Shopcasting!

What?

Shopcasting… It’s our word for personal product playlists you make on ThisNext and run on your blog. You know, like podcasting? Only instead of  a playlist of songs it’s a bunch of your favorite things in a list. And, like a podcast, you can broadcast a shopcast on a blog with our badge (some people call it a “widget” or a “skin”… sometimes we just call it “that blog thingy,” so there’s no need to get all wrapped up with semantics).

Running a shopcast on a customizableableized badge you make to match your blog’s design will be a snap. A shopcast can feature a list you made, a list someone else made, a single product, a tag (like, say, “running” or “gourmet”) or a whole profile (yours or anyone else’s).

What’s in it for you?

Aside from the mezmerizingly gorgeous badge you designed, there are four things:
• Traffic: People on ThisNext can click through to your blog and people on your blog can click through to your list, which is a place to read more about you (in your profile) and about your recommendations.
• Voice syndication: You are what you buy. Oh, hush, you. That’s not as craven as it sounds. We love certain products because they help us express ourselves in the world. They’re tools. Our collections of products are also as unique as our fingerprints. So your readers can get to know you, your opinions and your taste even better. A shopcast picture is worth a thousand-word post (and it’s a whole lot less work).
• Better product blogging: You know how that fantastic thing you posted about on Monday is buried in your blog by subsequent posts on Thursday. If you put that product on a ThisNext shopcasting badge, you can say buh-bye to buried product blogging and howdy-do to…
• Moolah: That’s right, cold, hard cash. Sometime shortly after our launch (8/21), we will enable a feature where, if you enter your affiliate code when you make a pick and then someone clicks through to buy that pick  from your blog, you get 100% of the affiliate commission. So, while we don’t suggest you rush out to put a down payment on that helicopter you’ve been eyeing, you’ll probably be able to buy your pals lattes… even if they’re greedy and make you throw in biscotti or they won’t hang out with you. Those jerks.

P.S. You can’t shopcast until we launch on August 21. We’ll still be building those pesky badge/skin/widget/bloggythingies until then. But when August 21 rolls around, you bet your bippy there’ll be beautiful bouncing badges all over the blogosphere. (If you say that three times fast and send me the audio file I’ll mail you a ThisNext T-shirt. Seriously: email alyson at thisnext dot com.)