Friendly
First, I think they've nailed the wording down regarding the whole "friends" issue. A lot of electrons have been spilled over people agonizing about the overuse of the word "friend." For example, is it correct to say that Robert Scoble and I are friends, even though we've only spoken via text, and that rarely?
But look how BloggersBase chooses to describe people:
I think that "respect" is a brilliant word to use here. I may not pal around with these four people. I may not even agree with these four people. But I respect them.
Flickr has a similar method to designation various gradations of contacts, but I like the way that BloggersBase has done it.
Outgoing
Second, BloggersBase is apparently dedicated to helping the new user get the most out of the service. Here is part of an email that they sent to me today:
Congratulations empoprises, for recently publishing your second post on BloggersBase.
Thank you for contributing to BloggersBase!
We are happy to present the following tip, that in our opinion can improve your experience as a blogger:
Excerpt Images are Important
What's an excerpt image? This is a small square picture that is shown near each post, like the image below shows. We would like to emphasize excerpts' importance in BloggersBase's recently introduced layout. The new features in the new interface including the Sliding Menu, Related Posts and Preview use excerpt images. If you do not choose an excerpt for yourself, BloggersBase tries to choose one for you automatically.
Due to this being an automated service, the excerpt images might not perfectly fit your post, might not be to your liking, or might fail to locate the most appropriate image altogether. The latter scenario means that your post will not be shown at any of the sections mentioned below. When you choose the excerpt image yourself, it provides a more accurate impression of what your post is about and serves the purpose you have intended, increasing your visibility and exposure.
As it turned out, BloggersBase selected the first image in my first post to use as a displayed image. But it's good to know that I have the choice, should I decide to use it.
