PunchTab's New Side Bar Widget w/ Activity Stream

[Kris]

There was a lot of buzz a few months back about PunchTab. Like many others I was pretty excited about it, but many of our members seemed annoyed by the little ribbon floating on top of the content and I read other issues of it slowing down networks which we never experienced.

We even removed it for a few days but then we had members emailing asking where was it. So we found ourselves asking what should we do. Not even a day later we were approached by PunchTab to try out their new Giveaway feature in exchange they would sponsor/provide the prize. We figured why not what could it hurt since we had already been using Wildfire. At first we got mediocre result compared to Wildfire but month after month PunchTab made improvements and now we are seeing similar results with their Giveaway.

They have also made some major improvements to their Loyalty Program (Rewards) one of my favorites is the option of having a side bar widget instead of the floating red ribbon and most recently adding an activity stream so your users can see what others are doing on your site to earn points.

We now have over 3k activity using rewards on our network, a lot of them visiting and sharing content daily. In my opinion its defiantly worth giving it a second look if you haven't already done so.

 

Note: I have not been paid or even so much asked by PunchTab to promote their tool, this is just my personal experience with it on my network.

[James@G4R]

Where did you post the snippet to get it appear on your main page?  I've tried the custom code box but it doesn't work.

[Kris]

you put one code in the custom code box and you put the widget into a text box

[James@G4R]

I did that.  Does it take a while for it to show up on the site?

[Kris]

Should show up immediately

You need add the code that looks like the following to your Custom Code

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add the one that looks like the following to a text box

[James@G4R]

Yeah, I got the exact same thing Kris.  I pasted the larger code onto my Custom Code box and the smaller one in a text box on the main page.  The main page showed a header only (took about 5-7 mins for it to finally show up) but the rest of the box didn't.  I think my Custom code box is faulty.  Regardless of what I put in that box, nothing works.  I've tried for months and just figured Ning was still testing it.  But after seeing everyone else use it without any problems I have to wonder if it's me or my page.

[Kris]

are you sure your putting it in the custom code and not the custom css

[James@G4R]

Yeah, it's the page that's telling me I can "..use this box to add any javascript or HTML code to the Ning network".  Unless that's the wrong page/ box.

[Robyn HAnnah]

Hi James!

Looks like Kris has been an awesome resource for helping explain the code confusion. But please feel free to email our founder and all-star engineer Mehdi if you're still stuck. [e-mail]

 

Cheers,

Robyn

[James@G4R]

Sure, I'll give 'em a try.  Couldn't hurt at this point.  Ooops, I think I spoke too soon.  I spoke with him yesterday and the advice he gave was similar to Kris'.  I have a ticket placed with the Ning tech team and will wait on them, I guess.  If all else fails, I'll just have to do without the Punch Tab.  You can't miss what you never had.  Still, I would've had liked to have tried it.

[James@G4R]

Don't think he'll be much help Robyn, I think it's on Ning's end, but thanks.

[Kris]

I took a look at your source code and didn't see it are you remembering to click save after you add it to your custom code?

[James@G4R]

Yeah, I did that. But after an hour or so waiting, I decided to try another code. Still nothing. Eventually, I deleted everything in the box as I didn't want a distorted image to appear on my site after I was logged off.