BodySpace Official News Blog

BodySpace is pleased to announce the release of the new and improved photo uploader for uploading profile and progress pictures!

Not only will BodySpace members notice a significant improvement in the usability and design of the two new BodySpace Control Panel pages and upload process, but they will now be able to upload up to five pictures at once, select which before and after pictures they want to display on their main profile page (vs. having them always be only the first and the last), and sort their pictures by date taken or pose.

New Main Profile Photo Uploader Page.

New Progress Photos Uploader Page.

Coming soon:

• Ability to crop and rotate images
• Ability to upload multiple concurrent images
• Ability to support image sizes greater than 2MB

Have you ever wanted to connect with old friends, classmates, alums, or other athletes at your gym for fitness motivation and support?  Well, wait no longer… the Bodybuilding.com gym and school networks are here!

Not only will we get you connected, but you can check out each other’s goals, share feedback and tips, and compare progress on your fitness journeys.  Join a network and reap the benefits of community, collaboration, and consistent support!

To join a network, all you have to do is add a gym, college/university, and/or high school within your BodySpace Control Panel.

Once added, you can access your network directly from the Manage Gyms or Manage Schools control panel page by clicking on the member count link.

You can also access your network directly from your BodySpace profile page by clicking on the network name link within the Personal Info And Background section.

Network page example:

Thanks,

Jed Reese
Community Product Owner

Have you ever found someone on BodySpace that Inspires you?

Now with the new Inspirational Profile feature you will be able to add them to your BodySpace Profile. This is very  different than just adding a friend, you are highlighting BodySpace members that inspire you in your Fitness life.

Think of members that have completed Transformations, Contests, BodyBlogs, Created BodyGroups, left you comments that have been inspiring, motivating, life changing! Whatever the case may be go out and highlight these members they deserve it and trust me they will be highlighting you on their BodySpace Profile. Remember you can only add up to 10 so choose wisely!

So if you’re not as active on BodySpace as you should be now it’s time to get serious and make your BodySpace Profile the BOMB! Members look  up to you and your profiles.

Check out the new Inspirational Members on the front page of BodySpace.

Notice the bright YELLOW and GREEN button with the Rocky Balboa Icon? Yea that’s right adding members Rocky style!

Here is where you can view all the members YOU find Inspiring. This is listed under you Goals on your BodySpace Profile. Check it out!

Again, Please get out there and find members that inspire you, not just hot chicks! LOL

And please give a shoot out to the Community Development Team! Patrick Lee, Jane Miceli, Zac Feuerborn, Jen Zundel and to all others that helped make our new feature!

Dear BodyGroup Owners,

Good news! BodyGroups now have their own private forums! This new feature will help you and your members to:

• Create full and in-depth discussions
• Share fitness tips
• Ask questions and get fast answers
• Share success stories
• Follow each others progress
• Subscribe to receive daily or weekly emails with all of the latest threads
• Make fun of other BodyGroups that aren’t as good as yours!

Here are some sample BodyGroup forums:

Click For Larger Image.

Click For Larger Image.

As a BodyGroup owner, you have FULL control over your new private forum. You are able to:

• Turn your forum on or off
• Decide if you want to approve all new messages before they are displayed
• Allow non-members to view the forum, or just keep it 100% private
• Delete any post that a member puts up

To modify the settings of your new BodyGroup Forum, simply visit your BodyGroups management settings at the bottom of your BodySpace Control Panel to edit your options!

Go to your BodyGroup main page now or go to the BodyGroups main page at http://groups.bodybuilding.com/ to check it out!

Enjoy your new BodyGroup Feature! Many more coming soon!

Brandon Poe
BodySpace Product Owner

Here’s the latest news update from our BodySpace Product Owner, Brandon Poe:

“Hey BodySpace,

We have completed another set of new features to BodySpace! The Community Development Team added 8 new Social News Feed items (events) that you can track on my.bodybuilding.com, and your BodySpace Profile Social News Feed, and your BodyGroups Profile Social News Feed. We have also added more value to your Weight and Body Fat feed items that will show your gains or losses.  Once you add or change your weight, for example, from a previous value the new feed item will show the change from your previous weight or measurement (the progress)!

