Social Feeds module released

rocky · #1 12-12-2013, 12:03 PM

Hello, X-Carters!

I am glad to announce a release of Social Feeds module.

http://www.x-cart.com/sites/default/files/modules/Social_feeds_2b.png

Connect with your customers and build a brand for the cost of some time and creativity. Promote your store and goods via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and other social networks. Our module in its turn gives you a cozy tool for that.

The key features are:

http://www.x-cart.com/sites/all/themes/xcartcom/images/checkmark.png Wide range of social networks is supported.
Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Flickr.

http://www.x-cart.com/sites/all/themes/xcartcom/images/checkmark.png Promote your store and goods via social networks.
You can boast of your new product collection via Instagram, make a video and upload it to YouTube, retweet a feedback and allow your customers to see it from your site

http://www.x-cart.com/sites/all/themes/xcartcom/images/checkmark.png Induce customers to subscribe to your social accounts
Each feed gives an opportunity to subscribe to the channel.

http://www.x-cart.com/sites/all/themes/xcartcom/images/checkmark.png Hassle-free configuration
No technical skills are required. Just follow a user guide

Supported versions: 4.4.0 - 4.6.1

Social Feeds Demo

Social Feeds Screenshots

Social Feeds Manual

totaltec · #2 12-12-2013, 12:17 PM

Very nice. I can expect many merchants will want to take advantage of this, easy way to keep fresh content on the site!

rocky · #3 12-12-2013, 12:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by totaltec

Very nice. I can expect many merchants will want to take advantage of this, easy way to keep fresh content on the site!

Thank you, Mike!

In addition to that, an easy way to make your customers aware that you've got an account in social network without spamming them.

chamberinternet · #4 12-13-2013, 08:31 AM

Looks good.

Does it support LinkedIn and Google+ as the icon logo suggests? I cant see anything in the documentation.

cflsystems · #5 12-13-2013, 08:45 AM

Not to bring the joy of this down but I am still vry much reserved about all social feeds on site. I visit many different sites every day and if it is not for doing work on them and they have any social feeds active on the page most of the time I just leave after couple seconds. The reason - page load is slow because of these social sites feeds and they are usually what you first see instead of the contents you are looking for....

It is very frustrating to me as a customer to wait on them and since I am not interested of their tweets but of what they can offer me...

Does this module works so it doesn't slow down page load?

totaltec · #6 12-13-2013, 09:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cflsystems

Does this module works so it doesn't slow down page load?

It does seem to affect load time of the demo page. The Facebook portion alone contributed 616ms to load time. I think it is a fair trade off for the increased engagement. Steve, we all know you hate social media! Lol.

rocky · #7 12-13-2013, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by chamberinternet

Looks good.

Does it support LinkedIn and Google+ as the icon logo suggests? I cant see anything in the documentation.

No, not yet. Since these networks are specific we decided to do it upon request. Should there be requests for Google+ and LinkedIn we will definitely add them.

Supported networks are:

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr

We are also contemplating an idea of adding Pinterest.

Should you have any other suggestions feel free to post them here or PM me.

cflsystems · #8 12-13-2013, 12:20 PM

I don't hate them but from customers perspective I find them to do more bad than good

Of course for merchants or SEO they may be more good than bad, I can't comment on this.

It just seems extreme to me when you see XC users here complaining about XC speed and at the same time they also want to add all these external widgets to site and slow it down...

The addon looks pretty good to me from standalone point of view but I still have to question what's better - faster site load which is definitely a huge plus or slower site and social media feeds which may or may not do some good...

Other than that great job QT

rocky · #9 12-13-2013, 12:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by cflsystems

Not to bring the joy of this down but I am still vry much reserved about all social feeds on site. I visit many different sites every day and if it is not for doing work on them and they have any social feeds active on the page most of the time I just leave after couple seconds. The reason - page load is slow because of these social sites feeds and they are usually what you first see instead of the contents you are looking for....

It is very frustrating to me as a customer to wait on them and since I am not interested of their tweets but of what they can offer me...

Does this module works so it doesn't slow down page load?

Thank you for your feedback, Steve, it's appreciated. No offense, but I find it a bit "old-fashioned". Mike's positive approach is closer for me. I personally reckon that by bringing some creativity you can elaborate your brand or your store considerably. All social feeds in one place. Easy way to hook a customer.. as we know most of e-shoppers have got accounts in social networks.

Speaking of performance, even if you add an icon or a featured product to your home page it slows down the speed. The question is whether it slows it down dramatically or not. You can test it and see that a page loading time difference is miserable. It loads the first feed, all other feeds are loaded in background.

This sidebar box can be moved wherever a store owner wants, it's not necessarily the first thing a customer sees.

cflsystems · #10 12-13-2013, 12:32 PM

No offence taken. As Mike pointed out everyone knows I am not a social media fan

Quote:

Speaking of performance, even if you add an icon or a featured product to your home page it slows down the speed. The question is whether it slows it down dramatically or not. You can test it and see that a page loading time difference is miserable. It loads the first feed, all other feeds are loaded in background.

Hence my question how the module works and what's the sacrifice. I can wait few second more for page to load but since I have seen sites taking like 20-30 seconds just because of social media connections I had to ask.

To me personally 1-2 seconds more makes no difference...

Thanks for jumping in with this explanation