Sazze Blog

Making a Splash with Splash Pages!

So, I know that the people here haven't really been giving the Sazze Facebook page much loving so I took it into my own hands and added a little bit of Sazze love to it. We now have a splash page! If you've already "liked" Sazze, click on the Sazze tab next to "Info." Otherwise, get yourself on over to the Facebook page, take a moment to appreciate the new graphic and then click the like button! Personally, I think it's prettier. I mean, it could be even prettier but I'm not going to be picky! So yes, check out our new Sazze Facebook Splash Page!

Sazze is Giving Stuff Away Again!

In case you were afraid that Sazze was going to slip into the the ancient past instead of something in the present, we've got you covered. Sazze began a new giveaway today! We're giving away Threadless shirts! Are you excited? I know I am! In case you have no idea what I'm talking about when I say "Threadless shirts" you can check out Threadless.com! The shirts range from artsy, funny, odd, intellectual, etc etc. Great fun. So, if you're interested in checking out more about the giveaway, there's a thread dedicated to it on the message boards here: http://sazze.com/answer/guess-what-its-giveaway-time/6259

Sazze Facebook Fans!

Once upon a time, there lived a cute little facebook page for the company Sazze. Like all fairytales, there were problems at the beginning. Not only was it set in the wrong fairytale kingdom (ie. in Pleasanton) but it also was starring the wrong type of prince/princess (ie. it was listed as a local business). Now, a new author has risen up from the ranks to create a story that actually makes sense for Sazze. Sazze now has a fanpage and is listed as a website! The old story has been erased and made way for the truth to prosper. Not much is there, but as Sazze becomes more active, so will Facebook! But check it out and feel free to let us know what you think the Facebook fanpage should feature. A thread on Sazze has begun here! The fanpage can be found here!

Changes to Sazze!

As many of you might (or if you're new might not) have noticed, a lot of changes have been made to Sazze in the past few months. Let's cover our bases. 1st: There's a whole new redesign! Props to Calvin on this one. As one user put it "Holy Soothing Colors!" I kinda dig it. I'm just glad it's not hot pink. Personal opinion there. 2nd: We're missing two of our key members. Y'know, the ones who edit the blog. Yeah, Calvin and Zia. Both have moved on to explore new waters. I miss sailing... But that's also not important. 3rd: There's this whole question of who on earth is the person posting now! Well, that's me. My name is Shannon (if you couldn't tell) and I'm hoping to help some great new changes take place here! I'm saving the plant life from everyone in the office who seems to suffer from brown thumbs, I'm trying to deal with temperature changes when the thermostat gets adjusted, and I'm really looking forward to hopefully making Sazze full of life! I know there's more detail to all of the above mentioned things, but this post is already longer than I'd like. I'll try to keep people updated more regularly and welcome to Sazze.com!

Sazze on Facebook?!

Are you tired of sharing your reviews with your loser Sazze Friends? I KNOW I AM!! Now once you've completed writing a review there is an option after clicking submit to SHARE your review on FACEBOOK!; a small picture of the product you reviewed along with a few paragraphs of the review will show up on your Face book Feed so now you can let all your NON-Sazze buddies Know whats REALLLY going down!! Give it a Try and let us know what you think!!!

Apple-a-Day Giveaway

Sazze is celeberating its re-launch by givng away an Apple Product every day! Starting September 2, 2009, users who write a legitimate, 20+ word review on Sazze.com will be automatically entered into a daily raffle, where the prize will be one of the above Apple products. Getting Free stuff for something you ALREADY do?!.. c'mon how SWEET IS THAT!! so gets your reviews in ASAP!! See Below Link for More Info! http://sazze.com/giveaway/apple.php

