Last December, I signed up for Snap Shots and implemented the Snap Shots Plugin for WordPress. The plugin made it a snap (pardon the pun) to install this nifty gizmo. When you hover over any external link on my blog, the Snap server will load a thumbnail preview of that external site in a small pop-up window.
A few days ago, I was surprised to find that my blog fruityoaty.com had been selected to appear in the The SPA 100, a selection of the top 100 sites highlighted by Snap as “some of the more interesting, notable and funky sites that are now using the Snap Preview Anywhere product.” 
Whoah! Considering that there were over 29,000 users since the launch of Snap in November 2006 up to the time the top 100 list was published on January 9, 2007 and the fact that I’ve only been blogging on average 8 to 10 posts per month for a little over 5 months now, I feel this is quite an honour! It goes really nicely with my Biggest Whiner trophy, HAHAHA! 
I would’ve blogged about it last month if I had read the e-mail that Snap sent out to everyone on that top 100 list. When I noticed that my blog was getting several referral hits from blog.snap.com, I checked out their site and stumbled upon The SPA 100 article. Eh, is fruityoaty interesting, notable or funky? You tell me. And what were the Snap judges smoking?!
Yes, I am aware that some people find this pop-up feature slow, gimmicky and obtrusive. As a Software Tester slash QA Analyst slash Lunatic, I fully understand the functionality and usability arguments against this feature. Still, I gotta say, I LOVE SNAP for valid reasons. To paraphrase that old song, “It’s my blog parteeh and I’ll Snap if I want to. You would Snap too if it happened to you.” In fact, several bloggers have told me that they’ve installed SPA after visiting my blog. They’re drinking the Snapple Kool-Aid!
Many articles on the pros and cons of using SPA on your site are floating on the Net. If you’re interested, read The SPA Use Case which reiterates Snap’s intentions and design objectives in developing SPA, acknowledges and responds to the key points in the recent criticism and outlines recent usability enhancements aimed at solving the issues raised. Zzzzzzzzzzz…
Before installing SPA, I took my blog audience into consideration. Most of my loyal readers are friends and family who are leery of clicking on external sites, specifically on commenters’ sites. PLEASE NOTE that I check all external links with at least 2 anti-spyware tools before I allow those links to appear on my blog. With that said, there’s no excuse for not installing your own anti-spyware / anti-virus tools and using good common sense.
I enjoy plugging the websites of visitors who comment on my entries. Recently, I’ve noticed a huge spike in the number of comments on my blog. I’d like to believe it’s because the quality of my drivel has improved, but it’s more likely due to karma in effect - give and take, what goes around comes around. If my blog stats are to be believed, the number of readers going to commenters’ websites is on the rise. Looking at a harmless thumbnail before the final leap, you presumably feel much safer when you don’t see a porno image popping up… ehrrr, unless of course that’s what you wanted to see! Whatever the results, a visually informed decision is made before the pervert jumps into the abyss.
Let me wrap up this overly long LOVEFEST OF MYSELF by giving back some Google juice to others… a little bit of links love right back at ya:
SAY HELLO to my 3 newly linked online buddies: Bill Mitsuru Shimizu @ Bill Blahs (who also meme tagged me… umm, thanks… I think, LOL), Ann @ Unwritten (who, like me is also highly afflicted with l’esprit d’escalier) and Kaitlin @ Pretty Lunatic (a fellow seahorse). Holler!
Jim Caro, a linked online Pinoy pal who actually began blogging just 9 days before me, recently made it on WordPress.com Top 10 Blogs as well as WordPress.com Top 5 Growing Blogs list. Congratulations, dude! Thanks for plugging my blog on this entry and next, on this entry! 
Shari Cruz, a fantastic Pinay blogger… Thanks for taking the time to visit and comment on my blog! I quite enjoy lurking on your blog.
Dessa, a blogger whom I admire for her art, wrote a nice long comment. A short excerpt: “I really love it! You are so silly but full of interesting information. I always learn something new when visiting your site. The art is fascinating… Being creative is such a beautiful thing. Please continue to share your beautiful work…” (fruity sez: Yes, silly, LOL… but I can strike a very serious pose. Sing with me, Vogue, Vogue, Vogue! In fact, those closest to my heart have told me that I can be a big wet blanket, LOL. The blog world is already filled with serious, meaningful blogs. I’m trying to corner the market on “less filling, absurd, uncompelling and longwinded”.)
