Riff n. A short rhythmic phrase, especially one that is repeated in improvisation.

Often we see a post in So.cl that grabs our attention and we want to add to it. More than just comment we want to give the concept our own spin or take the conversation to a new place. We want to add to the understanding and join the discussion in a richer way. We want to riff on it.

In music a riff begins as a short rhythm or melody but it is the improvisation on that phrase that tickles us and keeps our interest. Each distinct variation has a quality and message of its own but still adds its part to the greater conversation. We hope to bring a little of that to So.cl. We are excited to introduce a new way to interact and improvise with content. Today we released Riff. 

How it works

Very simply, there is a ‘Riff’ verb now on every post. Similar to “Comment” clicking “Riff” will assist you in responding to a post.

1. Clicking “Riff” begins a new post , a response based on the old post.
2. The original post will be annotated with a note linking to your new post so people can find the riff.
3. Your new post is also attributed at the top with a link to the original post.

Above is an example of a Riff. Dan has created a post on Miles Davis describing him as his “favorite jazz man”. I have responded to Dan’s post with my own post on John Coltrane using the riff feature. Each links to the other so our post has context. Think of it as a conversation, riffing on a concept back and forth. New riffs can be added by anyone at any time.

A few additional things to mention, clicking on a link like “john Coltrane” seen in #2 will navigate you to a page with the “john Coltrane” post as well as a view of all other posts produced using Riff on that post. This included the “view all Riffs” link at the top. These pages give a clear view of the larger collection of posts within the conversation.

We will be continually updating this and other features so please give lots of feedback and tell us how you think it could be better. The site is an experiment and we are in it together. Let’s make it great! 

Collections are an important part of the So.cl experience; aggregating content and users around topics of interests is a core concept. Today that concept is expressed in our tags feature and can be used to link posts to a larger context or segregate them for later examination. Tags are an element that can be utilized in a number of ways. While we have big plans for expanding the utility and meaning of tags, we also want to continue to streamline and improve what we have today.

With that said, we would like to announce a few improvements that we hope will simplify how tags are applied and consumed. There are two major improvements in this release: how you apply tags to So.cl posts and how you can search your own tags to reveal all the related community content.

How to apply tags to So.cl posts

Tagging any So.cl post is very easy with the new tag interface. When you discover a So.cl post that you would like to tag, simply click on the tag link below the post itself, and a small overlay will appear presenting your most recently used tags. 

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After launching So.cl we were pleasantly surprised to see how well it resonated with non-English native speakers. In the short time since, the site has received attention from users all over the world, adding to the richness and diversity of the So.cl content stream.

To support our growing community we took advantage of a great asset with the Bing Translator API, and we are happy to announce that So.cl now has built in translation. With this update you can connect with people from across the globe in 37 different languages, making collaboration easier than ever.

To apply this feature to a post, click on the menu arrow in the upper right corner and select “Translate.”

A box will appear where you can select your language, see image below.  Click the orange “Translate” button, and the post will automatically translate into your chosen language!

You can also set your default translation language on the language tab in your setting panel. To get to the settings panel, click on your profile image in the top right corner of the page and click “settings”.

We hope the new translation feature will add to your experience and ability to collaborate and share information.

We are continuing to work on lots of great new ideas here at FUSE Labs, so keep an eye out for future announcements here and on Twitter @fuselabs.

Mood boards are a common tool used by visual designers and marketing teams to establish the look and feel or brand for a project. Typically this is done by searching through image archives and painstakingly building the collections in mosaics, and it involves numerous steps to collect, organize, and layout manually by hand.

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