The SBNation continues to improve its tools and features for all of the great bloggers working hard here on the network. The tech team for SBNation has been working hard behind the scenes to deliver these great new features to each and every one of your favorite SBN blogs, including this one. I almost laugh at the hard decision I made a few months ago when I was asked to move my little independent Thunder blog over to SBNation. In the few short months I've been a part of the network they have already rolled out partnerships with SI Fannation and Yahoo Sports to help drive more fans together here, on the network, giving me a much larger readership than I thought possible for such a young blog. Now they release this new batch of upgrades, and I'm just positively giddy about the decision I made to join the very best blogging network on the web. But enough of my personal lovefest with SBNation, lets get on to the new features!
Upgrade 1: Integrated Photos: The SBNation has acquired a license agreement for us to use AP and Getty images in all of our posts from here on out. You can see in this article an image I threw up as an example of what you will be able to get used to in the future. From that photo, you are just a click away from viewing more great photos related to the article from the AP and Getty Images. No longer will I have to worry about checking my email for threats on copyright infringement for using photos that I didn't take. Of course that hasn't happened yet, being such a new blog, and relatively small in the grand scheme of things.
Upgrade 2: Team Pages: This is one I'm really excited about, and you can see this new page by clicking "Thunder" in the orange bar at the top of the page, just below our main header advertisment. Of course since you are reading this, I'll make it easy on you this first time, byincluding the LINK RIGHT HERE. The really cool thing about this page is that if someone else decides to write a story about the Thunder, it'll show up on this page. You can already see some of that on there today with Clips Nation and Ridiculous Upside both picking up our breaking news blurb from yesterday about Shaun Livingstons call up to join the Oklahoma City Thunder. This page is not actually part of Welcome to Loud City as its part of the SBNation main site, so that it can pull articles from multiple places to give you one hub for all your team news. So while we encourage you check it out from time to time, I hope you'll keep WTLC as your main bookmark.
Update 3: Player Pages: This feature is very much like the one above, except instead of the page being based on the team, its all centered around players, with each player having his own page. You can check out Kevin Durants page by clicking THIS LINK. If you want to see any other players page, you can find them by click "Roster" on the team page, then clicking on the player of your choice. From there, you can see its doing the same thing, pulling articles about the player specifically from across the entire SBNation of blogs. Basically if the player was listed by a tag in an article, it will show up on this page.
Upgrade 4: Game Coverage Page: On the "Team Page" if you click on "Schedule" and then select "Coverage" for any game listed on the schedule you will be taken to the game coverage page which will feature game previews and game recap articles from the corresponding blogs who wrote them as well as acess to full box scores and game stats. Just click on Full box score at the top of the page, and you can see the full game stats.
So please, take some time to check out all the great new features from WTLC and SBNation. It just keeps getting better and better around here, and if you are like me, during games I have our Live Commenting Thread open with a tab or two open to Yahoo Sports and ESPN to get all my boxscore and pictures while I'm watching the game. Now, I can do all of that on SBNation and Welcome to Loud City. Hope you guys like the upgrades as much as I do.