Well folks, our launch date has come and gone and we hope you’ve all had a chance to get used to the new look and how it all works. One thing we are all very proud of around here is how amazing our video and photo posts look now. Have you guys had a chance to see them? 

notsojingo

A live photo post from notsojingo published on Newsvine 3.0

The photo posts are so gorgeous now; they are easy to see, and easy to read. They are pretty easy to post too. If you need help doing so, you can find it here.

Video posts got a face lift too. They look great!

A video post from notsojingo posted on Newsvine 3.0

For help with video posts check here.

We’ve also created a filter bar, which is a nifty tool to help you well…filter for what you want to find. For example, if you wish to only see photo posts, or only video posts, you can do so using the bar. Here’s how it looks:

What the filter bar looks like.

You can also filter for seeds, articles and polls. Just click on the image you wish to filter by. This works for filtering for more than one type of post at a time, so it truly is customizable and you get see exactly what you want. All of these new features are pretty exciting, so make sure you try them out.

We're almost there! Newsvine is preparing to undergo its biggest change since its founding. We're really excited here at Newsvine Global Headquarters, and we are ready to help you through a big transition to a great upgrade.

Here's what you need to know:

Wednesday, February 6th is the last full day of Newsvine as we've come to know it. On Thursday, February 7th, Newsvine will look very different. 

There's an extensive Knowledge Base here that we're continuing to update. If you've got a question that needs answering post-launch, you can begin discussions both publicly and privately here. Staff will be responding every day.

Here are some things you can do to prepare:

Take a look at your group memberships if you have them. All groups will become Nations, an entirely new construct on Newsvine that improves both discussions and publishing. We're moving beyond global discussion threads that sometimes feature thousands of comments to discussions in these Nations - community spaces that you create, grow, and make your own unique Newsvine experience.

Check out the Knowledge Base. While it will make a lot more sense when you can use and experiment with the new site, we've answered a lot of questions asked by users, many without Beta access, so if you want to study a little bit, that's the best place to start.

Get ready to try something new. This is easier written than done. It's also easier if you've been working with the new version of the site for many months, as the developers have. Newsvine's been good, and it's been one of the more enduring sites of its type on the internet. We're changing because we want it to be even better.

Most folks reading this will be doing so because they know and like Newsvine. We're changing some very important fundamentals of the site, and we'd love for it to fulfill everyone's fantasy of what a news discussion site is. [Everyone has fantasies about that, right? It's not just us?] We recognize that Newsvine is nothing without Newsviners. So please, try the new Newsvine. Create Nations, publish content, mouse over everything. Tell us what you think in the discussion forum.

February 7th is going to be a big day, but it's also the first day. Thank you for your continued support, participation, and feedback - we can't wait to continue growing with you. 

I'm looking at New Newsvine's tour page today. That means it's getting close. I'm excited and anxious.

There's an essay that web entrepreneur Anil Dash (NSFW language, right in the headline) wrote in 2011 that I keep coming back to as we prepare to launch. I gravitate to this paragraph:

I realized that one of the reasons people don't understand how I've had such a wonderful response from all of you over the years is because they simply don't believe great conversations can happen on the web. Fortunately, I have seen so much proof to the contrary.

So have I. I've had a wonderful time here, and I've met great folks through this site. I learn as much from discussions as from articles.

Dash, later in the essay:

When you engage with a community online in a constructive way, it can be one of the most meaningful experiences of your life. It doesn't have to be polite, or neat and tidy, or full of everyone agreeing with each other. It just has to not be hateful and destructive.

From Mike D's initial email to Beta testers:

Communities, like trees, don't grow to the sky.

A cocktail party with five close friends is a great time. A luncheon with 100 acquaintances is a great time. Even an event with 500 colleagues can be a great time. But an event with 50,000 or more people is no longer a social gathering at all. It's just a big glob of people talking past each other.

For this reason, we've come to the realization that for Newsvine to continue growing but at the same time regain the intimacy it was once lauded for, we need to stop treating Newsvine as one community of 40 million people and start creating thousands of communities of much fewer people.

To help realize this goal, we're creating an entirely new construct on Newsvine that we call "Newsvine Nations". From now on, all of your activity on Newsvine, whether it be writing articles, seeding links, or participating in discussion threads will be done within the scope of what Nations you are a part of. In other words, the concept of a global discussion thread where everyone on Newsvine can talk past each other is being de-emphasized. When you discuss things on the site, you will now be discussing them with a much more familiar set of community members: the community members who choose to be in the same Nations you choose to be in.

Bolding's mine. There's a lot changing in New Newsvine, but this is the biggest change. To grow, we must convene differently. I'm convinced that Nations presents that opportunity.

Newsvine's current Help section is one of the oldest pages on Newsvine. When the new site is launched, it'll be replaced by  support.newsvine.com.

Newsvine Support's a big improvement on our customer service solution. Actually, our 'customer service solution' before was mostly Newsviners teaching each other how Newsvine worked, and staff replying to emails individually. If you visit the site, you'll automatically create an account and be able to create private or public discussions with staff and fellow users.

It's pretty. Take a look around.

With Newsvine Support, we're going to maintain and update a thorough and helpful Knowledge Base - a FAQ, basically - and have lots of discussions about Newsvine.

We also hope that a lot of the meta discussions there can turn into features.

The site's currently called 'Newsvine Beta Support', and the available content reflects that: some of these articles won't make a lot of sense if you don't have access to the Beta. We're looking forward to removing the 'Beta' qualifier soon.

Newsvine is changing. We're in Beta and nearing the biggest change in the history of the site. We've got a new support section. Now we've got a new blog.

We're starting this blog nearly from scratch because in refreshing the site, we want to renew our commitment to making Newsvine the best news discussion site possible.

One of the most important parts of fulfilling that commitment is improving communication to the people who make Newsvine's success possible:

Newsviners. Our users.

This version of Newsvine Blog doesn't have much content as of this writing - but from the developers to the moderators, we're going to fill it up. There will be features to explain, issues to discuss, and a whole new site to help with.

We've wired up a new-and-improved method of earning money from your Newsvine column. If you click the 'Newsvine.com' tab on your account page, you'll see a new link on the left-hand side: Google AdSense.

AdSense will supply at least one advertisement to seed pages, article pages, and, in New Newsvine, Newsvine Home Pages (i.e., every page at yourdomainname.newsvine.com will feature AdSense ads if you've set it up.)

AdSense is an impressive product and offers Viners more control over their ads in a few important ways. Most notably, users won't have to wait as long as they did for money to disburse from Newsvine Global HQ. Also, pay from Newsvine was prone to fluctuation; AdSense is known for remaining steady from month to month.

If you don't have an AdSense account already, registering now is a good idea - the review process takes about a week. You should receive a confirmation email shortly after registering.

For a step-by-step guide, we've created a support article here. There's only one requirement: your ad placement must be 300 x 250. We also strongly recommend you use Newsvine's values for your custom settings, also in the step-by-step guide.

November is the last month Newsviners will receive the traditional 90% of ad revenue generated by their column.

Newsviners must cash out - or donate - their earnings by Monday, December 31st.

UPDATE - 11/19/12 - We've reached out to Google after reports from users that their AdSense applications have been denied.

UPDATE - 12/19/12 - We've found a solution for users who had trouble both with rejected applications and registering at all. Read about it here.