tool for facebook more than your blog I’d assume. I think that readers of your blog would be able to find you more directly on FB and add you as a friend. I know most of my friends on Facebook already read my blog.
This looks like a great tool I will check it out and maybe take it for a test drive.
@Bob, I see what you’re saying about how it could be viewed as a way to get more Facebook friends, but I see the FB integration as more like using Open ID or Google Friend Connect. It simply creates an inline shoutbox through which people authenticate with FB connect. They are looking at using IDs from other sites as well. Since its still in beta, it could be a while before it is all up, but it would be pretty cool if people could sign in using all kinds of different IDs.
Also it has alot of features that normally tend to clutter up your sidebars like the Twitter updates, recent posts, subscription buttons and sharing buttons. All that nice stuff we normally use to increase pageviews (not unique visits) is there but doesn’t take up any extra room.
To find old friends, you can enter a number you have for them in various background search tool look up…