Jazz Up Your Posts With Zemanta
Ever wish you had a blogging assistant who helped you write posts that are full of great links, photos, and tags? Wish no more: We’ve partnered with the folks at Zemanta to give you a hand at quickly jazzing up your posts.
Once you’ve activated Zemanta, you’ll see several new widgets on your edit screen that let you quickly add recommended links, photos, tags, and articles. With just a few clicks your post goes from simple to snazzy.
Here’s a quick video overview:
How to Activate Zemanta
To add Zemanta, go to Users > Personal Settings in your Dashboard. You’ll see a new option near the end of the page that lets you add Zemanta to your posts. Click “Help me find related content (images, links, related articles, and tags) to use in my posts.” Hit “Save Changes” at the bottom of the page. You can turn it off at any time.
How It Works
Here’s how Zemanta looks in your edit window. (In this example, I’ve opened and dragged the Zemanta “Recommendations” widget up next to my text box.) It’s giving me a set of recommended photos, articles, and one link to add to my post.
I then clicked a photo I liked, as well as an article and the recommended link. Zemanta automatically adds them into my post as I click on them.
Here’s how my post looks after it has been spiffed up by Zemanta:
A Few More Details
If you don’t like the results Zemanta is giving you, you can hit “refine” to see a new set of recommendations. And if you’ve changed the topic of your blog post, hitting “update” will give you new choices. You can use as many of the Zemanta recommendations as you like, or you can ignore all of them — totally up to you!
Currently, Zemanta works on English-language blogs and can only be used in the visual editor mode. It’s not available on private blogs. Photos recommended by Zemanta are copyright-cleared, but we urge you to check out the photo’s license if you have any doubts (you can do that by hovering over the photo).
Please see this page for more helpful details on how Zemanta works, as well as our Support document on Zemanta.
Enjoy!
August 18th, 2010 at 10:43 am
sounds cool. any plans for other languages maybe german ?
August 18th, 2010 at 10:45 am
Fantastic!
August 18th, 2010 at 11:21 am
I would have preferred to be able to add some related content according to my content on my blog… I’m quite disappointed. But this could be cool for cross-sharing content with other blogs
I’m still waiting for adding related content on wp.com …
August 18th, 2010 at 11:38 am
Very Interesting!
August 18th, 2010 at 11:48 am
This is a fantastic feature to enhance your posts. Already started using it and it’s quick & easy to use.
August 18th, 2010 at 11:50 am
Thx a lot! I am pretty new in blogging and recently discovered how much more attractive posts with some photos are! xD
Gonna try it right now!
August 18th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
I love the images Zemanta found for my post – but is there any way to use one of them as my featured image in Inuit? Thanks
August 18th, 2010 at 9:08 pm
Not sure, it probably depends on the image, and whether you can download it from the source.
August 18th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
As a new blogger, this looks pretty cool -
Will give it a shot and see how it goes
August 18th, 2010 at 1:54 pm
good idea
August 18th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
I have been Zemanta via bookmarklet for a while. I love it! Thank you for adding it.
August 18th, 2010 at 4:45 pm
Will using this feature prevent a post from being selected for “Freshly Pressed”? As I recall, you seek original content for those selections, including photos. The “assistant-enhanced” posts would certainly be less original than a post where all content was created by the blogger.
August 18th, 2010 at 9:06 pm
This has no effect on Freshly Pressed selections.
August 18th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
what about for wordpress.org ?
August 18th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Just WordPress.com
August 18th, 2010 at 7:11 pm
Thats a wicked app. I really like it. I hope i get more clicks on my blog
August 18th, 2010 at 7:53 pm
Are the recommended photos filtered by Creative Commons license?
August 18th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
Hi please see this link: http://www.zemanta.com/faq/wpcom/#faqid-4
August 18th, 2010 at 8:06 pm
I love it!!!
August 18th, 2010 at 8:13 pm
Am i dreaming? please wake me up, i love this!
August 18th, 2010 at 8:24 pm
Shure i am ready for jazz but please don’t be afraid for some soul
August 18th, 2010 at 9:02 pm
This is excellent, thank you!
August 18th, 2010 at 9:12 pm
Vote for : hope for zemanta in all languages .
.
August 18th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Thank you for the information!
August 18th, 2010 at 10:38 pm
Excellent work, WP Crew… I’ve been using the Zemanta Firefox plugin for some time now, so i’m happy to see it integrated fully into the WP.com core.
xoxo.
August 18th, 2010 at 10:45 pm
This is FABULOUS on so many levels! It will not only enhance posts, it has the potential to cut my blogging time by 50% or more! Whoo Hoo WP!
August 18th, 2010 at 10:49 pm
This is a super cool idea but I am interested in how it will play out in my daily posting…. We shall see!
August 18th, 2010 at 11:28 pm
Thanks Joy! I’ll go take a look.
August 18th, 2010 at 11:51 pm
This is freakin’ awesome!
August 19th, 2010 at 1:29 am
i’m going to use this
August 19th, 2010 at 2:24 am
Amazing idea! let’s try it.
