Eating Up the Feedback

Thank you to all of you who have participated in our user survey so far! It has been fascinating to read what you all had to say about your Typetrigger habits, desires and frustrations. We are pleased to say that we feel fairly on-track with what you users want from this tool and community, and though we are not as quick as we might hope, our plans for new features are consistent with the issues some of your mentioned. 

If you haven't taken the survey yet, there is still time! Click here to let us know what you think about Typetrigger! 

We were most surprised to see the breakdown on how members felt about the social aspect of the site. More than half of you were happy with the social element and/or looked forward to more ways of interacting with the community on Typetrigger. Hurrah! On the other side, almost 40 percent of you say you are here to use Typetrigger as a tool and are not particularly interested in the community aspect. As we move forward we hope to address the needs of both kinds of members. We are looking at ways of improving the social aspects, but we don't want that to get in the way of members who want to get right to the tool. We look forward to hearing more feedback from all kinds of Typetriggerers as we release new features.

What's Next?

In the next couple of weeks, we will be upgrading our messaging. We released Typetrigger with a Twitter-like model, including the requirement that members be reading one another to send one another direct messages. We have since realized the many ways in which this model doesn't apply to Typetrigger, and we are opening things up. You will soon be able to send messages to any user (who isn't in completely private mode). 

We know that our members want to have conversation, and we believe that there are benefits to keeping the writing on Typetrigger comment-free. We are still considering forums of some kind, but we are not ready to develop this area at this point. (We invite Typetriggers to have conversation here on the blog on the Discussion page--or to set up an interim forum or group somewhere else. Let us know if you have any thoughts on how this could happen. Our Facebook page is another place where you all could chat more). 

In addition to open message sending, you will be able to delete messages and block users from sending messages to you. You will still have your message area from which you can send new messages, but you will also be able to send messages to other members from their profile pages as well as directly from the popups by their usernames. This way you will be able to easily drop a line right after reading something without having to move to your message area. 

We are also working on more features that will allow you to recommend specific pieces of writing on Typetrigger and to find more writers.

The stats, part 1: gender and frequency of visits

In February, VIDA, the organization of women in the literary arts, came out with a compelling set of figures showing the under-representation of women in publishing and book reviewing. Amy King (a poet who happened to be one of the very first people to support Typetrigger with a piece of her writing), noted that the publishing figures do not accurately reflect the numbers of women who are writing. Much was said and blogged about the numbers, and many organizations looked at their own gender breakdowns to see how they measured up. As a woman-founded project, Typetrigger felt a need to search our data for some answers and see what is going on in our community. Since we stopped asking new members about their location and gender upon sign up, many of our users have declined to share this with us, which makes our numbers a little fuzzy. It appears that our breakdown is close to half women and half men (note women are red in this graphic, while men are dark gray). 

On a day-to-day basis, about equal numbers of men and women write on Typetrigger. About equal numbers are "liked," and a few more women than men have applied for our Summer 2011 grant. Obviously Typetrigger is neither a publisher in the the traditional sense, nor are we reviewers, but I thought it is interesting that our own numbers seem to bear out the idea that writers are about equally likely to be women as men.

Here is another fun stat about our users:

Only about 8 percent of our daily visitors write on Typetrigger. Even assuming that another 40 percent of our daily visitors are writers who simply are not writing on a particular day, it appears that half or more of our community is just here to read. Maybe they have never written, or maybe they only rarely do, but they seem to come--and come back. 

Here is another funny fact: those readers who don't write also do not "like." We know they must like what they are reading or they wouldn't be coming back to read. But they are shy. Maybe they don't want us to notice them. I encourage all members of our Typetrigger community, even those who only read, to participate in liking as well as sharing writing from the site. It is an incredible feeling to see that your words have resonated with someone, even (especially?) if that someone is not a writer. Don't be shy, we are glad you are here!

Typetrigger and Seattle Reads: Little Bee

When I started Typetrigger, it was my goal to create a tool for writers. I knew that posting our words publicly would help us by reminding us about that great unknown "audience." I didn't realize at the time how much the writers on Typetrigger would learn from reading on the site. Thinking as a writer can be by turns an exercise in unbridled ego and extreme self-doubt. By looking at things as a reader, which is to say as a stranger, we can become stronger writers. When a bunch of writers are working with the same constraints, as we do on Typetrigger, we can learn some fast lessons about what a reader might want from a piece of writing. But I wonder: What can we learn by reading longer works?

When I learned about Seattle Reads (a project of the Washington Center for the Book at the Seattle Public Library), I was curious to see how the our community, as a bunch of writers, would approach it. I am very excited to be involved with Seattle Reads, and I hope that Typetrigger members in Seattle and abroad will join us in a month of reading and discussion around this year's Seattle Reads book, Little Bee by Chris Cleave.  

