LAS VEGAS -- The new, upgraded feeds will be here soon. As will the new, upgraded commenting platform right behind it.
And when I say soon, the feeds will be up within the next 3-4 days.
Here's what they'll offer:
• The current team pages will become the feeds. They'll be one and the same. They'll also include all of our full articles, of course, but everything will be available with a single tap of the team/college logo on the home page of the app/site. Think of it as a steady stream of everything we've got, one that'll include the capability to insert videos, photos, links easily.
• There'll be three categories of material on the feeds, each one color-coded with a vertical stripe down the left side: 1. Simple, quick feed entries, similar to tweets. (Gold). 2. Full articles (Blue.) 3. Live files for games. (Red.)
• Anyone wishing to see only the articles or only the live files, there'll be a prominent set of buttons atop the feed that'll filter everything down to just those if you choose. In a snap, the entire feed turns to articles. Or live files.
• Readers with subscriptions will be able to react to each individual feed entry rather than in one big forum. I'm really happy with this one. This way, if a feed's being scanned hours after an entry went up, you have an easy time finding any and all discussion about that entry without having to sift through 200-plus comments that day. Each entry's like its own little forum. (Only readers with subscriptions will be able to react, comment in any way on the app/site.)
• Similarly, each entry will offer the option to react via emoji. Including, for the first time, custom emojis of all the full-timers on our staff. (The up-cups and down-cups will remain, of course, exactly where they've always been, inside the commenting.)
Man, I can't wait to get this out. It's actually done, but there's a little football game being played out here in the desert this weekend, you might've heard, and there's no way we wanted to try something this new and risk messing with the place at that time.
NEW PAYMENT PLATFORM
The new payment platform, a month in the making, is up and running.
If your subscription expired while we were switching platforms -- and we asked many of you to hang on until we were all clear -- this is our new subscribe page. Make sure you're logged in, tap on the link, and thumb down to the bottom for the SUBSCRIBE button to buy/renew at the monthly or annual level.
We also have our new pages completed for student subscriptions and senior subscriptions. If you're buying/renewing either, make sure you're logged in, tap on the appropriate link, and tap the big SUBSCRIBE button. These are all annual.
MILITARY DRIVE GETS PUSH
Our annual Military Drive, aimed at connecting 1,000 veterans of our Armed Forces to a one-year subscription, had a highly encouraging week, as one exceptionally benevolent reader contributed 15 as part of a weekly total of 23 to raise the total to 357. His stated hope was that he'd spur more to keep pushing toward the goal of getting it done by Veterans Day Nov. 11.
Here's how it works: We sell a military subscription for $20, covering a full year for any veteran. That's one-third of the regular price. However many you'd wish to donate, even if it's just one, email me directly at DK@DKPittsburghSports.com, and Dali will do the processing.
BACK TO BUSINESS
• Our page-view numbers for the past week were 951,138, with 33,051 different users over the most recent full seven-day span. Our most-read original piece was my 10 Takes column from the Steelers' win over the Browns, at 23,059. The Steelers were accounted for 24.9% of our views, the Pirates 13.6%, the Penguins 10.9%, Pitt 4.5%, and Penn State 2.6%.
• On the multimedia front, our podcast downloads for the past week were 144,564 and our YouTube video views for the past week were 165,325.
• Our company social media accounts are at 51,015 followers on X, 39,717 on Facebook, 24,773 on YouTube, 14,879 on Instagram ... and already 2,492 on the new Threads app!
• We make mistakes. If you see one, email: Typos@DKPittsburghSports.com
• We're often asked about our HQ/shop merch being available online, and yes, it's right here.
• Anything you need, email: Help@DKPittsburghSports.com
