Several new features and improvements were rolled out and introduced Tuesday on lchomepage.com, the social network created by Lincoln City Homepage for the people of Lincoln City.
Homepage created a social network in response to Facebook’s Cambridge Analytica scandal, and now that Google has announced the discontinuation of the Google+ platform, we figured this was a good time to make our product better.
New features for version 2.0:
Day/Night mode
One of the things users gave us feedback on was how bright their screens were late at night and how this was not conducive with a good night’s rest. We listened and there is now an option to “reverse” the color scheme to night mode.
This feature can be accessed from the three dots next to a user’s circle profile picture in the top bar.
The website will “remember” what mode you selected, so the next time you log in, that mode will be automatically selected.
Remember, you can always suggest new features to us at [email protected].
Reaction system
Liking a post was never really enough, so when users asked us if there was a way we could emulate Facebook’s reaction system we knew it was an option.
Now, you can like, love, laugh, say wow, be sad and get angry.
The reaction system is close to Facebook’s we will admit, but ours is animated.
Points system
We struggled with this one. How could we reward users for engaging with each other? The point system works by giving a user points every time they like, create a post and comment.
Points can be used to buy advertising on the site or upgrade a profile to the pro-mode version that offers additional benefits like boosting posts and pages.
Quick Create
Users told us it was not easy to create new things on the site like blogs, events, groups and pages. Now you can do this by clicking the circle with a “+” at the top of the site. Hopefully, this addresses the issue and sees users creating more pages and groups.
Privacy
We added the ability to use your phone for lost passwords, which makes us all a little safer, as well as a session manager so users can see what devices have logged in to their account and gives them the control to log any devices out. This is a big step in keeping accounts secure, and we have doubled down on security on the admin side, too.
Other upgrades
This has been such a big update that an article focusing on all of them would be too large to read so we will condense the rest.
The Marketplace has been overhauled. The format changes are designed to make it easier to search for products and add them.
A new menu item called “Popular Posts” will display the most reacted to and commented on posts.
You can now poke users.
Events has also been overhauled. Should now be easier to add events and select the time.
Pro Mode Beta. This is an experiment that allows users to pay with their wallet with funds earned from interacting with the community to boost posts and pages and become a featured member. Pro members also get a verified badge. The main reason for this development is to generate revenue so the site can continue to improve and will not affect a free user’s experience by giving pro members overpowered or unfair advantages.
Advertising has been reworked to include points to be used as currency. 1,000 points = $1. With each like, comment or creation of a new post, users balances will increase until they have enough to advertise. A flat 10-cent per click cost for advertising can be set for now. Creating a new ad is easier now with the Quick Create link.
All features are in development and subject to modification based on user-input.
Thanks for visiting the site and offering feedback.