Here is how it will work: Go out and get yourself a copy of Little Bee. Starting in mid-April, we will have weekly triggers that relate to the text. Reader/writers can respond however they like, whether they choose to respond directly to the text or to write their own perspectives on the theme. 

We will be publishing an interview here on the blog with Chris Higashi, the library program manager who started Seattle Reads with Nancy Pearl, about what makes a story good for discussion. As we make our way through the book, we will post questions about the story and the reading experience here. I hope you will join in the discussion.

If you are in Seattle, there will be a series of events around Little Bee in April and May, culminating with several talks by Cleave May 12-14. I will be attending several of these events and I would love to have the company of my Typetrigger community. 

-Lily

What to do: Call and Response

I love it when I see this. One writer posts something on Typetrigger, then another writer works on the same narrative. Yesterday turtledove wrote a response to "blocked drain". Then new member KB1PKL picked it up. We are thinking about ways that we can tie works together so that people can find these threads even if they do not have both writers on their reading list. These are the things that make Typetrigger so exciting.

turtledove

"Hey, dad. Knock knock."

"Who’s there?"

"Apple."

"Apple who?"

"Mmmm, this apple is delicious."

"Good one."

"Dad?"

"What?"

"Knock knock."

"Who’s there?"

"Toy box."

"Toy box who?"

"There are toys in my toy box."

"Sweetie?"

"Sweetie who?"

"No, sweetie. I’m talking to you."

"Oh, right. Okay. Knock knock."

"I need to unclog this drain, honey. The toilet’s going to overflow again."

"Honey who?"

"No, I mean daddy’s busy right now."

"Who’s there?"

"Listen, it’s got to be a joke. After I say, 'Who’s there?' it’s got to be a funny thing."

"Okay. Knock knock."

"Who’s there?"

"Clown."

"Clown who?"

"A clown can help you fix the toilet."

"I don’t want to hurt your feelings, but I don’t get it."

"You said it had to be something funny. Clowns are funny."

"No, I mean . . . Like this. Knock knock."

"Clown."

"No, I’m doing the knock knock now. Knock knock."

"Who’s there?"

"Wendy."

"Hey, that’s my name!"

"I know. So now you say, 'Wendy who?' ”

"Wendy who?"

"Wendy you like to get up in the morning?"

"Okay. I get it."

"Do you?"

"Sort of."

"Try this one. Knock knock."

"Who’s there?"

"Boo."

"Don’t cry! I already know that one, daddy."

"Come on, honey. I want to fix this thing before mommy gets home. "

"Just one more, daddy. Knock knock."

"Okay, last one. Who’s there?"

"Um . . . Actually, I don’t have one. You do one more. Please."

"All right. And this is totally the last one. Knock knock."

"Who’s there?"

"Puppy."

"Puppy who?"

"Don’t p-pee in the t-toilet. It’s c-clogged."

"Awesome! Okay, knock knock . . ."

"Clown."

"No fair, daddy. You didn't let me finish."

KB1PKL

A lady walks in the door, calling "I'm back from the store!". Wendy rushes out and hugs her mother. "Knock knock." "Who's there?" "Daddy" "Daddy who?" "Daddy is unclogging the drain." The young mother stops to think about that one for a bit and then says "I'm not sure I get it, what's the joke?" Looking a bit frustrated, Wendy explains "Daddy is in the bathroom, fixing the toilet." Wendy is lifted up as the lady walks into the bathroom. "Hi dear", said the lady as she rubbed the mans head. Finally, a triumphant shout and a flushing noise! He gets up and hugs his wife. He sniffs the air lightly, saying "Do you smell something?" The lady breathed in deeply, replying "Smells like burning plastic..." At that moment, the fire alarm went off. They couldn't see the source of the smell or feel the heat, but they knew something horribly wrong had happened. As they gather up the animals and evacuate the house, Wendy wonders to herself "I wonder what that noise is." Wendy was rather confused about the whole situation, being only 4 and not exposed to such matters as fire alarms and the dangers that sound implies. The fire trucks arrive and search the house, finding that the stove was left on. Curiously, a child's toy found its way inside the stove.

Sharing on Typetrigger

When we went public a few weeks ago, we added a fine new little feature, but only a few people have discovered it so far. You can now share any piece of writing on Typetrigger if the writer has set their profile to public. We want writers and readers alike to share what they are writing and reading, and it is now easy to do with a click. Whether you prefer to broadcast on Twitter, Facebook and the like, or by email, you can do so via our little "share" button which appears beside the like button at the bottom of each piece of writing.

By sharing what you find or write on Typetrigger, new audiences can discover what we are doing and writers can be introduced to new audiences. We are working on some other interesting ways that Typetrigger members might be able to share information, and we are always interested in hearing from you about what and how you like to share.