Earlier this month, we reported on Humid Beings, a hyperlocal publishing platform specifically for New Orleanians.  With a play on words from the unique New Orleans weather, Humid Beings recently launched their full fledged website to the community.  The goal of the site is to give users a means to publish their own local content while also republishing some of the best local stories out there.  We'll walk you through a website review of Humid Beings and discuss it's attention to detail, ease of use, and the challenges it faces.

Core Areas

Homepage

The homepage is very visually, giving you the information you want up front and displaying other things like ads, categories, and new users in a non obtrusive way.  The homepage focuses on areas such as local news, featured news, latest videos, featured events, and places.

Humid Beings Homepage

Featured News/Local News

Humid Beings editors pull its featured/local news from local media sites and blogs from around the city.  This provides a constant stream of fresh articles which touch on different subject areas.   Visitors can also wade through these articles by reviewing different categories that range from politics to business.

The Blogs

Putting the power into the hands of the people is where Humid Beings really shines.  The blogs area consists of user generated content from people that either pull in posts from their existing blog or publish posts from their Humid Beings accounts.  Similar to the featured/local news area, visitors can look through numerous categories of user blogs while also seeing other posts, comments, and photos from the author.

HB Blogs

Events

The Events page provides as easy breakdown of events happening around New Orleans with featured and upcoming events; what was just added and whats most popular.  Viewing more details about the event reveals integration with Google Maps, event details, and commenting.

HB Events

Places

A feature that all New Orleanians and tourist will enjoy is Places.  The Places area spotlights New Orleans clubs, restaurants, bars, and hang out spots.  Users are able to get an overview of the location, rate it on a scale of o to 10, see other users comments, and even search by neighborhoods.

HB Places

Features For Users

User Tools

The flagship feature of Humid Beings is giving users the ability to publish their own content in a user friendly way and share it with others in the community.  The user tools that come with your Humid Beings account integrate with other social networking sites, are easy to use, and exhibit a southern community feel.

Adding a post to the Humid Beings site is as simple and clicking the "Add Post" button that comes in your user toolbox.  You'll get options for a title, a body area to type, a stripped down WYSIWYG editor, options for tags, categories, uploading images, and post options.  Another plus about the site is that you don't have to stay within their platform.  If you already have an existing blog, all you have to do is import your RSS feed and your blog post will automatically publish.

HB Add A Post

My Profile

The site also takes other social networking websites and imports them into your profile.  Users are able to include their Flickr photos, twitter stream, and publish info to Facebook.  The profile area allow the usually niceties such as a profile pic, account information, and displaying your comments.  In some areas you'll notice a slight twist, such as being asked for your zipcode or your relationship with New Orleans.

HB Profile Page

Additional Features

There is one thing that makes a website a great website and that's it's attention to detail.  While these are not big features they do add that New Orleans flair that makes the site feel like home:

Temperature/Humidity

HB Temp Button

At the top of the page you notice a temperate/humidity dial.  To some, this might seem frivolously but ask anybody from New Orleans how they feel when the temperature drops to a cool 71 degrees during the fall or how they dredge going outside when the humidity is close to triple digits.

Changing the Design

HB Design Button

A user can change the design of the website to something of their pleasing with artistic inspired backgrounds.

Quick Access

HB Quick Access Buttons

The important tools are placed in static areas throughout the entire site so users can quickly access their profile page, user toolbox, or share an article.

Final Thoughts

Humid Beings represents a new generation of how citizens receive their local news.  With the ability to mix traditional media with local blogs, users now have a way to filter the news that they want.  Local bloggers can also reach more of their market by targeting hyperlocal websites where increased eyes are centered around local content.

But the HB team faces uphill challenges that it must plan for to overcome the "it's just a fad" mantra.  Keeping users engaged, competing with other publishing platforms, and exceeding user expectations are just a few.  But the additional features planned in features releases should make the Humid Beings site a unique gem in New Orleans culture.

Visit The Humid Beings website at: http://nola.humidbeings.com/