MyBlogLog widget for WordPress.com blogs — One of the best web widgets available
I was one of the people who was a little disappointed that WordPress.com supports Snap Preview Anywhere but not MyBlogLog. If you look at adoption of the Snap Preview Anywhere widget it was disabled by most major blogs after just a short trial because users hate it (problogger, johnchow, lorelle, digital inspiration, a VC, instigator, ).
NOTE: Readers can disable Snap Preview Anywhere on *ALL* blogs they read by clicking this link. You will have to do it on all your web browsers because it is a cookie setting.
The response to MyBlogLog however was very different. People love it because it’s a way for readers to promote their blogs, and for bloggers to find out who their readers are. After MyBlogLog was acquired by Yahoo I was hoping they’d get an official sidebar plug-in. I was surprised to find out that I was the first WordPress.com user to ask for it.
I haven’t found an official announcement for it, but MyBlogLog has come up with a non-javascript widget (probably the same method they use for MySpace) to add support for WordPress.com users. Here is the HTML code to put into a sidebar widget. It works by using images instead of javascript.
How to Add a MyBlogLog Widget to A WordPress.com Blog
- Login or create an account at MyBlogLog.com
- Create a site or edit settings on a blog you author
- Make sure the site URL ends in wordpress.com
- Save the settings on MyBlogLog.com
- Get the widget code for the site (press the Get Widget button)
- Go to your wordpress.com dashboard and create a new text sidebar widget
- Dashboard >> Presentation >> Sidebar Widgets
- See this page for more information if you’ve never used sidebar widgets before
- Save your sidebar changes
- If you have a custom domain name then log back into MyBlogLog.com and edit the site URL to use the custom domain name
Sample Code
Example of Sidebar Text Widget code for engtech.wordpress.com:
<div class="mblrr_v"><br /> <h2><span>Recent Readers</span></h2><br /> <p><a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/pt.php?s=UNIQUEID&p=0"> <img src="http://ipub.mybloglog.com/i/vUNIQUEID_req.jpg" alt="View My Profile" title=""View My Profile"></a> <a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/pt.php?s=UNIQUEID&p=1"> <img src="http://ipub.mybloglog.com/i/vUNIQUEID_1.jpg" alt="View My Profile" title="View My Profile"></a> <a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/pt.php?s=UNIQUEID&p=2"> <img src="http://ipub.mybloglog.com/i/vUNIQUEID_2.jpg" alt="View My Profile" title="View My Profile"></a> <a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/pt.php?s=UNIQUEID&p=3"> <img src="http://ipub.mybloglog.com/i/vUNIQUEID_3.jpg" alt="View My Profile" title="View My Profile"> </a><a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/pt.php?s=UNIQUEID&p=4">< img src="http://ipub.mybloglog.com/i/vUNIQUEID_4.jpg" alt="View My Profile" title="View My Profile"></a><br /> <div> <a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/community/YOUR_COMMUNITY_NAME/"> <span>View Entire Community</span></a> <a href="http://www.mybloglog.com/"><span>Provided by MyBlogLog</span></a></div><br /> </div><br /><p>
In order for that code to work you will have to change UNIQUEID to your MyBlogLog ID and YOUR_COMMUNITY_NAME to your MyBlogLog user name. Do not cut-and-paste this code into your text widget, go to MyBlogLog.com and get the specific code for your site from them.
They also give you optional CSS code (you will need the CSS upgrade to use — CSS is not required for the upgrade to work).
Example of CSS:
<style type="text/css"> body .mblrr_v{ width:160px; overflow:hidden; background-color:white; font-family:tahoma,sans-serif; border:1px solid teal; } body .mblrr_v img { border:0; } body .mblrr_v h2 { font-size:16px; margin:0; color:white; background-color:teal; } body .mblrr_v h2 span { padding-left:5px; color:white; } body .mblrr_v a { font-size:10px; text-align:center; display:block; color:black; } body .mblrr_v a:visited { font-size:10px; text-align:center; display:block; color:black; } body .mblrr_v a img { border-top:1px solid teal; } body .mblrr_v div { border-top:1px solid teal; } </style>
Here’s the gotcha though: they only give you the code if your blog domain name ends in WordPress.com.
Getting the Code When Your Domain Name Doesn’t End in WordPress.com
So if you are running a WordPress.com blog with a custom domain name you’ll have to change your MyBlogLog setting to your WordPress.com domain name temporarily in order to get the widget code. Leave a comment if you are having trouble.
[…] the Lurkers Engtech is posting everywhere about MyBlogLog making a widget for WordPress.com blogs. I don’t know that the Custom CSS upgrade is actually necessary. I hope not, […]
you might want to edit your example CSS to remove the
<style>
tags.otherwise, thanks for the tip!
How is this different from snooping?
A real privacy concern– similar to blocking the telephone caller ID, how to prevent from being stalked or worse? That is, in some cases, especially domestic violence, one doesn’t want the world (or other blog owner) to know where one has virtually been. Or am I misreading this thing?
@mpb-
you aren’t tracked if you’re not logged in to mybloglog.com.
