When I share a blog post via the iOS Newsblur app, I can add a comment that is added to the end of the article on my Blurblog. If I tick the Twitter and AppDotNet options then that comment is also shared to those social networks along with the link to my Blurblog.
The problem here is that the comment I want to post on my Blurblog is a comment on the article, a discussion of some sort. Where as the comment I want to post to Twitter & ADN is more an advert or description so that my friends can decide if they want to read it or not.
So, my current workflow for sharing an article on my Blurblog is:
1.Share article on my Blurblog, adding a comment that discusses the article. Don’t tick any of the cross posting options.
2.Open up iCab Mobile internet browser.
3.Go to my Blurblog.
4.Zoom in and long press on the date of the article I just shared and copy the URL.
5.Open up Felix (my ADN client), paste in URL, type article description/cheeky comment and cross post to ADN & Twitter.
That’s a bit clunky. Would it be possible to update the iOS app so that all this can be done with less steps and all with out having to leave the app.
Apologies for the long post, I hope it’s not too confusing to follow.
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So you want two text boxes, one for your shared comment and one for Twitter/ADN?
I think that’s one way of doing it, yes. Although I get the feeling that may make the user interface quite cluttered. If you could get it working easily and clearly then definitely yes.
At the very least I’d like a way to easily get hold of the url for a particular Blurblog post within the app so it can then be shared however I like. At the moment,I think the only way to get hold of it (on iOS anyway) is using the method I described. And I only worked that out through random trial and error.
I get the impression that the Share this Story options aren’t designed to work the way I, primarily, want it to work. It feels as though Share this Story is there to share and discuss stories with other Newblur-ians, where as when ‘share’ a story I want to share and discuss it with people I know on twitter/ADN. In a way, I probably should be using the Send To option and ‘sending’ the URL of the original website. But I quite like the Blurblog and the way it keeps a record of my shared stories, the comments I can add and the often improved reading experience it gives.
Please don’t take anything I’ve just wrote as a criticism. I’m very happy with Newsblur, mostly with the excellent user experience. It’s just this particular issue stands out in comparison with how smoothly most other things work.