For example:

A.  Username123 changed Weight from 210.5 lbs. to 208 lbs., a 2.5 lb. loss in 4 days!
B.  Username123 changed Weight from 210.5 lbs. to 212 lbs, a 1.5 lb. gain in 7 days!

For BodyGroups, you will now be notified when:

1.)    Someone joins a BodyGroup

2.)    Someone leaves a BodyGroup

3.)    Someone creates a BodyGroup

Sample:

You will also notice verbiage changes in the once called “Short Goal” we now call it the “Overall Goal.” There are no functionality changes to this feature, but we feel the new verbiage makes it clearer and more known that this is the summary of all your goals. This is a great way for all your BodySpace friends and visitors to quickly catch up on your Fitness aspirations.

And last but not least, we have made a policy change to the Profile and Progress Picture upload criteria. Only one Progress and Profile photo per day, per user, will appear on the BodySpace main page."

Please leave us comments and let us know what you think of the latest batch of usability improvements!

Here’s a news update from our BodySpace Product Owner, Brandon Poe:

“Hello Everyone,

As most of you have seen at the top of your BodySpace profile there we have added a new feature! Well, what is it? Similar to your Facebook profile, you can now update your Fit Status. Here is your chance to tell all your friends what is going on in your fitness life and how you are progressing. Also you can update you Motivation Level to help you track how you are staying on target or feeling about your fitness life.

Also for those of you that are in BodyGroups, starting tomorrow you will be able to see what everyone in your BodyGroup is up to through the groups profile social news feed. Track their progress and help them reach success!"

Here’s a news release from our BodySpace Product Owner, Brandon Poe:

“Hello Everyone,

Over the last 90 days we have seen a lot of changes at Bodybuilding.com. As of today, we have hired roughly 20 additional talented individuals in our IT Development department to ensure that 2009 is the most productive year in our history!  In our BodySpace Community Team alone we have 6 new developers: Patrick, Eleazar, Manuel, Gene, Arthur, Jane and me, the Product Owner.

RECENT DEPLOYMENTS AND FEATURES:

Sprint objective: BodyGroups v1
Sprint Start Date:  11/18/08
Sprint End Date 12/18/08
http://groups.bodybuilding.com/

In the month of December we released BodyGroups version #1. This feature was the first sprint we completed and our first win as a team. BodyGroups are a great online support system for BodySpace members with common goals to come together and help each other reach success.

But keep in mind that v1 of anything is simply that. It works and looks good, but still needs a lot of new features that will make it the best! With that being said, in our next sprint (starting 02/18/09) we will be developing a Groups Mini Forum where all BodyGroup members will be connected and able to communicate to each other to ensure success and collaboration.

Sprint objective: My BB.com v1
Sprint Start Date: 12/19/08
Sprint End Date: 01/19/09
http://my.bodybuilding.com/

We have always had a My BB.com, but it has not been as intuitive or useful as we would have liked for our BodySpace members. So we grabbed a sheet of paper, made some notes and came up with the new Mack Daddy My BB.com which includes the first ever Fitness Social News Feed, similar to the well known Facebook model that most of us love and use.

Now you can see what all your BodySpace friends are doing in their fitness lives and what needs to be done in yours! This is your Bodybuilding.com dashboard, so it’s time to get familiar with it if you haven’t already.

You will also find that you have a Profile Social News Feed located on your BodySpace Profile. This allows all your friends and visitors to see what you are doing in your fitness life. If you have no feed items, then you better get started… BodySpace members are waiting to help you reach your health and fitness goals!

We have plans greater than your wildest dreams coming to BodySpace in 2009. I will be updating you every two weeks on which features are being released. So be looking this next Tuesday (02/17/09) for the next mind blowing feature. Thanks for all your support and insight into making this Community the best place on the Web!"

We’ve added a new feature on BodySpace called social news feed, a.k.a. "What My Friends Are Up To."  It gives you a status update whenever any one of your mutual friends updates their profile or blog with new stuff like uploading a new progress picture, writing a new BodyBlog entry, updating your supplements list, updating your BodyStats, setting new short-term goals, etc.

Check it out here:

http://my.bodybuilding.com/

You have to be logged in to see it, however, or else you’ll be redirected to the main page to log in.  It’s still technically in “beta” status, but feel free to give it a whirl!

UPDATE: We’ll be adding a LOT more news items to this in the near future. This is just the first version - just the beginning!  WAY more tools like this coming to my.bodybuilding.com in the very near future! 

Well, the day has finally arrived… It’s been a few months of heads down coding and business meetings galore, but the new BodyGroups feature (groups.bodybuilding.com) is now here!  We’ll be making more changes today and in the upcoming weeks so watch for additional updates.  Create your own group and join others’ groups today!

Great job to everyone at Bodybuilding.com and on BodySpace who were involved with the feature requests, planning, testing, and implementation of this new feature of BodySpace! 

While it’s still technically in “beta”, check out the latest BodySpace feature: Product Reviews!  (Of course, all of BodySpace is technically still in beta, LOL…) 

http://reviews.bodybuilding.com/

We’ve been collecting reviews through BodySpace profiles for awhile, so we already have nearly 10,000 reviews available.  Add yours today!

Also, please check out Bodybuilding.com’s new main page:

http://www.bodybuilding.com/index.html

It features outstanding BodySpace members each month! 

As many of you may have noticed, our product pages and cart page looks a little different lately.  The Bodybuilding.com Commerce Sprint Team has been working at an insane pace to bring the first taste of personalization to Bodybuilding.com, with personalized product recommendations.

So what makes these product recommendations personalized?  The development team worked their query magic and mad SQL skills to identify for each product which other products were most commonly purchased with it over the last 90 days.  After analyzing ~300,000 orders, they came up with the product recommendations you can see on the site today (there are currently 4,800 products with cross-sells). Recommendations will be updated weekly, so they will change as new products are added to our store and as the product mix changes.

Product Recommendations on the Lipo6 Product Page:

Product Recommendations on the Cart Page:

So why are we doing all this personalization stuff?  Simple - to make it easier for every user of the site to reach his/her health and fitness goals, the same reason we do everything we do here at Bodybuilding.com.  The idea of personalization has been on Ryan’s mind for quite some time now, and the rest of the e-Commerce world is beginning to catch up.  In a recent issue of eMarketer daily, the following quote appeared as part of an article titled “Online Buyers Active but Practical:”

“As the pool of new online buyers begins to dry up, Web retailers will focus on strategies that help them retain customers, such as improving customer service, offering personalized product recommendations and incorporating user ratings and reviews,” said Jeffrey Grau, senior analyst at eMarketer.

Putting up what you see now is just step #1.  The big vision is to have a recommendation on every page of the site helping answer these types of questions:

• As a shopper, which products work well together (not just which products are purchased together) for people like me who are trying to lose weight?
• I just updated my goal from losing fat to gaining muscle; what are some recommendations for exercise programs which, given my body type, will help me achieve the results I want?
• As a new BodySpace member, who are some people who can help me reach my goal of losing ten pounds before Spring Break?  (These are starting to show up already)

So what’s coming next from the Commerce Team?  As you read this, the next new big feature of our site is in the works – a centralized source of product reviews and ratings, completely user-generated and search-engine optimized.  This, along with the company’s first-ever rollout of personalization and our unbeatable customer service and order fulfillment, will set us up to ensure that Bodybuilding.com remains the best online health and fitness site, in January 2009, January 2019, and every point in between and thereafter.

Stay tuned to find out what’s coming next!

Well, the secret is officially out…  Bodybuilding.com’s new discount clearinghouse for exceptional deals just launched today!

"One insane supplement deal per day until it’s gone!"

Check it out here:

http://www.wheycheap.com/

There is one heavily discounted product per day, but when they’re gone, they’re gone.  (When an item sells out, you can’t order any more.)  There are a few left of today’s offer, so check it out now!

(And don’t miss the huge PIITB button!!)  

Read all about WheyCheap.com on our forums:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/forumdisplay.php?f=201

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=109255221

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=109535821

Edit:  Oops, you snoozed, you lose!  Try back again tomorrow!

Our programming team rolled out another new feature yesterday, called "BodyAnswers."  BodyAnswers is where members can answer all sorts of questions about what they do to get results inside and outside of the gym. You can learn from top BodySpace members that you admire so you can get the same results that they have!