I had the same privacy worries at first, but then I realized it was much more useful as a passive method of blog advertising.
You can also display any number of pictures you want. The code they give only goes up to four, but you can change the parameter to their script to increase it.
I think this code might be required for tracking to work properly:
<a href=”http://www.mybloglog.com/pt.php?s=UNIQUEID&p=0″><img src=”http://ipub.mybloglog.com/i/vUNIQUEID_req.jpg” alt=”View My Profile” title=””View My Profile”></a>
Yup, that’s definitely required. My widget stopped working after I had taken it out. :)
Thanks for the tip, dude. I had to help a friend get MBL working on her wordpress.com blog tonight, and this is just what I needed to know.
Cool, glad I could help.
I’m just happy to have it working. Most useful web widget out there.
Hi,
Is there no way that you can put the widget in the sidebar without CSS? I’ve tried everything I know about modifying the code. Most I can do is get it up there with pictures that never change. Can you show the whole code that you used? Thanks much.
Nope, you don’t need CSS.
I just visited your site for the first time and I showed up on your MyBlogLog… so looks like it’s working.
Hi,
Yes, I saw the your image come up on the MyBlogLog posted on my site, so it is working now without the CSS. Thanks very much for the coding that you posted here; it was a big help in getting started!
Grrrr. I’m going to try to change things to raincoaster.wordpress.com again, but still it is a huge annoyance. Technorati is bad enough!
I’m not seeing it in action…is there some code I need to change?
Okay, I’m not getting this. Is MyBlogLog responsible for the pictures of the folks who came to visit your site? And their picture only shows up if they are registered with MyBlogLog?
Help me understand what this thing really does and how it helps you. Other than seeing some faces come up, what’s the big deal?
Thanks! I never would have known to change my blog address to wordpress.com to get this.
@lorelle: Yup, that’s it. If people are register to mybloglog.com then when they visit other blogs they’ll show up in the list of recent readers.
It becomes a way of passively advertising your blog, and for bloggers to see who’s reading.
You are a genius! Thanks very much…it worked!
cheers Phoenix
Glad to help.
Okay, I’m dense with this. Explain me better. ;-)
So it shows who is visiting your blog from those who are registered with the service. This encourages them to come looking to see if their face is there? Or gives you a clue on who in that community is looking at your blog (does it mean they spent several minutes, or just stopped by and clicked out in microseconds? What’s the criteria?)
Is this just a new social networking thing where people get the thrill of seeing their faces on people’s blogs?
Thanks for helping me understand this new gimmick, and help convince me it isn’t a gimmick. Thanks.
1) it gives the blog owner stats
2) it doesn’t use an ugly pseudo stat meter to collect said stats
3) for non-wp.com blogs, it provides semi-authenticated avatars for post comments
@lorelle: ok, the WP.com image only version is gimmicky. :)
The javascript version gives you goodies like click tracking and stats.
Good info on MyblogLog: http://www.mybloglog.com/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page
—-
Some how-tos and info:
http://theory.isthereason.com/?p=1091
http://qureyoon.blogspot.com/2006/11/complete-guide-to-mybloglogging.html
—-
“Eric and Todd started MyBlogLog as a stats package, which dropped a cookie on each reader so as to report better stats back to the writer of the blog. As blogs have taken off, MBL was able to drop more and more cookies on the machines of users that it otherwise had no relationship with. This “worthless traffic” of readers would have remained such if it were not for a unique insight by Rafer. His contribution, having no doubt listened to one of the many sermons on Attention, was to see the cookie as a social media input. Why not give readers of blogs the opportunity to express their readership to the writers they visit? In other words, why not enable users to connect their anonymous implicit cookies to their personal explicit profiles?
This was a simple enough proposition but amounts, in my mind, to something new and important: the reader as activist. Offering little more than the ability to have your icon appear on the blogs that you visit, MBL turned the cookie from something that exposes you to something that expresses you. What had always been limited to passive behavioral data for publishers and advertisers to target against had now become something different- a continuous stream of active Attention gestures. As Scott recounted, “They [Eric and Todd] were gathering implicit data before I got there. We added explicit, public rendering of that implicit data.”
Yahoo!’s decision to purchase MBL makes sense as a means of converting some of their 150+ million “worthless” page views into opt-in Attention profiles. Already, groups are starting to form within the MBL communities that recognize their own opportunity to “vote with their feet” which in this case would be more akin to marketing through their clicks. For example, just think of small groups of members, organized around a cause or particular passion, descending en masse upon a site. The widget expressing the last 10 readers suddenly becomes a powerful tool for asserting a certain position. First comes the inane home town fans click-pack with each user wearing a Cincinnatti Reds baseball hat in the picture on his profile; then come the more interesting political agendas and petitions. ”
from: http://majestic.typepad.com/seth/2007/01/valleywag_is_in.html
—-
Another post http://mashable.com/2006/06/19/mybloglog-communities-social-network-for-blog-readers/
[…] Note: //engtech posted a solution that worked for me – use a different version of the MyBlogLog sidebar widget that uses images instead of JavaScript. Check it out. […]
OK I got the code from the get widget thingy
What next ? Where do I put it ?