August 19th, 2010 at 2:40 am
another ‘tool’ that removes creativity from blogging. seems like it could be easily exploited to drive traffic to certain websites, as well.
August 19th, 2010 at 2:44 am
Hi, I’ve tried your zemanta adds-on tip. It works well. Thx a lot.
August 19th, 2010 at 2:50 am
This has been one helluva addition. Very imaginative and very useful. We are connected better to the WWW than ever before. Thanks a lot!!!
August 19th, 2010 at 3:02 am
This is the best thing in a long list of good good things. Not only does it make my posts better, but it makes them better in less time. Thanks so much. ~Peregrine
August 19th, 2010 at 3:05 am
Thanks, WordPress!
August 19th, 2010 at 3:31 am
It’s important to me that the images are copyright-cleared. I’m glad this is part of the terms!
August 19th, 2010 at 4:15 am
What a great idea! I will definitely check it out. Thanks for the tip!
August 19th, 2010 at 4:47 am
That’s interesting, it looks like it could really help with cross-referencing.
August 19th, 2010 at 4:51 am
another reason to stay here
thanks a lot….
August 19th, 2010 at 5:10 am
Those all seem like pretty awesome widgets. I am thrilled to see wordpress staff is constantly developing and improving this site. I love wordpress.
August 19th, 2010 at 7:00 am
Looks like a very interesting feature as a blog post assistant. I will try it out. How does one format the layout of the items that are inserted by Zemanta? I normally use the HTML editor much more frequently than the visual editor.
August 19th, 2010 at 6:39 pm
After you’ve added what you wanted, you could tweak the HTML for a layout you prefer.
August 19th, 2010 at 7:30 am
Hm. Neat idea for many bloggers, clearly . . . since I’m primarily blogging about a single photo in each post, Zemanta doesn’t sound useful for me. But thank you for constantly adding new features and options!
August 19th, 2010 at 11:55 am
Seems like an excellent tool – owt for nowt as they say in these parts.
August 19th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
Just what I need
August 19th, 2010 at 12:45 pm
This is a great new feature! I’ve been using since it was released, and I’ve also used it to update previously published posts. Love it! Now it’s SUPER easy to tag (no more need to make your brain hurt), link (no need to search the web and find a suitable website), and find pictures (in case you don’t have your own picture and you don’t want to waste time searching), instead of doing all the work yourself–LOL. Thanks a lot, WordPress!
August 19th, 2010 at 12:52 pm
Great addition to the WordPress community!
August 19th, 2010 at 12:57 pm
Wow! Just tried this feature and I love it! Another successful addition to improving your wordpress posts!
August 19th, 2010 at 1:22 pm
I’ve activated this feature as instructed but it does not show up as a widget on my dashboard. What am I doing wrong?
August 19th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
It only shows up when you are creating a new post. Create a new post, and then scroll down to look for “recommendations.”
August 19th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
WOW…This one really works.
Thanks for the help.
August 19th, 2010 at 3:03 pm
My “Users” section doesn’t have a “Personal Settings” option.
August 19th, 2010 at 6:34 pm
Yep, it does. Go to your left-hand dashboard, and scroll down to “Users.” Click the arrow button on the right to open the menu. It will appear.
August 19th, 2010 at 3:07 pm
Now it’s there! Thank you, WordPress.
August 19th, 2010 at 4:41 pm
Love it – I’d like to try, once I’ve built my site !!!
August 19th, 2010 at 7:29 pm
Why cant we chose more than one pic?
August 20th, 2010 at 3:51 pm
You can! Please see this document:
http://www.zemanta.com/faq/wpcom/#faqid-5
August 19th, 2010 at 10:33 pm
it would help if you showed an example of how it looked when it was set. instead of having me do it myself and perhaps wasting time.
August 20th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
I’m not sure I understand your question?
August 19th, 2010 at 11:56 pm
So how do you say thanks, great idea, any differently from everyone else? I guess I can’t, so, thanks, great idea.
August 20th, 2010 at 3:08 am
hahahahaha… You write that shi-tzus are small and friendly and the link that pops up reads “teaching your shi-tzu not to bite”!
August 20th, 2010 at 7:26 am
awesome features….hoping for even more and better innovations. continue the good work guys
August 20th, 2010 at 8:47 am
Good news – it works in Russian too! Very inspiring feature. Thank you!
August 20th, 2010 at 11:20 am
I wanna try this .. Always a pleasure to try something new and exciting .
August 20th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Cool feature. Tried it out already.
August 20th, 2010 at 7:44 pm
Tried it and I love it, this tool’s awesome!
August 20th, 2010 at 9:24 pm
This is just awesome! Looks like a great time saver! Thanks WP!!!
August 20th, 2010 at 9:45 pm
I love it! I love it! However, it would be nice if the links were to open in a new window, instead of opening the Wikipedia, etc. websites. That way the reader doesn’t leave the blog, and doesn’t have to go throught the back arrows to get back to my blog. Can this be done?
But, otherwise, well done, WordPress.
August 21st, 2010 at 12:31 am
Though I upload my own images, I might as well try this one. Many thankies WordPress!!! ^____^
August 21st, 2010 at 5:30 am
Looks good! I’ll give it a whirl on my next blog post!
