An Invitation to FeedM8

We’re inviting all Wattpad users to an early look at FeedM8, the best way to read news and blogs on your mobile phone. With FeedM8 (that’s feedmate!) you get all of your favorite news and blogs directly on your phone’s browser, no software to install and it’s free! Start by choosing one of these popular sites…

News	Business	Technology
Entertainment	Sports	Fun
… and lots more to choose from on your phone!

We need your feedback during this beta period. Please send your suggestions to us!

OpenLearn Remix/Reuse Competition

OpenLearn, The Open University’s program for making its learning material freely available on the internet, is holding a competition to find the best examples of reuse and remix of their content. Wattpad is one example of using this material and delivering it in a different medium, and many of our members have done this.

You can find out more about the competition here.

Chinese version of Wattpad

Marcher has written a cool review of Wattpad in Chinese. Even cooler is the Chinese version of the Wattpad Reader, thanks Marcher! link

Countdown to Harry Potter 7

11 days to go until the release of Harry Potter Book 7 – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. This is very exciting for Wattpad members. We love HP and are huge HP fans. While the anticipation for the new book is high, I want to remind everyone that posting these works by J.K. Rowling is not permitted. As with all copyrighted material, do not share them on Wattpad unless you have permission from the owner, or the work is licensed to be used this way. Thanks for your cooperation!

The Digg Effect hits Wattpad

The story 33 Names of Things You Never Knew had Names made it to the front page of Digg and we’re getting buried under the Digg effect! We’ll get the server back up as soon as possible.

Update: After nearly 4 hours of outage this afternoon, we’re now back online!

Wattpad for students & teachers

Rob De Lorenzo reviews Wattpad and has a few ideas on how students and teachers can use it to support their curriculum. Great ideas! It’s natural considering most students use their phones for texting already. One problem it would certainly help tackle is heavy school backpacks, this is a serious problem.

Lewis Shiner releases short fiction under CC

Writer Lewis Shiner has made a collection of his short fiction available under a Creative Commons license. You can find the collection here.

Shiner says this on his Fiction Liberation Front Manifesto:

…short fiction endures because it provides a way of introducing writers to new readers… The main reason I write these things, after all, is for people to read them.

Cory Doctorow also gives his take on this.