Psst! An exciting new feature is coming to HubPages soon! Read about it and get a sneak peak in today's blog post!
Awesome! I see a lot of value for this as a tool. Limited to 25 bios means to me that is a lot to have. Cool! Regarding "Place generic bios across several Hubs, where the bios are not useful to readers" is a no-no. The only question is using the same bio with a 'Group' that is Topic Specific is okay as long as not generic correct?
Thanks for the new tool!
Absolutely. You can have one bio for all of your Food and Cooking Hubs, or maybe you'll have one bio for Dessert Recipes and another for Breakfast Food, etc. This is totally up to you, but using a single bio for a group of related Hubs is a great way to use the feature.
Saw this on the blog, love the idea. Can't wait till it's live!
I'm behind the times - this is awesome! what a cool new feature and I look forward to using it. Now, if we could just do something about those social media share buttons that don't show across all devices and encourage more social media sharing (that could solve some of the Google problems around here too!)
Thanks HP -
Pssst...it was my idea :-)
hubpages.com/forum/topic/119823
Glad you liked it!
shai77, Your suggestion for a feature that staff implemented should be recognized with an accolade created for this purpose. Your idea of a method to add author biographies to hubs is a wonderful addition to HubPages. Congratulations! You are well-deserving of this recognition.
"Paradigmsearch has been somewhat demented most of his adult life. These hubs are merely further demonstrations of that."
Perhaps, on a Hub about dementia, that would work?
Oops, I altered my first post to more reflect what the blog was demonstrating re: the "More by This Author" before I saw your reply.
In all seriousness, what with my totally non niche accounts, I'll probably not use the bio much.
You could choose a handful of Hubs to write specific bios for. If you want, you could write 25 different bios for 25 Hubs. Or you could use only bio on 10 Hubs, another on one Hub, etc. Using the tool for niche Hubs is a great idea, but it's not the only way to use it!
Slendid! That will earn us credit from online readers..voted up!
I think it's a great feature, and I think the way the rules of the feature were described was great too. With it right on the Hub and optional, and with the number of potential bios that can be stored; I can't really imagine too many people who care about the quality of their Hubs misusing the feature
That sounds like a fantastic addition. Cannot wait to give a try.
Will this new bio feature affect our existing bio in My Account? Will we have to make any changes to that bio we already have?
Is the new bio feature mandatory for all hubbers?
Edit: I meant to say the bio on our Profile page, not My Account page.
About the Author bios are separate from the Profile Bio (which isn't changing). These bios are much shorter (80-140 characters) and will only be displayed on Hubs.
Use of the feature is completely optional, but we hope that you give it a try!
It seems like a great idea, Marina. I am looking forward to it. I already have a few bios written out in my head. Thanks for doing this.
@Marina
Great Idea. Could the 25 bios be linked with the Groups Tool? Is this what is planned? If so an author could nominate a bio for each group using the group table tool. Then, the right bio would be associated with a set of similar articles. It would make it easy to manage the bios. Do it once, and then thereafter it would apply as you wrote a new article for that group.
Bios and Groups won't be linked right away. It's something we've discussed adding as an update to the feature in the future. Somewhat related: the Hub Groups interface in My Account will be updated to use the same interface as About the Author. It should make managing both Bios and Groups a lot easier.
Here's what the My Account page will look like:
Thanks for the reply. Having a separate database/tool for the bios is too complicated IMO. This will mean having to manually add a bio (by selecting from the bio database list) for every single article that has been published previously (In my case that's a lot). A manual action/edit will be required for every new article that an author publishes (via the database you show). The articles won't be grouped in the tool you show (I guess). Surely it makes sense to develop this function using the Groups Tool? Surely it would be a lot less work - adapting an existing tool than building a new one. Linking bios with topic groups is logical, IMO. When you add a newly published article to a group, you will automatically add the bio - 2 outcomes for one action! Surely this is better. Cheers
This looks like a good plan. If I understand correctly, I write a bio then choose the listed hubs I want to add that bio to - without having to go into each hub to add the related bio.
Is that correct? If so, this will be much easier than I thought.
Hah! That was fun, thanks for sharing. Someday you'll have to tell us your inside source for all the juicy gossip!
Just a note I get a McAfee Website Warning with that link. I dun'no why . . .
Jeez!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Like I don't have enough problems!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Nothing I can do about it I guess. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn. Damn.