August 21st, 2010 at 10:46 am
Useful, but I agree with ikiru2009 that if a lot of people are blogging on the same subject then there’s a good likelihood that many of them will select the same pics and links.
Have just had a play around with it and there is one thing I’m not so keen on. What happens when you don’t want the Zemanta picture to be the main feature picture in the post, but just use it as, perhaps, another example ?
The Zemanta div is automatically placed at the top of the post. Moving it further down by using the HTML editor is okay, until you want to change your mind about which picture you selected (after all, we’re still in draft mode here). If you click on a different picture the Zemanta div is repositioned at the top of the post again. Ugh !
Why can’t it just replace it in situ within the post ?
For multiple images positioned around the post, ripping the div off of it and then cutting and pasting it to the desired location replaces the div and adds a dragged class too. Not sure if that is good or bad.
Generally speaking, messing around with multiple Zemanta images is going to be a bit messy and will need the HTML to be manually adjusted afterwards.
Still a useful feature though. Thanks.
August 21st, 2010 at 1:08 pm
This is an amazing assistant. But it is inserting recommended links in
tags. I do think that it should not insert links in tags.
The rest of the functionality of being a blog assistant is really cool.
August 21st, 2010 at 9:01 pm
Ghee, very cool. Will check it out and thanks for pointing it out.
August 21st, 2010 at 10:01 pm
Interesting feature, thanks I’ll try it…
August 21st, 2010 at 10:05 pm
wow. love this SO much.
August 22nd, 2010 at 12:42 am
I hate ( read: sooo love ) you wordpress!!
This is awesome
I fall in love again and again with you
August 22nd, 2010 at 4:18 am
Sounded very interesting initially, but the results (at least for what I write about) were so far off the mark as to be pointless.
I really don’t need photos of knitting machines when writing about woodworking.
At least turning it off again was nothing more than unchecking a box.
Pity – it did sound promising.
August 22nd, 2010 at 4:38 am
Hmmm. Interesting.
Let’s give it a whirl.
August 22nd, 2010 at 5:52 am
This is very cool. I’ll always remember the day I chose WordPress over Blogspot. WP is the best!
August 22nd, 2010 at 7:10 am
Nice. I think this is a nice option. Will it be modified to allow those of use who prefer not to use the visual editor?
Regards,
WonderGoon
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:15 pm
I’m not sure. For now, only the visual editor.
August 22nd, 2010 at 8:27 am
Its so Sharp! Love this Feature!!
August 22nd, 2010 at 2:15 pm
Wow! That’s Great!
There is something similar for WordPress.org blogs?
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:13 pm
Here is some info: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/zemanta/
August 22nd, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Such a good add on for us at Border Crashers, we do travel stories and insert a lot of pictures so it makes it so much easier. thanks!
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:01 am
groovy. can’t wait to try it!
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:18 am
This has been a very cool feature for me to have. It has allowed me to seamlessly add professional content that would often take much more time to add to my posts before. I have already noticed an uptick in my readership, and I honestly think this contributes to that…keep the innovation coming guys!!
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:27 am
very cool, don’t need to search manually
good job
August 23rd, 2010 at 5:02 am
Excellent tool. Will be using it on our Promotional Products blog.
August 23rd, 2010 at 6:50 am
very nice..thanks to wordpress
August 23rd, 2010 at 10:25 am
Hello,
That’s great. I am rightaway going to get this thing up on my blog.
Thank you for letting us know.
August 23rd, 2010 at 2:06 pm
loving this
August 23rd, 2010 at 3:59 pm
wow, you guys are so creative! thanks for all your hard work. I bet this will make things more cheerful. I’m looking forward for your next ‘invention’! XD
August 23rd, 2010 at 5:37 pm
I just tried it and I love it! I don’t always have pictures to go along with the shells I write about, but I’m thinking that now I will.
Thank you!
August 24th, 2010 at 12:52 am
Sounds really helpful. I’ll try it out ASAP!
August 24th, 2010 at 4:31 am
Shih tzus are okay.
August 24th, 2010 at 6:21 am
Oh yes, the byrd thinks she may just *like* …..he he he…..this and finds it very good that it can be used OR not…. very good! THANK YOU! I am so glad I came to wordpress…. really guys thank you!
August 24th, 2010 at 6:27 am
Looking forward to using this feature to connect up to other like-minded crafting blog articles! This should save me oodles of time in finding and organizing relevant content.
August 24th, 2010 at 3:05 pm
I’m going to have to give this a shot. I have a great post this week I think will work well with it!
August 24th, 2010 at 3:23 pm
Looks good! May give it a go! Thanks WordPress for yet another creative tool hope it’s as easy to load use and unload (if needed) as you say.
August 25th, 2010 at 6:07 am
NEATO! THANKS
August 25th, 2010 at 1:03 pm
This sounds like it could be really useful and time saving, as long as it brings up helptul items of interest that are related to the article that you are writing. I will definitely be trying this out.
August 25th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
This is unbelievably cool! I am going to save soooo much time!