Introducing Facebook Registration to SparkPeople

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

You've probably noticed more and more websites these days prompting you to log in or create an account by using your existing Facebook account. This is a quick and easy way for Facebook users to join a plethora of websites with one click, saving time during registration.

Today, we have added this functionality to SparkPeople. Since so many people are using Facebook logins now and Facebook has so many members, we wanted to make the option available for those who like it.

New registrants who come to the site will now have the option to join SparkPeople by using their Facebook account (if they have one). These Facebook registrants will also log back in to the site this way each time they return. This new login method is completely optional. New members can still join the site just like everyone else always has: by creating a username and a password to log in to SparkPeople.

What does this mean for you?
If you're already a member, you can continue logging in to SparkPeople with the username and password you've always used. Because of this new functionality, all members will see some new links on our login pages that prompt you to log in using your Facebook account, but these links only apply to people who have connected their Facebook account to SparkPeople. Everyone else can simply ignore these links. We just wanted to let you know what they were for in case you were confused about seeing them.


However, some of you may recall that SparkPeople has had a Facebook-connect option for a long time, as a way for you to choose to share certain SparkPeople tasks (weighing in, joining a Team, tracking exercise, your Current Status, etc.) on your Facebook wall automatically. If you want to connect your SparkPeople account to Facebook, you can earn SparkPoints by doing so. AND, you can also use the "log in with Facebook" options we mentioned above (optional) anytime you log back into the site. To learn more about the SparkPeople-Facebook connect, click here: www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/spark-facebook.asp.

Please remember that if you do not use Facebook, or do not want to connect your accounts, this has absolutely no impact on you whatsoever. We don't make anything off of this; we are offering this as an option for those people who prefer to sign in to multiple sites using their Facebook information. Also note that our Privacy Policy and Terms and Conditions have not changed.

If you have any questions, please post them below or on our support message boards.

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A Message from SparkGuy: Announcing the Launch of SparkAmerica

Monday, August 02, 2010

Hello SparkPeople Members!

I'm excited to share with you the launch of an exciting new program and website called SparkAmerica! Here is the official announcement page, but I wanted to share some thoughts with you here as well.

SparkAmerica is a new campaign that has many fun and exciting aspects.

First, SparkAmerica is a great way to motivate YOU to stay on track to reach your goals. It emphasizes taking consistent, small actions that make a big difference, such as doing 10 minutes of daily fitness and earning SparkPoints on the site. We have seen these types of activities change so many lives over the years. Several years ago, we created an online program in our hometown called SparkCincinnati that was similar to this. It was a hit around the city and we have always wanted to take this program national (and eventually global). Now is the time for SparkAmerica!

Second, SparkAmerica is a great new way to Spread the Spark to everyone you know. Our number one source of new members is current members who spread the spark. But we know that many members feel uncomfortable talking about weight loss with their friends. SparkAmerica changes all of this since it is a new site that is geared toward everyone—not just people who might be interested in losing weight. So, it’s a great way for you to help your friends, family and co-workers reach their goals.

Third, SparkAmerica is an opportunity for all of us to work together to make a major impact on the lives of Americans—and eventually people around the world! It's a great example of what we see on the site every day: members reaching their own goals, supporting and motivating each other, and then Spreading the Spark to more people. Imagine if we're able to do this on an even larger scale!

SparkAmerica will be integrated into your current SparkPeople experience. We're rolling this out slowly and will add more references to SparkAmerica on the SparkPeople website (like on the Fitness Tracking page, for example). You can also visit www.SparkAmerica.com and share it with your friends.

Since SparkAmerica is such an exciting program, several major partners have already signed on to help participate in this campaign. YOUR participation and enthusiasm will make it even easier for us to continue to partner with even more great organizations. This could even turn into a great way for us to feature SparkPeople members in major media stories about SparkAmerica and SparkPeople. Who knows, eventually we could even have a TV show or special that grows out of this concept! I know all of this is possible because of the excitement I see on the site every day.

Please let me know your thoughts below.

Thanks for your support. I appreciate it. SparkCheers!