I didn't get any kind of a warning a bit ago when I visited, perhaps a bad ad being served or some other little temporary glitch? I am using Avast though not McAfee
Does this have anything to do with the Bios - or has someone hijacked the thread? LOL
To hijack or not to hijack? That is the question.
'Tis better to have hijacked and lost than to have never hijacked at all.
paradigm search, I can view my IP address when I checked the link. Can others read that, too? That sounds scary. You are really watching us.
Thanks, Christy. I am writing a short bio (third person) for each of my groups. I copied my list and pasted it in notebook. Every time I have a few minutes I go in and write another bio. Cool !
I like the idea, especially the database with multiple bios, so you don't have to type each one separately.
It's an interesting idea that's definitely worth a try. I'm looking forward to it.
This is a good idea. Congratulations to whoever came up with it ... and whoever is responsible for implementing it.
Love the idea! Thanks HP for expanding our options for building credibility with readers!
Although having little bios on hubs seems, at first glance, a fancy idea, I believe that resources would be much better spent preparing for the next Panda.
The most important job for HP right now is to clean up the site!!
Please get rid of all old, unedited spammy hubs that have escaped QAP.
See
Why Bother Flagging? Does Quality Matter or Not?
for more info.
Then, and only then, shall I put a bio on my hubs as I do not want to be known as writing for a site that's full of junk.
Sorry!
Hi everyone! We just rolled out About the Author. You can find it in My Account > Hubs > About the Author or in the Display Options section of the HubTool.
Play around with it when you have a chance, and let us know what you think!
I tested it and it appears to work well. Very laborious. The search beyond the title is a good feature.
Thanks! Is having the ability to add multiple Hubs to a bio at the same time (including by Hub Group) your top recommendation for improvement? It would definitely make things easier for Hubbers with tons of Hubs.
Yes! Link it with Groups - a logical next development. It would make it much easier to assign a bio to a group of pages that I have already developed. Cheers!
I just added a biography to 15 of my hubs and it was easy peasy. I really think there needs to be about 3 times as many words (characters) allowed. Right now it amounts to a single sentence. I think 3 sentences would be better, but one could use fewer if they wanted to. I do think at least the space or characters needed to make up 3 sentences should be available, however.
I just used my first short bio in About the Author section. Yippee !!!
I just viewed my newest hub, Teresa of Avila, and I like the short bio showing up there. It is great.
I have just used it, like it very much. Thank you.
I just added 2 bios to 13 hubs. Easy breezy. Question: Is this a short cut to going into edit mode? In other words, all of those hubs didn't just go through QAP did they, because they were edited? I don't think so but just checking.
Nope. If the only edits you make are bio-related, the Hub shouldn't go through the QAP.
What a shame. I was hoping some old hubs that break the rules would get QAPed. QAP QAP QAP
I like this functionality, although I am not quite sure what I want to write in my hub bios.
Question:
Are the bios going to be reviewed? We had recommended a long time ago that summaries should go through some kind of review, and I think bios should also. If there are many spelling errors, or if someone tries to spam through the bio and summary sections, they may just get away with it and lower the quality of the site.
It is already stated in the bio rules that spam, as well as grammatical and/or mechanical errors across several Hubs, will get one's bio shut off.
That sounds like someone has to report it though, that it is not reviewed.
HP does make reference to "HubPages moderators" in the blog about the rules of bios. But you're right, it's not clear if the moderators will be reviewing our bios or dependent on flagging.
Good question. We have been closely reviewing all bios that have been created the past few days but soon that won't be practical. Instead, we will look at groups of bios that we think might be spam or otherwise low quality. Feel free to flags Hubs with bios that you think ought to be reviewed. There won't be a separate flag for bios (though if the need arises we will create one) so you can use whatever flag is most appropriate and leave a brief comment indicating that the bio is what you are flagging. I imagine most of the flags will be on Hubs, but if you notice problems across an account, feel free to flag the user. I'll update the Learning Center guides with this information as well.
I found it really easy to do and am pleased with the result. Thanks HubPages.
I have added a bio to about half my hubs. This is easy and a great idea.
Thanks for this feature. I really like that I can have multiple bios to encompass my diverse articles. The length is fine. It forces me to be succinct in conveying my street cred for what I write.
I contemplated putting my main website name in there, but fortunately I reread the blog about where we are dragged out behind HP HQ and shot for doing that. Meanwhile, still nothing brilliant has come to mind for me yet. I do like the other bios I have seen. I don't know why I'm turning this into such a major project, I'll eventually think of something.
