What a difference a day makes

Now I wouldn't say we didn't have faith in theBookPond project - we always knew it was a fantastic idea, but its fair to say we have been pretty deflated by the lack of interest in the site and we were beginning to question our own instincts, however.....

On the 2nd July, the site was featured on the BBC's Click! technology programme. Click! goes out four or five times over the weekend, and is available to watch on the BBC website for a whole week. On Saturday morning I was more than pleasantly surprised to find we had a spot on Webscape with the lovely Kate Russell, and since then things have been a bit mad.

We have had a surge of interest from like-minded students, and from businesses. The site has had a flurry of activity including students registering and listing books from all corners of the UK. We are much pleased. We have been overwhelmed with the lovely messages people have taken time and effort to send us. We have had everything from 'good for you' messages of support, to recommendations for improvements. We have had many people telling us they are telling all their friends about us, which is fab because the more people know about the site, the more useful it becomes.

We would like to say thank you to Click! for featuring us, and for their accurate interpretation of the site aims, and for the enthusiasm shown. It really came across well on screen and is a credit to the superb production crews a world-leading corporation like the Beeb employ.

Soon, we will be launching our poster thingy-me-bob, hopefully incorporating the recommendations that students have made, as well as other general improvements to the site itself. For now we are trawling through the numerous emails, and getting our heads round the numerous new books that have been listed.

So a massive welcome to all neew members, and a big thank you for all the support shown to us. We hope we can at least be useful, and if not, at least be interesting.

Recommendation for Hull students

I visited a great little place in Hull yesterday. I've been having trouble with my trusty bike, so popped into Bob's Bikes on Beverley Road while I had a few minutes, and what a hidden gem this place is. The guy was real friendly, and looked at my bike straight away, He found the problem, something to do with my gears which I really didn't understand. Within about 15 minutes he had fitted a new cable thingy, and charged me very little I think. I would recommend this place to other students, as it's a bit off the student drag, but well worth a trip. It's on Beverley Road in Hull near the Cannon Junction pub. They also did me 10% off with my NUS card. Even better.

The magic 100

Today we reached the milestone of the first 100 books on the site, well 101 actually, but what's an extra one between friends? As promised the prize duck will be winging its way over to the lucky lister very soon.

Also, after a flurry of activity on Twitter, another prize duck will soon be on it's way to Pennsylvania in the USofA. Thanks to everyone who helped increase our following.

Soon, we will be launching our 'Five reasons to list' campaign, which will encourage students to list their used textbooks. This will be spread through our Facebook pages, Twitter feeds, e-newsletter and on the main site itself. We hope that by getting more books on the site will tempt more people to use it, and so on. We want people to be leaders, not followers.

Recently we have also been in touch with other websites. Our new fave is Doofa, which enables you to list what you would do for cash so you can turn your spare time and skills into money. We recommend you take a look soon. If you can't find them, visit our facebook page and click on the link. Laters.....

Twitter Prize Draw

Am getting a bit more into this Twitter business. To celebrate my new found social-geekness, we are giving away a duck-shaped prize (to be decided) to one lucky Twitter follower who re-tweets any of our tweets about the prize draw. Visit our Twitter page to find one. The prize is yet to be bought, but we guarantee it will be small, cute and duck-like. Just like me!