Twitter Style Tags Come to Sazze Chat

As you may have noticed, our new redesign is very "twitter-esc" (yes, this is a word I swear! Zia told me so.....) In keeping with this theme, I'm pleased to announce that the Sazze Chat section now supports twitter style '@' tags in topics and replies. I know, I know, this is the most awesome thing since sliced bread and I'm going to tell you how to use it! Just type the '@' character, followed by the vanity URL name of the user you want to link to and when you submit your chat topic or reply our servers will do the magic. Example: @craig (links to my profile page) @calvin (links to Calvin's profile page) @Gorilla (links to Patrick's profile page....gotta love the gorilla!) Now you may be wondering, how to I know what someone's vanity URL name is? That's a very valid question, as it's not always the same as their username.......but there is a solution! Under every post in the Chat section is a twitter style tag link for the person who made the post.

its baaaaaaaaack!!! but this time its for Sazze; just re-tweet the below phrase and you're automatically entered in a chance to win a 13" Mac Book PRO!!! " @sazze Giveaway - Celebrate our relaunch and win a 13" MacBook Pro! http://bit.ly/mEmlw " sweeeeeeeetness!!! ( or should i say (tweeetness?!)... no ... no i think i'll stick to " sweetness" anyways... rev up those twitter accounts!!! and get your " Mac on" TODAY! Click Here For More Details: http://sazze.com/giveaway/macbookpro.php

BOOOOOOOOOO YOW!!!! Sazze is back and better than ever, complete with a more intimate community feel for all you Facebookers, Myspacers, and Tweeters! We’ve got a new live info stream, so you can follow your best buds (or secret stalkers) and see what they’re up to at all times! This Stream includes, Pictures, Videos, Reviews, Chats, and Polls! We’ve been working really hard to make this the most unique and fun 2.0 site on the web! We Know we’ve got a long way to go, so if you’ve got any problems, suggestions or feedback please don’t hesitate to let us know!

Box Office Pay Back 8/24/09

What up Peeps! And welcome to another wonderful edition of Sazzes Box Office Pay Back Check out any of these movies and catch a $20 Fandango Gift Card from YOURS truly! And by yours truly I don’t mean me.. just.. someone around here.. So…. Anyways… yeah!!. Check it out: Halloween 2: http://www.sazze.com/products/halloween-ii0 The Final Destination http://www.sazze.com/products/the-final-destination Taking Woodstock http://www.sazze.com/products/taking-woodstock The September Issue http://www.sazze.com/products/the-september-issue

Box Office Pay Back 8.21.09

Hola Amigos!!.. check out this weekends big box office Draws!!! Review one of these puppies and your automatically entered to win a free pair of Fandango Movie TIX!!! We've got the Quitenon Terintino WW2 movie staring Brad Pitt in: Inglorious Basterds ( spelled with an "e" for some reason) http://www.sazze.com/products/inglorious-bastards *im Leaving District 9 on the list bc it was CRAZY AWESOME! http://www.sazze.com/products/district-9 we've got Robert Rodriguez directing Shorts... ( kidna outta context but whatevz) http://www.sazze.com/products/shorts X games 3d?.. um.. okay? http://www.sazze.com/products/post-grad and "Post Grad" staring that one chick from that Gilmore Girls show ( not like i watch that ( laughing nervously) http://www.sazze.com/products/post-grad sooo Check one of these out over the weekend, and WRITE a Review!!.. and Sazze would be mroe than happy to hit u up with a $20 fandango Tix! BTW... last weeks winners for GI JOE, Time Travelers Wife, and "The Goods" .. is POLAR PPP!!; Cherie H, and Ken W!!!! Congrats Peeps!..and remember..... REVIEWING... is half the BATTLE!

Wow!.. okay.. so not many ppl interested in GI joe! thats okay.. bc we've gotta GREAT " Sazze Box office payback lined up for you next week! see either: The Goods http://www.sazze.com/products/the-goods Band Slam http://www.sazze.com/products/bandslam The Time Traveler's Wife http://www.sazze.com/products/the-time-travelers-wife or District 9 http://www.sazze.com/products/district-9 review the film and get $20 Fandango Bucks!! its THAT simple!