Might it be possible at some point in the near future to have hubs listed under the new bios actually related to and adding credibility to the assertion of expertise re authorship?
I think the assertion of expertise - without the proof in terms of related hubs produced - very much undermines the potential effectiveness of this new feature
We used to be able to determine which lenses were highlighted in the side column at Squidoo. I found this incredibly useful for leading people with a particular interest to all sites by the author which were relevant to that interest. It increased traffic and clicks for all sites within that niche topic.
Another good reason for doing this is that Google likes to see ACTUAL EVIDENCE of the clustering of sites BY AN AUTHOR on a particular niche topic. So why not show them?
One way of doing this would be to link the author functionality to groups and then pick up the related hubs from that group.
I think this is a great idea and appreciate the feedback. I agree that the More by this Author listing can be improved. For the time being, you can play around with categorization as a way to manipulate the Hubs that appear in that listing. It won't be perfect since the algo looks at other things like Hub quality, but it may help a bit.
Relevance tops quality for most people trying to find out more on a topic.
It doesn't matter if it's "the best hub ever" on a topic - in quality terms - if you're not in the least bit interested in it!
I suspect the only reason most of my hubs stay reasonably relevant is because they are all about art.
Thank you miss Marina for posting the author's biography. I am happy you di it. It is a great idea to introduce what topics are in my list of Hubs. It is true that it will be easier to find what the readers like. You are a genious.
I've put up several bio blurblets for my most popular niches, but I still have a concern that this is leading to a sort of specialization closing out all who haven't purchased the correct college degrees.
I've created several bios. None has been moderated so far, but none lists a related college degree, only life experience.
I'm a bit disappointed that the three hubs listed in the individual author bio blocks are not necessarily ones that share the same bio.
I've wondered why the related hubs and recommended hubs don't just use the categories the hubs come from to sort them. For instance, why aren't the recommended hubs on my hubs on homelessness uniformly coming from Politics and Social Issues»Social Issues»Homelessness Issues topics? They could at least come from Politics and Social Issues. I've seen hubs of my own on cakes and science fiction show up on my own hubs about homelessness and the cakes are categorized under crafts and the sci-fi under science fiction. Wouldn't hubs on the same topic be of more interest and use to readers?
I have never been able to understand why they include hubs which are not 'on topic'.
Instead of keeping people looking at more relevant hubs it means people move on to other websites to pursue their quest for more information!
There are some hubs with topics that are necessary for the readers who needs the information in the future. Some health topics are always on as well the other topics someone might need.I believe hub pages wants to make it easier and simple for readers with the author's biography introduction for hubs. I like it.
I'm not sure you understood what I was saying
The purpose of "About the Author" on ANY website is to tell people about the author and enhance their credibility. The short intro that has recently been introduced is a good move. Google should like it - but only if it is reinforced by "clustering"
What would ENHANCE the credibility of the author is if their MOST relevant hubs - as listed under the 'about the author' of the hub topic being viewed are also included. That reinforces their reputation. That provides a rationale for the grouping of hubs with this individual bio.
What undermines the credibility of the author is if the hubs shown are NOT relevant to the bio or the topic. Rather than reinforcing the impression that the author has some depth of expertise in the topic they are writing about it just makes them look like a writer who tries hard to be an 'expert' on anything and everything.
Readers don't need off-topic hubs linked on a hub. Off-topic means not on the same topic or not about the same general thing. For example, a hub about cake decorating might show up on a hub about homelessness and that would be off-topic. That is currently occurring in the "Recommended Hubs" section.
Another example would be that a hub about what to do if you see a baby trapped in a hot car might have a hub about keeping cell phone bills down under the "Related Hubs" section.
Yet another example, although less obvious and annoying, is how my own hub on cake decorating shows up in my "MORE BY THIS AUTHOR" bio for a hub on paper folding and it does not share the same bio nor is it in the same hub group. It would make more sense to instead show three actually related hubs of the fourteen others that share the same "MORE BY THIS AUTHOR" bio about crafts rather than including other hubs that have a different bio.
I now have 7 bios across 37 hubs. I'm tired; it really makes you narrow your scope and not think too broadly about what you need to say. Good writing exercise but now I'm worn out. Still have a few more to do. I hope it helps.
Good going! I haven't started on mine yet. Fortunately, I only have to write two or three so far.
I have added several bios to some Hubs. I really like the way the bio is saved and can be used again. I have noticed now when I view other sites, the author's bio appears. Funny I never noticed that before.
So, anyway, I like the feature a lot.
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