Pageflakes Adds Social Networking and Other Features with Blizzard Release

Today, Pageflakes, the customizable web homepage service, has added a flurry of new features to their growing service. Known as the Blizzard release, the service now has social networking capabilities, themable public pages and over 240,000 possible widgets to choose from (compared with only 10,000 previously).

Pageflake users now get their own profile page which will allow them to add other users as friends and get connected with what other users are doing, similar to social networks such as MySpace and Facebook. There is now the ability to browse through users based on either common interests or on items that others have compiled on their customized pages, known as Pagecasts.

Another new feature is the ability to customize a page with new themes that are available. Users can either choose from a pre-existing template, of which there are several to choose from, or create their own with a new tool. To celebrate the release of this new feature, Pageflakes has already accrued a number of media partners that have themed content pages, including pagecasts from AOL, CNN, Entertainment Tonight, Rolling Stone, the Washington Post, and a number of others.

According to Pageflakes CEO, Dan Cohen, “our partners are now offering Pagecasts in which anyone on the web can combine their favorite print and broadcast content with new forms of media such as user-generated content and social networking. The result is unique, compelling, and above all, lots of fun.”

Currently there are over 120,000 Pageflake users who have created custom public pagecasts, none of which have been Safari users, because up until now the Apple browser went unsupported by Pageflakes interface. Now, however, this new release allows access to the site for those who use Safari.

A new widget, known as the "anything flake," will now allow users to create their own widget with custom text and photos through the use of a WYSIWYG editor. Another flake will also now allow users to include video and audio media within their pagecasts.

The intent of the Blizzard release is to shy the service away from individual user experiences and allow users to share among the entire community. Pageflakes is hoping that it will increase its user base and keep users on the site longer. With social networking and all of the other new features, I am sure that more people will become interested in this useful service.

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