You can answer as many questions as you want. The more questions that you answer, the better! Give your honest answers and try to give as much detail as possible. You are helping others from all over the world!

To use BodyAnswers, click on the “Edit BodyAnswers” link either in your BodySpace Control Panel, or directly on your profile (when you’re logged in).  Turn this:

…into this…

Alternatively, you can also edit your BodyAnswers directly from your public BodyAnswers page (when you’re logged in), with a handy pop-up graphic interface:

It’s easy!  Give it a whirl, and earn BodyPoints in the process! 

Have an idea for a question we should ask? Suggest new questions in this thread on the forum:

http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=5815371

We added a new feature yesterday, the ability to embed YouTube videos directly into BodyBlogs.

For simple instructions on how to add videos to your blog, start a new blog post and click on the "how do I embed YouTube videos?" link.  It’s easy!

Kudos go out to Mikelb for implementing the new feature, and to ~SiX PACK~ for the video. 

We have implemented a "Personal Records" feature within the BodySpace Workout Tracker.  This feature will inform you each time that you achieve a new PR (personal record) for an exercise.

There is also a module on the Bodyspace main page that now shows the most recent personal records achieved.  Enjoy! 

Today marks the grand day when months of work has culminated into the roll-out of two (2) brand new BodySpace features:

• BodySpace Workout Tracker (BWT)
• Member Supplement Reviews

Now you can use BodySpace to track all the minute details of your workouts, including creating, saving, and reusing workout templates, tracking progress over time using automated graphing, getting workout feedback, and more!

Check out the brand-spankin’ new BodySpace Workout Tracker (BWT) today!

Also, members can now, for the first time, review supplements that they’ve tried, right in their own profiles, and that information will be saved and collected, and once we have enough review data, then we can start to tie that into the store where we can display the average rating for products!   Just think, your product review showing up on a store product page - just by filling out a little form right on your own BodySpace profile!

Check out the brand-spankin’ new Supplement Reviews section right on your own BodySpace profile and also in your control panel!

Your favorite modmin (Mod/Admin) and mine, Skippy, has been hard at work making some improvements on the backend, resulting in some welcome changes for all users!

Yesterday afternoon, Skippy revamped your friends module to allow for paging (seeing 20 friends at a time) and added a few visual enhancements.  The paging fixed some problems that really popular users (like ChickenTuna) were having with excessive load times (you try loading photos for 2500+ friends all at the same time!)

Also, a subtle change was made to the way main profile photos are handled, with the addition of the “pose” dropdown menu, allowing you to indicate which type of pose you’re doing (if applicable) - this will allow comparisions between members in the future.  Also, the limit was increased from 3 profile pics to 25, so go crazy!  LOL

Thanks, Skip, these changes are great!! 

Bodybuilding.com CEO, Ryan DeLuca, wants to hear your feedback on several proposed BodySpace improvements. 

Visit his blog to read all about the planned additions, and please leave him your comments!  Click here to read his thoughts (LOL, scary…) -

http://blog.bodybuilding.com/admin

Many of you have probably already noticed (and have started using) the new Short-Term Goal Tracking section on BodySpace.  If you haven’t, however, you’ll be pleased - check out your progress page to view your short-term goals!

To edit your short-term goals, go into your control panel, and click on the appropriate link (under “Your Goals”).  

More improvements are forthcoming on this module, so keep your eyes peeled and watch for it! 

Well, folks, the weekend is upon us, and we’ve just reached a rather cool milestone of active members: 33,333!  (And not only that, but take a peek at this screenshot - everyone is a guy, too - seemingly rare here on BodySpace!)

In addition, many people today are seeing the addition of the BodyPoints counter on their sidebar for the first time.  You amass BodyPoints by actively interacting with other members and contributing content (visiting profiles, leaving comments, writing in blogs, etc.), and those hard-earned points will be redeemable for cool stuff in the not-too-distant future, so start hoarding those points (you’ll be glad you did)! 

Sample Images:

Mike also updated the BodyPoints Help page documentation on how BodyPoints work (and how to earn tons of them!)  Give it a read for the inside scoop.