Box Office Payback 4

Wow!!.... this box office progam is comming along nicely!! err.. at least I like to think so... ANY-WHO!! Just wanted to announce Next weeks Box Office pay back selections!! we've got some really cool stuff lined up: Gi Joe: http://www.sazze.com/products/gi-joe-rise-of-cobra The Collector: http://www.sazze.com/products/the-collector Julie & Julia: http://www.sazze.com/products/julie-julia

Box Office Pay Back 3

Okay.... so..... we only got 1 review for " The Ugly Truth fan-TASTIC! .. I don't know maby there wasn't much to SEE this weekend or whatever?... but lets kick things up a NOTCH!!! This weekend see: Funny People http://www.sazze.com/products/funny-people Aliens in the Attic http://www.sazze.com/products/aliens-in-the-attic or In the Loop http://www.sazze.com/products/in-the-loop for YOUR chance to win a free pair of Fandango Tix!!! ***Contest expires Aug 7*** enjoy!!

Box Office Payback 2!

Wowzers!!!... we got like 7 reviews for Harry Potter last week!... what a Great response!!! Anyways.. im not necessarily sure if that was because of the contest or bc HP6 is supposedly the BIGGEST movie of the summer, but anyways, lets see if we can make lightning strike twice, with a few… ehh.. less that anticipated movies? Here are This Weeks Movie Options: The Ugly Truth: July 24th G-Force: July 24th Orphan: July 24th Review any of the above films within 1 week of the release date, and you are automatically entered to win $20 in Fandango BUCKS!!! Good Luck peeps!.. see u at the Movies!!!

Sazze: Box Office Pay Back

Hola Amigos!!.. what’s the happs! Not Much goin on on this end just wanted to let you guys know about a new promotion, and a dramatic shift in Sazze HISTORY! That’s all! We recently had a meeting, and poured over your reviews. It seems the one thing that all of us have in Common is MOVIES and movie reviews! So we’re going to do our best to accommodate movie reviews. Now , this doesn’t make us a “ movie review site” we’re still a site that you can review ANYTHING on, but we want to focus on what you… the USERS enjoy most. With that said check out our new “ Box Office Pay Back” Contest Heres how it works: -If you review a film within 1 week of its release date, your automatically entered to win $20 fandango bucks! (winner is chosen at random) -Simply check out our Movie page to determine what films are eligible for Box Office Pay Backs! This week’s movies: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (PG) Review by: July 15th The Kreutzer Sonata (R) Review by: July 17th (500) Days of Summer (PG-13) Review by July 17th Death in Love (R) Review by July 17th Homecoming Review by July 17th

New Feature: Sazze Mobile is Here!

We've launched a mobile version of Sazze. It's really quite easy to use! 1. Fire up your mobile phone's web browser and point it to http://m.sazze.com. 2. Search! Simple, eh? At the moment, you can look up prices of different products, search for reviews, browse top categories, view user profiles (shows user's reviews). If our mobile platform becomes more popular, we'll end up adding more features to it. If you try it, please let us know how you like it by sending an e-mail to: feedback@sazze.com, or by replying to this chat thread. Want to win an Xbox360, Wii, GPS System, or an iPod Touch? Post your experience, thoughts, feedback, concerns, or death threats concerning Mobile Sazze in this chat thread, and you'll be automatically entered to win!

New Feature: Ask a Question

We've launch an improved version of our "Ask a Question" feature today. Didn't know we had one? Well, that's why we've launched an improved version! On the home page, you'll see the following: You can ask questions directly in that box, or you can browse to a specific product and ask a question there. Asking a question from a specific product page will display the product's image in your post. Please direct any feedback to this thread.

Blog On Sazzers!..... Blog on!

