A Shine refresher

Hey everyone,

Did you know that Shine took home the Media Industry News "Best of the Web" award for social media/community on Wednesday?! Congrats to everyone for creating an engaged community worthy of such an award. Read all about it here.

Seeing as it's award season here on the web I read a timely post from Shine user Sunny called "Why are you a Shine reader". I'm very curious to hear your answers, so post a comment and tell us!

It's been a while since we covered some of the many features of our site, and as we're seeing a crop of new Shine users - welcome everyone! - I thought this might be a good time for a quick refresher.

1. Finding great content
Did you know that for each of our six main categories we have both an Editor's Picks blog roll and a raw feed blog roll? When you click on a category you'll see all of the posts that were hand-picked by our Editors for their interesting content. You can also click the raw feed link at the top of the page to view every post that has ever been submitted to the category. We love spotlighting posts in Editor's Picks, but there's no way we can highlight every deserving post, so we encourage everyone to check out the raw feed for lots of fascinating and helpful gems.

2. Getting involved
Shine wouldn't be the same without our passionate users, the discussions they have, and the relationships they form on a daily basis. It's easy to "Join the conversation"; just look for a blog post that interests you and leave a comment in the comment box below the post. Remember that comments cannot be edited, so please be considerate. A handy trick is always asking yourself "Would I say this to someone face-to-face?"

3. Special events
Under our Home tab you'll find links to our special seasonal events. These are always a great read, don't forget to check them out. My current favorite is "Make Home a Haven" where I've learned how to reduce my energy bills and found 12 unexpected ways to use a paper clip!

4. More than just "stuff"
Every user has their own "My Stuff" page where you can do fun things like update your image and write a "About Me" blurb to share with fellow Shine users, It's a great way to personalize your experience on Shine and let fellow users put a face to a name. You can also view all your subscriptions, which is the easiest way to follow the bloggers you like. To add someone to your subscriptions list, click the "Subscribe to this Blog" link at the top of their blog page.

Have fun!