Chris "SparkGuy" Downie

P.S. For our members outside the United States, our goal is to eventually add this program for more countries as well. The more members and tracking we get from other countries, the easier it will be to work with possible partners in those countries to turn this into a big program for our international members.

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65 New SparkGoodies to Give and Receive!

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

We know how much our members love giving and receiving SparkGoodies, and you've been great about sharing your suggestions with us. So yesterday, we added 65 brand new SparkGoodies for you to choose from when rewarding yourself and others for a job well done!

Many of these were suggestions from our members, such as seasonal Goodies (we added a rake, snow shovel, pumpkin, Mardi Gras beads, and more.), congratulatory greetings (congratulations, a bear hug, hearts, love, confetti and more), and more food and fitness Goodies (how do measuring cups, a fortune cookie, hula hoop and boxing gloves sound?).

You can go to any SparkPage and click "Give USERNAME a Goodie" to browse through the newly updated store.

If SparkGoodies are new to you, read the article below for more information:
www.sparkpeople.com/resource/motivation_articles.asp?id=1018

We hope you enjoy these brand new SparkGoodies, which give you a fun way to spend all those SparkPoints you earn. Thanks for all of the great suggestions!

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Site Improvements for People with Diabetes

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Hi everyone

We are excited to launch our first round of improvements to the site for people with diabetes (types 1 and 2) and pre-diabetes. We know that diabetes is on the rise nationwide, and we have received many, many requests for these improvements. We plan to launch more enhancements later this year, but for now the new features for people with diabetes include:

1) An enhanced glucose tracker, where you can now specify the time of day you tracked your blood sugar (pre-breakfast, post-lunch, etc). This tracker is on your Weigh-In page (and also at the top of your Nutrition Tracker page.

2) Improvements to your Nutrition Tracker, including carbohydrate and calorie goals for every meal and the ability to track glucose directly from the top of the page.

3) Easier to access tools for people with diabetes. This includes:

- New links from your Start page if you are in our diabetes management program

- A new page summarizing all our content and resources for people with diabetes

- A new page to make it easy to change your settings to tell us if you have Type 2, Type 1, or pre-diabetes (or take yourself out of the program)


In addition to these changes just launched, we will be launching more new features later in 2010. The biggest will be meal plans customized for people with diabetes.

To access this program:

- If you had previously told us you have diabetes during your account set-up, you are automatically in this program. You'll find a link to these features from your Start page and your Nutrition Tracker.

- To change (or check) your settings to use this program you can visit www.sparkpeople.com/resource/diabetes-diet-settings.asp.


Finally, if you have any feedback on the program, please reply to this topic in our Managing Diabetes SparkTeam: www.sparkpeople.com/myspark/team_messageboard_thread.asp?board=0x629x35098942.


We hope that these new features will make SparkPeople even easier and more beneficial for people who have diabetes. If you know of anyone else who might benefit from our free tools and this new Diabetes Management Program, please share this link with them. Thanks!

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New and Improved Food & Fitness Tracker for the iPhone!

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

We wanted to let you know that we just released a new and improved version of our free Food & Fitness Tracker for the iPhone (and iPod touch). Now available in the iTunes app store, here are some of the improvements you'll get when you download this new version:

• Ability to track strength-training workouts in the fitness section
  
• Animated exercise demos
  
• Full nutritional details for your foods (previously just showed calories, fat, carbs and protein)
  
• Ability to copy meals from one day to another
  
• If you’ve created custom meals on the site, they are now visible in the app
  
• If you've created "food groupings" on the site, they are now available in the app on the Food Favorites screen.
  
• Ability to search for full keywords on your food favorites and fitness sections (previously matched just the beginning of word)
  
• Speed and stability improvements throughout
  
• Bug fixes

We want to thank all of our members who have downloaded our free Food & Fitness Tracker for the iPhone or shared it with their friends to date. Don't forget that you can help us Spread the Spark by sharing this news with other iPhone users and/or by rating this app in the iPhone app store. Each good rating helps us to reach more people who might not otherwise know about SparkPeople!

And remember, we offer free apps for other smart phones, too. You can find and download them at www.sparkpeople.com/mobile.

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