I pasted the example code in a text widget on my site but nothing happens.
Please help !
Thanks: I had reason to need to refer to this and I had everything but the wordpress.com requirement… having said that I have not gone all out with the custom domain as my URL is a redirect. Mainly if I decide to host my blog elsewhere.
Thanks for the tip.
All I am getting is “View” “View” “View”…etc. What am I doing wrong?
Thanks for your help!!!
@Ginger:
Yeah, that’s my fault. I didn’t paste the example code properly so all of the quotes are wrong. Instead of being normal quotes they are so-called smartquotes.
I’ve fixed the example. You could just replace all the quotes in the code in your text widget and that should fix it.
[…] widget and found it used JavaScript, which is not allowed here at WordPress.com. But it seems that you can use MBL on WordPress.com after […]
Actually I think meganblogs was the first to ask for this feature…
maybe, all I know is that’s what Mark said when I left the request in feedback.
I’m having the same problem as Ginger. Do you think tossing a brick at the monitor will fix it?? That’s where I’m at right now…. HELP
BTW, any suggestions on the Meebo widget?
@sara:
Follow the instructions at the very end starting with “How to Add a MyBlogLog Widget to A WordPress.com Blog”.
Getting the code directly from MyBlogLog.com seems to fix issues people are having.
when I try to get the widget code I get:
Error!
community_not_found
why?
If you cut-and-pasted my code sample, change YOUR_COMMUNITY_NAME to your MyBlogLog user name.
i changed YOUR_COMMUNITY_NAME and it still doesn’t work…
does a community have to be established somehow first?
i tried on 3 text widgets, with equinox, equinoxstudios, and some numbers and none works
it was totally my bad. sorry for the multiple comments :P
@engtech
I have done this several hundred times now. The problem is that when I add the copy (code) into the text widget and save it disappears. Any thoughts on why that is? I used to have the MyBlogLog widget working just fine. Not any longer.
Again, thank you so very very much for the help.
@sara: sounds like you’re having a problem with the sidebar widget, not the code.
How familiar are you with creating a text widget?
My guess is that you’re entering the code into the text widget control, closing the edit box, but not hitting “Save Changes” (mid-upper right hand side)
@entech
OK… I’m very sorry to be a pest here. I can’t really explain any better than I have thus far about the problems I’m having. May I ask you to please visit my site and take a look at it. The site is http://www.Destination48009.com. I would really appreciate it. Let me know.
Regards,
Sara
@sara:
the prob is you cut-and-paste my example code exactly, without changing anything :) I’ve updated the post to make it more clear not to do that.
Follow the instructions at the section with the heading “How to Add a MyBlogLog Widget to A WordPress.com Blog”
I’ve moved them above the example to make it clearer
Thanks–worked like a charm!
Thanks, it works great. Any idea on how to do it for stats ? Would some HTML replace the javascript as well?
They are able to track the number of page views and number of uniques, but all of the click tracking stats require javascript.
great ! thx for the tip ^^
Hi, this entry really helped me and I followed ALL the steps that you provided HOWEVER the “http://ipub.mybloglog.com/i/v2007021814343838_1.jpg”
“http://ipub.mybloglog.com/i/v2007021814343838_2.jpg”
“http://ipub.mybloglog.com/i/v2007021814343838_3.jpg”
images do not seem to correspond with the actual visitors to my site. If you click on the visitor avatars, on my site, it will send you to their mybloglog profiles but if you look at the widget on my site, it show’s a different avatar altogether. What do you think? Please help, thanks in advance
Actually, I think I figured it out. I noticed that I hadn’t turned on that option that asked me if I was using typepad or wordpress. Instead of YES, it was selected NO because I never had the actual widget on my blog so I never even bothered to have it turned to the YES option. I noticed that after I had switched it to YES, it gave me the following:
Typepad, Movable Type and WordPress Users:
Yes (requested, awaiting admin’s action) No
* Self-hosted WordPress? Click here for good alternative.
* No script change required
* Takes up to 24 hours to appear after turning on.
NOTE the “requested, awaiting admin’s action” I have a feeling the problem will be fixed in 24 hours. Thanks!
thanks for the help! How did you get it to fit in your sidebar. on my page it sticks out like an ugly flag. I know you will know the answer to this as you have one of the best looking sites I have seen.
thanks again for the help and the great site,
stupidtom
@stupidtom: because I have the CSS upgrade I’m able to style it to look like it fits in with the rest of my design.
[…] you have a free WordPress.com here is a post that could help you with adding the Mybloglog widget to your blog. Its a bit tricky with the free ones, but it can be […]
[…] to my WordPress.com blog; and I found out I can. Here is the article showing me how to do it. How to Add a MyBlogLog Widget to A WordPress.com Blog. I applied the same method to a social network, Technonati, and it works. Check it on the right […]
[…] https://engtech.wordpress.com/2007/01/15/mybloglog-widget-for-wordpresscom-blogs-one-of-the-best-web-… (copied from http://en.forums.wordpress.com/topic.php?id=6469&page&replies=16) […]