Nikki who wrote: “You’re a fantastic writer!… You have a great blog!” (fruity sez: Thanks! I don’t write. I ramble on and on, like NOW.)
Lisa who wrote: “You’re really a great writer. I’ll definitely come back!” (fruity sez: Thanks! OK, I won’t hate you if you don’t come back. Really. Hmm, where did I stash those pins and voodoo doll? 
LMAO.)
Natasha who wrote: “I love reading your blog entries. I really do. *worships your greatness*” (fruity sez: Yes, I am a god. But would ya kill for me? Also, I require frequent sacrificial Krispy Kremes at my altar. No?)
Melissa who wrote: “Wowww. I read some of your past entries and you’re a freaking genius.” (fruity sez: Yes, I did actually skip Grade 3, for real… and won several academic awards in school. It got me absolutely nowhere in life. Oh, to eat such bitter fruity.)
Sarah (formerly of eloquence.risque.nu) who wrote: “You have been tagged by me! Because I love your site… You can be pretty random!” (fruity sez: Seemingly random, yes… 
but never by design. Blog meme tagged, again? OK, yes. LOL.)
And to my friends with non-electric blogs, particularly Pedro who writes his blog on men’s washroom stalls and Evil Twin who claims to have used up her Christmas vacation time to catch up on reading my past entries, wonders why I’m wasting my evil talents on software testing (fruity sez: I dunno either! I’m so Lost in Translation, Scarlett Johansson) and also finds my drivel inspirational (ehrr, oookay)… and lastly, thanks to Rose F. for stopping by. Please note that if you are my friend, I don’t require you to read my drivel, but thanks for your patronage! I prefer cold, hard cash.
Soooo, come on… please feel free to delurk yourself and say hello! I don’t bite… sort of… And remember kids, to quote Justin Timberlake’s latest single, “What Goes Around… Comes Around”. Sing with me! Oh Scarlett Johansson, Justin will dump you too one day or vice-versa. It’s karma, baby. Such a hot video… Shizzle my fizzlin’ chocolate raisins.
BTW, I’ve just proven that Snap CAN BE EXTREMELY ANNOYING when a page (such as this!) is so full of external links… that any mouse movement will accidentally trigger a bloody pop-up window! Snap, Crackle, Pop!
And that’s a long ass wrap. I promise to return with a REAL POST… after Valentine’s Day. Oh yes, I promise to do your 4 ghastly Internet memes (yikes!) including the one Iva assigned to me on December 30, 2006 when I find the time. I’m busy trying to figure out my life, in a snap of 2 fingers.
Yikes, too much hubris. No, wait, you can never have enough self-love!
Kisses and adieu,
drinking fruity Snapple Kool-Aid
P.S. Yes, Jude… I agree. ANNOYING pop-ups and LONG scrolling on my blog = BIG no-no in usability rules. Bite me, my friend.
Hey fruity! Congratulations! The snap feature is indeed unique, in fact it was one of the things that caught my attention when I visited your site.
And thanks for the cameo / special mention of my blog on this entry. Hehehe. Yup, I am taking ownership on being a seahorse, thanks to you! (I even got myself a seahorse charm ’cause you pointed it out!)
Maybe I should send you one too… hehehe. 
Keep it up! May the seahorse force be with you. (Ok, now where did that come from?!)
Oh! Oh! Gotta have one of those whiner acceptance speeches. Thanks so much. I enjoy lurking at your blog too. I actually have you on my bookmarks, and I’ve been meaning to add you on my links, but hehe, blame the lazyass in me. I have more than 10 links waiting to be linked *rolls eyes*. Maybe next month, hehe!
Congratulations on getting into The SPA 100! You deserve it. Yep, your blog is funky - absolutely interesting and engaging entries.
Although I agree with the people who bemoan the obtrusiveness of the plugin, I always think that it’s different strokes for different folks. 
I should do this too: appreciate the people around me. *mushy mushy* LOL. Take care, and Happy Heart’s Day!
My Spidey senses tell me that there’s subtext in the word “SNAP” in this longwinded entry. As in, your brain will SNAP one day?
Congratulations, Massa P! I still refuse to call you “fruity”. Bleah.