When was your last Blog entry?.... 6 months ago?.. a year?... 2 years ago?! Well, Give YOUR blog a shot of new life with Sazze Blogs! This new feature will allow 1000's of Sazze users to access YOUR personal Blog! (and HOPEFULLY you'll be kind enough to provide a link for your readers to visit Sazze.com) I know what your Thinking, Well that sounds like a Barrel of Monkeys Zia, how Can I link my Sazze Reviews to my Blog: Its Simple! Under the write your review section there is another section entitled "is this related to your blog posting". Just paste in your blog link ,review title and a brief blog description and Voala! your Blog link will be posted in your review and under the " blog tab" on the Sazze Main Page! So time to Dust off that crusty old blog; crack your knuckles and get to Reviewing!

Win $300 by posting your (relevant) blog articles on Sazze!

We're at it again! We're currently running a new contest which will give one of you lucky winners $300 in cold, hard cash simply for promoting your blog on our site. How does it work? If you already have a blog, this will be quite easy for you. Simply write in your blog as usual, and if you decide to review a product on Sazze that has some relevance to an article you wrote, just include your blog article's URL when writing your review. You'll see the areas where you can input that information on the review writing page, right under where you would normally type your review. If you don't have a blog yet, there are plenty of free blog providers that you can join, including Blogger, Wordpress, TypePad, LiveJournal, and many more. The more blog articles you link to your Sazze reviews, the better chance you have of winning. Winners will be decided through several factors: 1. Number of relevant blog articles 2. Recent Activity 3. Quality of blog articles & reviews As you post your blogs, they will appear in an aggregated list on the Sazze Blogs page (the "Blogs" tab in the header). This contest will last from today, November 10, 2008 until November 30, 2008. The winner will be announced in the Community Chat Section. Good luck, everyone!

4 Faces: The New User Review Feature

Hey Everyone, Unlike your local Politicians, Sazze working �round the clock to improve your quality of life. We�ve done some tinkering around and introduced some new faces (below)! The 2nd to the last one actually graduated from Smiley Face Harvard. You can use these smiley faces to help rate user reviews. This will help us figure out what reviews you guys like, which can help us determine the Sazze user of the month, and also who gets free stuff from Sazze.com!

Free T Shirt Give Away!

Hello Fellow Sazze Users! The Sazze team foolishly put me in charge of 300 T shirts to disperse amongst the Sazze community. My original plan of simply keeping all the shirts was foiled due to limited closet space. Now I�m entertaining the less practical idea of wall papering my bedroom with them. But Seriously, I�m no expert on T shirt giveaways. So I figure, hey, why not ask the community what THEY THINK!? So here�s the question: If you had 300 t shirts to distribute amongst Sazze users how would YOU do it? Currently I�m looking at 4 factors 1.) Most Reviews 2.) Most Applauds 3.) Highest Quality of Reviews 4.) Overall site participation I don�t really have an algorithm (I don�t even really know what that means) but give me your ideas, and who knows? Maybe I�ll make YOUR dreams come true� by� giving.. you a free t shirt? Just for helping me decide! Or maybe I�ll get rid of my bed and rest every night on top of a pile of comfy t shirts! Wanna Chat about it? Click Below! http://www.sazze.com/chat?ctid=892&ccid=17

Sazze User Rewards Program

Ever get jealous of professional product reviewers because they�ve got so much more cool stuff than you, and for free?! Well NOWs your chance to get back at those smug sons of guns with Sazzes User Rewards program. Every week or so the most active and influential community members in each category will get Free Stuff! And we�re not just talking key chains and Coffee mugs. Sazze.com will send you stuff you actually WANT! based on product popularity and polls. Once you get your free product, just do us a favor? Tinker around with it for a few days and write a review! Getting your revenge, and free stuff? It doesn�t get better than that! *Elite Rewards coming soon; check back for more details!*

Write Reviews and Earn Money!

We're currently running an ongoing promotion that will allow our users to earn money while writing reviews! Woot.com is a website that sells one item per day to the masses. This item is usually highly discounted. However, trying to figure out whether the product is worth buying or not is usually a bit tough. A quick Google search doesn't reveal much. This is where Sazze jumps in! Every day, we'll post the latest Woot! product on the front page. The contest is as follows: $20 goes to the person who writes the first, best review. That is, speed comes first, then quality. Below are some guidelines for writing your review: 1. The review must be original (not copied and pasted from elsewhere), relevant, and it must be about your experience with the product, not just a summarization of the product's features. 2. The review must be at least 100 words. 3. The review must be about the relevant Woot! product. 4. The review should be well-written, to the point, and clear to the reader. 5. The review should describe the product accurately, list the products' pros and cons (if any), provide helpful information to assist the reader in making a decision, and be as unbiased as possible. As always, your reviews reflect who you are, so be yourself and use the above guidelines only to help you write your review. However, guidline #1 is all-powerful. Violating it will result in a cancellation of your account! We also reserve the right to choose whether a review deserves to win that $20 or not. Just because you're the only reviewer does not mean that you automatically win. Keep watching the front page -- you'll have a chance to win every day! When Woot.com updates their site, we'll post the new daily Sazze Woot Review Contest! Winners for each day will be announced on their respective product pages. Payments will be made via Paypal only.

New Feature: Lists

It's been quite some time since we last updated this thing. That's not to say we've been lazy, though. Since our last update we've been working on numerous subtle (but still important) fixes to the site, and have added several small new features. You may or may not have noticed them! Today we're proud to bring you our newest feature, Sazze Lists™! This new feature allows you to organize your reviews into...well, lists! You can only create lists of your own reviews, but can add the same review into multiple lists. The lists you create will go into a "Related Lists" section in the product's respective product page. Below is a screenshot of the list creator in action: You can create your own lists by going into your profile, selecting "Lists" from the left sidebar, then clicking on "Create a new list". And now, without further ado, I present: The Top 10 Items Calvin Can't Live Without

New Feature: RSS Feeds for Reviews

I'm pleased to announce that we now have RSS feeds for all our reviews. You can now subscribe to these feeds to keep up-to-date on the latest reviews. In addition to the daily review feed, there is a feed for each category of reviews as well. So, if you are only interested in reviews on books, then you can subscribe to the feed for the Books category. To do this, just go to the reviews page, and click on the category you would like to subscribe to. The link to the RSS feed will be displayed to the right of the reviews for the category you clicked.

New Feature: Portable Reviews & Polls

Everyone loves widgets, right? They're those little things spread across the web that lets you utilize a certain service easily, customize your page, or provide users on your website with something useful. I'm proud to announce the launch of Sazze's new widgets, the Reviews Widget and the Polls Widget! Some of our developers pulled out chunks of hair trying to get this feature out to you guys in a timely manner, so enjoy it! Both widgets are extremely easy to use. Under each review or poll, you'll see a "Get Embed Code" link. Simply click on the link, then copy and paste the code wherever HTML is accepted. This will work on your MySpace page, Facebook, Hi5, etc. It will also work on your personal websites and blogs. Here's an example of the review widget:

Sazze.com Blog: RSS Feed

When we launched our public beta, we did not have a feed for our blog (as at least one reviewer noted). Well, now you can get your fix of Sazze related news hot off the press via RSS feed. The subscription link is to your left as you read this posting. I'm sure you can take it from here ;) Calvin, myself, and everyone else on the Sazze team will be using this blog to keep you all up to date on everything coming down the pipe here at Sazze. Subscribe to the RSS feed today so you don't miss out on any of the exciting things that will be happening in the very near future! Sneak Peak: Sazze.com API (coming soon.....)

iPhone/iPod Touch Giveaway

As many of you may have already seen in the Chat section, Sazze (in partnership with DealsPlus) is giving away a FREE (as in beer) iPhone or iPod Touch to anyone who posts a review on Sazze by March 25th! For details, check out: http://dealspl.us/DealsPlus-iPod-Touch-iPhone-Giveaway_82283 Good luck everyone!

Sazze: Adding a Social Component to Consumer Product Reviews

Source: mashable.com Product review sites are a dime a dozen. There are those that exist as integrations with broader online storefronts, like Amazon. And then there are others which specialize primarily in cataloging consumer impressions. Epinions is one such site. Yelp is another, albeit with a heavy emphasis on service reviews (restaurants, stores, etc.). Now there is another name to add to the list: Sazze. Its primary focus is the consumer product market. No real surprises there. But its aim is to offer more of a social, well-networked atmosphere for its users than the average consumer is likely to encounter through many existing services. Full story: http://mashable.com/2008/03/12/sazze/

Sazze.com Launches Open Beta

Sazze.com officially opened its doors today! As of March 11, 2008 @ 4:48PM PST, users can now access the site without an invite code. For those of you in the closed beta, keep in mind that certain features will be available to the public (those without registered accounts). Unregistered users will be able to vote and comment on polls. As this poses somewhat of a spamming risk, we have allowed users to be able to manage the comments in their own polls. You now have the ability to delete comments from your poll as you see fit! Also, please note the new "Featured Reviewer" section on the front page. We will be rolling out with new features in the very near future, including an improved search engine, some very cool elite-only features, product widgets, and an XML-based API so you can grab feeds of product reviews straight to your site. Stay tuned! Calvin

Sazze.com Gets Personal With Online Product Reviews

Utilizing a social algorithm common amongst "Web 2.0" sites, online product review website Sazze.com hopes to encourage its users to write honest reviews based on personal experiences. By providing honest, real reviews from real people, Sazze.com hopes to grab a share of the online shopping/review market. Pleasanton, CA (PRWEB) March 11, 2007 -- Sazze Inc., the company managing the website of the same name, opened its Sazze.com (www.sazze.com) website to the public today. It had been in development since mid-2007, running a closed beta and only accepting limited users since January 2008. The site will continually be developed while in public beta. Sazze.com's main premise is to attract online and offline shoppers to the site by providing real and honest reviews from real people. Americans today are spending more than ever on consumer goods and retail products, and are also getting smarter about their purchases. According to research results conducted by Sazze, Inc., a company managing a consumer product review website, one out of every four shoppers reported using online reviews prior to paying for a service offline. Additionally, the results of another recent study show that consumers who research, or "pre-shop", online spend 41% more in-store than those who do not pre-shop*. By these premises, it would then be pertinent to state that higher quality information would increase offline shopping. According to Jason Lee, lead developer of Sazze.com, "Shoppers rely on online reviews and information when they are looking for the right products to purchase. There is no doubt about that. However, we believe that digital consumer product information can be refined to improve on quality as well as keeping that information up-to-date." To do so, Sazze.com has implemented a series of social web concepts designed to encourage users to write real, honest reviews. "By allowing users to interact with one another on a personal, competitive, and entertaining level," said Lee, "we're able to see drastic changes in both the quantity and quality of reviews being written by users." Sazze.com's social model is highly influenced by Yelp.com, a local listings website where users gather to socialize and review restaurants, bars, and other local businesses. Sazze.com's social model works in much the same way: putting the emphasis on social interaction between users in order to promote higher quality reviews. Additionally, Sazze.com plans on launching an "elite user" program in which users who have proven their expertise in a certain type of consumer product will become "experts" in that category. Perks for elite users include moderation privileges, and reception of various products sent by manufacturers to review. Readers report that they feel more confident buying a product if they have read reviews that are relevant to their personal lives. "Eddie D.", an active member of Sazze.com, says, "The reviews on here are great. [They're] much more detailed in the fact that people give their opinions on specific products, rather than just selling it to you." Sazze.com's future plans include the distribution of a product rating API, useful for retailers, as well as cross-site embeddable polls and reviews. ### Sazze, Inc. creates social web software to help improve the flow of information to consumers. For more information, visit www.sazze.com, or e-mail help@sazze.com. *comScore, Inc. & Yahoo!, Inc. Study 2007