Site Update: November 2013

Several months have flown by since our last site update and, because there are some exciting developments in the works, now seems like a good time to fill you all in on what’s happening.

10New Commenting System

In the next month or two, we will be launching a brand new commenting platform. It is an entirely native platform designed and built for Listverse by our great web design team. The platform will add new features such as favorite lists, sharing your favorite or recently viewed lists (optional), adding friends, and blocking comments. This is a much-needed update: It will also increase the speed of page loading and make it possible to keep up with your favorite commenters.

9Incorporating Listverse

The reason for my apparent absence from the site in recent months is because of travel for Listverse, preparing our new book, and because I have been liaising with a new accountancy firm and legal team to develop a corporate structure for Listverse. That process is coming to an end, and I will be signing the documents to make it all official in the next two weeks. This will have zero direct impact on our readers and authors. It is primarily an exercise in getting official legal structures set up to protect Listverse and ensure it can continue as it is without danger of interference from outside influences.

8New Book

It has now been two years since we launched our last book, and I am very excited to announce that we have a fourth book in the works. It will be launched in June next year and will be a huge compilation of lists (some from the site and some from authors not published). When we get closer to the release date, we will make the book available here for pre-order.

7Send In Your Lists

As most of you probably know, we pay $100 US for lists. I would like to appeal to you, our readers, to consider putting pen to paper (so to speak) and sending us a list. If you are an expert in any subject—or just really passionate about something—we would love to hear from you. Topics that are particularly popular at present are mysteries, misconceptions, creepy, facts, weird stuff, and animals. Having said that, we will accept any list on any subject if it is engaging and interesting. The only outside requirement is that you have a PayPal account so we can pay you if we accept the list. You can check out the Listverse Author’s Guide here to get started.

6Visitors

We have reached a point where we are regularly hitting 1,000,000 visits every day. This is very exciting as it is a sign of people appreciating the quality of writing from our authors and the very hard work of our editors (we currently have seven editors working at Listverse). It also means we are seeing more comments, so our comment system update is very timely.

5Advertising

Because of our negotiations with Google and our other advertisers, we have managed to maintain a low number of adverts on the site since our major redesign. This will continue, so I would like to appeal to people using AdBlockers to consider unblocking Listverse. We take pride in the fact that our ads are as minimally intrusive as possible—you shouldn’t ever encounter any obnoxious popup or auto-playing audio ads. (If you do find these ads, let us know so we can ban the advertiser. We don’t want them here any more than you do.)

The cost of hosting and running the site is extremely high and the advertising revenue is essential to maintaining the tight balance in maintaining the site, our authors, editors, and technology, and we hope you’ll choose to support your favorite sites. Bitcoin donations are also welcome. Our Bitcoin address is 1427rqJDEYLDavgai43Uyn62EPL7Mkj6mx.

4 Listverse Gives Back

We are hoping to launch some kind of regular charity event next year in which Listverse will donate toward a cause of your choosing. The idea I like in particular would be to donate books to schools. If you have other ideas that would be a good match for Listverse, please say so in the comments. We are open to all ideas. Donations will be made in the name of our readers.

3KnowledgeNuts

As you have probably noticed, we now have a companion site to Listverse called KnowledgeNuts. The site is designed to give you three daily fascinating facts or tidbits of knowledge in an easily digestible format. It’s growing fairly rapidly (faster than Listverse in the beginning, in fact). Be sure to check it out daily for the latest articles from our premium writers. KnowledgeNuts articles are also paid articles—more on that here.

2 Social Media

While we try to keep social media sharing buttons to a minimum on Listverse, we do have a thriving community on Facebook. Be sure to check out the Facebook page and “like” it so you can get daily updates on what is going on. We use the Facebook page to let fans know when new articles are up and also to advertise paid openings (e.g., editing positions). You are also welcome to add me as a friend if you so wish, as I often post personal updates about the business dealings and meetings related to Listverse.

1Mobile Apps

The single largest request we get regarding Listverse is the availability of mobile apps. We have already signed a contract with our design team to produce apps for iOS and Android in 2014. At present we have no official apps, so don’t be fooled by people selling apps with our name on them. We may also include apps for other devices, but we will be focusing on Apple’s and Google’s offerings for now. The apps will include some cool features that we are sure you will love.