“I Did This” Powered Up!

There are two newsworthy updates that need to be mentioned in this email—the good one and the bad one.  Don’t worry, the bad one is not as bad as you would think and is really good news in hiding.  Since custom dictates that bad news goes first, we shall start with that.

The “I Did This” button on articles is no stranger to anyone in the eHow community.  The button is on all of the eHow How To articles and it’s hard to believe that anyone could miss it.  Now, you may be wondering if we are going to remove the button.  That’s definitely not it.  In fact, we’re turning “I Did This” into a robust feature on the site where people can share their version for completing the project.  Due to this enhancement, “I Did This” member avatars will be removed from each page. Sounds pretty bad?  Not quite.  Keep reading and you’ll find out why.

So what’s the good news?  Being a community driven site, the “I Did This” feature was designed for members to share their accomplishments with others.  We’ll admit, when the feature was released it was still premature and we knew we had to do it some justice and give it a makeover.  As we mentioned above, the “I Did This” feature is now an interactive feature, which allows you to share your story through text and photos enabling you to show others how you completed the How To article you’ve read.  Since the feature has evolved into something more meaningful and technical, we needed to start off on a clean slate.

For those of you, who’ve had their “I Did This” member avatar removed from the article page.  Not to worry, we’ve placed all of your “I Did This” bookmarks in your “Projects” tab.   They are in draft mode and you can edit them at your own convenience.  Once you’re done editing, you can publish them and they will re-appear on the articles.

We’re pretty excited about this because it will allow you to revisit and give your “I Did This” more color.  You will now be able to provide a more engaging experience for readers who would like to know how you’ve accomplished a task.

We hope you’re as excited as we are and enjoy the new version of the “I Did This” feature.  Have fun showing and telling us how you’ve tackled a project!

Check out some of these great “I Did This” examples our community members have done:

1) See how member kxygen donated hair

2) See how member Rich, eHow Community Manager designed a t-shirt logo

3) See how member Jeremy spent a day in Venice Beach, California

4) See how member tommyboy2k cleared sewer lines

5) See how member Gregory removed cell phone screen scratches

Also, eHow.com is hitting the airwaves in Atlanta and Chicago in June. We’re buddying up with popular radio DJs Frank Ski and Wanda from Atlanta (V-103) and Drew Walker from Chicago (US-99.5) to spread the eHow love in those markets. Also, there will be a $1,000 sweepstake for our Atlanta and Chicago members. Participants will be asked to build out their own “I Did This” and show and tell us how they completed an everyday project. Good luck and we are looking forward to seeing your “I Did This!”