Snap Shots Engage is a cutting edge technology designed for major publishers that smaller sites and blogs can also use.
With Snap Shots, shots are added to hyperlinks, typically those pointing at other websites. With Snap Shots Engage, on the other hand, shots are added to unambiguous phrases without requiring a hyperlink.
So, for example, a writer could write:
"Barack Obama and John McCain are presidential candidates."
Note that "Barack Obama" and "John McCain" are unambiguous, so Snap Shots Engage recognizes them, marks them with a dashed underline because it's not actually a hyperlink, and then adds the best, most appropriate Snap Shots.
On the other hand, consider the phrase:
"An Apple a day keeps the iPod away."
"Apple" is ambiguous — it could be the fruit, writer Max Apple, Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter Apple, singer Fiona Apple, or even the computer company. Deciding which shot to attach to "Apple" is best left for humans at this time. iPod, however, is very clear and so it receives a shot.
Snap Shots Engage is an exciting development that could significantly change the way people write for the Internet by both recognizing the meaning of what they say and then enriching it with related content.
Customizing Snap Shots Engage
Because Snap Shots Engage makes changes to the text of a page, a number of site-level customizations are possible and, in fact, encouraged.
Sites are able to change:
- The maximum number of engaged terms per page.
- The color and link treatment of Engaged phrases.
Detailed instructions on how to customize the look and feel of Snap Shots Engage are available in the Snap Shots FAQ.