Nudge, Nudge: Check Out Our New Nudgebox Feature

Apr 15, 2010, 5:33pm

There it is, on the left side of your screen. We mean this:

We hope dozens of excursion-inspiring ideas will spring forth from this humble, icon-encrusted tab.

The Nudgebox is here to “nudge” you about things you already kinda knew you wanted to do. Things going on at places you already love or you've been dying to try. You just needed someone to remind you it was happening.

How'd we come up with this, you ask?

By talking with dozens of people in our research. For example, we talked with someone who we’ll call Bob, since Bob is a name people use when they’re naming a generic person even though a considerable number of perfectly unique people are really named Bob. Anyway.

Bob

So Bob often patronizes a great little Mexican spot named Puerto Alegre in the Mission. He favors the place for its cheap margaritas.

In the back of Bob’s mind is a wine bar down the street named Parea. It piques his interest, but he hasn’t been there. It’s a bit out of his price range.

The Nudgebox is for Bob. It’s there to tell him about, say, an event at Puerto Alegre, a place he already loves. And it’s there to tell him about a twofer deal at Parea, a place he’s wanted to try but hasn’t yet had the occasion. (That is, by the way, why we call our discounts The Excuse. It’s an excuse to head out to places like this).

What's Going to Happen

When you’re reading a story, you might see a few little ideas slide out of the Nudgebox for your perusal. They’re usually events, and sometimes they’re super mega discounts. They look like this:

The Nudgebox will try its best to show you only things you’ll probably like.

If you’ve added local places to your Clipbook (using the blue plus signs you see next to places’ names throughout the site), that’ll help you. We use the places you've collected to make your nudges better.

So let’s say you’ve added Paxton Gate to your Clipbook, and Paxton Gate plans to throw an event. Then we’ll show you their event as an idea in your Nudgebox.

For now, only Bold Italic members will see anything slide out. But anyone can click the big white plus-sign (or big white number, which indicates how many nudges are available) to see what the Nudgebox holds.

You’ll also notice some other changes here and there. We tweaked the layout of the homepage, for example.

So take the Nudgebox for a ride. Tell us exactly what you think in our feedback discussion. Enjoy!

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