Swaggle SMS

To make it even easier yet to invite people to join your Swaggle groups, we've added another option under the "Embed Widget" option on a group page: send a link. Just copy and paste the custom link you'll see on your group's Swaggle page and e-mail it to a group of people you want to invite, and they'll be able to punch their phone number in to get started with your group and Swaggle.

It's much the same feature as the embeddable widget, except now you don't need a blog or a web site to embed the link in.

Posted by Jordan at 10:53 PM | Permalink | Comments

Swaggle is easy to use, we're pretty sure. Still, getting started can be tough. Arcane commands sent via SMS, it's enough to flummox the not-so-tech savvy. So we made a couple improvements to Swaggle this weekend that should help:

• Swaggle Widget: If you want to host a Swaggle group, you can cut and paste a bit of code from Swaggle onto your own web page to encourage your friends to sign up. For example, this one will get you signed up to the Swaggle Beta group. Just click the "Embed Widget" link from any Swaggle group page on Swaggle.mobi to find the code for your group.
  

Enter your phone number below to join the swagglebeta Swaggle SMS group:

• Sign-up from the Web: If you're new to Swaggle, we'll get you started right from the Swaggle.mobi home page. Just fill in your number and we'll start you on your way.

Of course, letting people type in any old phone number could open a vector for SMS spam, which we hate, so we took a number of steps to ensure that we never harass anyone or allow Swaggle to be a vector for someone else to harass someone. Once you opt out or quit Swaggle, we'll never send you another unsolicited message, even if someone submits your phone number through our web interface.

Posted by Jordan at 11:27 PM | Permalink | Comments

The Swaggleplex is pleased to announce the introduction of Swaggle.mobi, the web site for the Swaggle SMS service. With it, you can create and manage groups, issue and accept invitations and even review and send messages. Just send .pwd XXXX (where XXXX is a password you'd like to use for the web site) to Swaggle (206 694-9197) to get started.

Of course, there's lots of features you won't see on the web site (like the ability to send person-to-person messages), but rest assured, more is on the way.

This blog will be moving over to there shortly. If you're subscribed through the feedburner URL in our sidebar (http://feeds.feedburner.com/SwaggleSms), you don't need to do anything, you'll continue to get your Swaggle updates.

Now, please go to http://swaggle.mobi/ and let us know what you think!

Posted by Jordan at 5:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

We are very proud to announce yet another feature that should be absolutely invisible to you. As of this afternoon, Swaggle is running on an entirely new codebase, re-written from scratch in Ruby on Rails.

Why, you may ask, would we do such a thing, when it introduces no new features? Well, we're looking to future, and the new code base should provide more flexibility to expand Swaggle.

How? You'll have to wait and see. :-)

Huge, huge thanks go out to Peter Brown, Ruby ninja, for providing tutoring and advice on port. It would have been impossible without him. Thanks, Peter!

If you see any unusual behavior that may have been caused by the change, please let me know.

Posted by Jordan at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments