Sphere Related Content Launches via FeedBurner FeedFlare

In order to make the Sphere Related Content widget available to the maximum number of bloggers, we’ve developed a very simple solution that makes it available as a FeedBurner FeedFlare. Last night, we finished testing it and want to open it up to all bloggers.

You’ll find it super-easy to implement – it shouldn’t take you more than a minute or two to add to your existing FeedFlares. Just follow these steps:

STEP 1) Log into your FeedBurner account (or create a new one)

STEP 2) Select your feed, go to the Optimize tab and select FeedFlare on the left

STEP 3) In the “Add New Flare” box, enter this URL and click “Add New Flare”: http://www.sphere.com/partner/feedburner/sphereit_feedflare.xml

STEP 4) This will add a flare called “Sphere Related Content” to your Personal Flares. Enable this flare for your site ONLY by selecting the 2nd check-box, it doesn’t work in feeds, only on your site

STEP 5) Save your settings. If you already have FeedFlares in your blog, you’re all set. If this is your first FeedFlare, click on the dropdown to get the code for your platform, the instructions for each platform are very easy to follow.

STEP 6) This step is optional, but you can help us detect your article text by adding a pair of comments around just the article body text in your templates. Most platforms have a macro/tag/function for the body text, around which you can add these comments:

<!– sphereit start –>
… article body text here …
<!– sphereit end –>

If you’re not sure what to do in this step, just skip it, it’s not required.

That’s it, the new flare should start showing up next to your other ones within a few minutes. It takes FeedBurner a few minutes (up to about 30 minutes) to process the new flare and to request content from Sphere for your links.

Please let us know (widgets@sphere.com) when you have it up and running so we can add you to our Sphere Directory. We’re very excited about this one, it’s a very simple way for bloggers and authors on many different platforms to finally get Sphere’d