BTW, you’re also violating other USABILITY RULES: EXTREMELY LONG SCROLLING! You call yourself a software tester?! Hehehe.
Hi Massa P. Thanks for the mention! I like this post! (Not because of the Blogbastic! plug — it’s fun reading!)
Anyway, it was good that Wordpress adopted SPA, but I had earlier problems with it — it wouldn’t work on my site but Matt said that it was fine. I checked on all computers here (well, a few) in Thailand and it wasn’t really working on my site. When I checked, maybe a few weeks later and when I was in Manila — it finally worked.
Since then, SPA snaps once in a while on my site and it doesn’t do its thing. But I agree, I love SPA!
Thank you, thank you again for acknowledging my blog’s latest achievement.
Congratulations to you, too!! I was actually thinking of submitting my site to SPA, but it has yet to be at par (design among other things) with yours (I’m not envious, am I???) 
Cheers!
Hey, congratulations! You’re def. interesting, notable and funky
Who else would name herself fruityoaty?
Happy Singles Awareness Day
Hey Massa P, congratulations on polluting the Net! I think the Snap judges missed a category. Funky yes, but “strange” also, hehe. You march to the beat of your own drums and you’re damn unapologetic about it. I LOVE THAT. Keep beating those drums!
And Happy Valentine’s Day or Happy Single Digits Day, depending on one’s circumstances.
Personally, I’m one of those that loathe the plugin. It just gets on my nerves.
But, if you like it, that’s fine.
Congrats on being chosen for the Top 100.
Wow, that is quite the accomplishment! Congrats! I saw the plugin on another blog and thought it was quite neat, but it can get obtrusive. It is an interesting concept though!
Woah! Congratulations! You deserve it.
Tnx for linking me up and for the free advertisement of my site.
Happy heart’s day to you and your loved one.
Congratulations on being chosen!
I can see why you and the others find Snap useful, but I always get surprised whenever I hover over a link and the plugin pops out. I’ll probably not use it on my site, but you can have as much fun with it as you like.
Anyway, I’m delurking myself even if I prefer to stay in the shadows. Happy Valentine’s Day!
I have handled patients who were dying… There were already 3 on my last count. One was because of liver cirrhosis, stroke and the latest was due to cancer.
Funky? I’d say more like KINKY. I kid, I kid. Congrats!
Hello! Thanks for the comment, congrats on being chosen!
I agree that Snap is cool, if a bit annoying but oh well! It’s fun seeing a site before you visit.
Oh and of course, a late Happy Valentine’s Day to you too.
I like the whole SNAP thing. I think it’s really smart and why not see the site you’re going to visit before you get there?? Thanx for commenting on my site about Valentine’s Day or should I say “Happy Singles Awareness Day”. What cracked me up was this comment you made “And also, Cupid is just a naked midget archer who maims hearts.” Has anyone ever told you how funny you are? I’m still laughing thinking about it. Oh man…
Congrats on being in the Top 100. That would be pretty exciting! I also use Snap on my site listing. It makes sense to use it on a listing I think. I don’t plan on putting it on my blog though.
Wow, congratulations… You should have a thank you speech, haha… It’s amazing to be one of the top sites eh. I hope one day it will happen to me, but maybe in my dreams LOL. A lot of hard work needs to be done in order to be in the top.
Wow, everyone was talking about Justin’s new single music video. I watched it and yea it’s pretty amazing. Boy, Scarlett Johnson is pretty and Justin for sure looks hot, haha…
Hey! Just delurking myself… Congratulations on making it on that Top 100 list! I’ve been reading your blog for a few months now. I must say, I’m enjoying the quirky ride.
Congrats… top 100 out of 29,000 what a feat!
Hey I think I’ve been misquoted! I think I said, I find your artistic talent inspirational and your drivel hilarious!
I vote for funky.
I looked at that list and found it amazing how I have been to many of those sites there. I installed Snap after reading an article in Y! Magazine. I thought it was interesting and decided to do it. So, congrats on making the list!
Okay how did I miss this entry?!
To the point, congratulations on being picked for Snap’s Top 100. That’s a big honor, doubly so because you didn’t actually enter with the intention of being picked, they chose you.
I think that makes it all the more special.
I’m still debating on whether or not to install Snap Shots on my site yet.