WIM: State of the Blog

As you may have noticed, there have been some new features and changes with SB Nation. I wanted to fill you guys in on what's different.

New Features

SBN now has an agreement with AP and Getty Images, which will allow us to include photos in all of our posts. Previously, I was never able to include pictures for fear of stepping on any copyright toes but this agreement allows us to spice up my blog posts with images.

Along with the photos, our tech team updated the layout of our team and player pages. So if you want to read all the SBN posts tagged about the Red Wings (and not just WIM posts), you can view them on the DRW page. The page also has standings, injuries, schedule, stats, roster, etc. It's pretty sweet if I do so say myself.

As if that wasn't cool enough, SBN now offers player's pages that have a similar layout to the team page. You can read all the SBN blog posts tagged by that player's name as well as a list of honors/awards, injuries/transactions, and stats. You can check out Nicklas Lidstrom's page to get an understanding of what I'm talking about.

Other Updates

SB Nation has worked to distribute our blogs to a variety of outlets and it has paid off. As I had discussed in a post awhile back, SBN partnered with Yahoo! Sports so WIM is now linked to from the Yahoo! Wings page and related materials.

You will also see WIM linked by the Sports Illustrated Wings' page. Today, NHL.com just announced that it will feature select SBN blog posts on its website. You can view the first featured post here.

WIM Looking for Help

As you can see, SBN is growing and getting more amazing by the day. The number of things we can do with blogging and fostering a community is unbelievable. Unfortunately, I only have so much free time and my internship with the Wings greatly limits the opinions I can give. As a result, I am looking for another blogger or two to help me out with WIM. If you would like to blog here and have the great exposure and sweet tools SBN offers, please drop me an e-mail.

I also want to encourage you all to write your own FanPosts (essentially your own blog posts) and post any relevant FanShots. As I've done over the past week or two, if I read a great FanPost or see a strong FanShot, I will promote it to the front page where more people will likely view it so don't be shy! With the playoffs quickly approaching, I'd also love to see people post photos of their game viewing experiences whether you're at the Joe, another arena, sports bar or just enjoying the game at home.

In Conclusion

As always, please feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment with any suggestions you may have. I always welcome your feedback and love hearing from you guys in the form of e-mails and comments. I would really love to see WIM develop a strong community with engaged members so please pass along any ideas and don't be afraid to contribute!

Go Wings!