Big news: Posterous has been acquired by Twitter!

The opportunities in front of Twitter are exciting, and we couldn’t be happier about bringing our team’s expertise to a product that reaches hundreds of millions of users around the globe. Plus, the people at Twitter are genuinely nice folks who share our vision for making sharing simpler.

Posterous Spaces will remain up and running without disruption. We’ll give users ample notice if we make any changes to the service. For users who would like to back up their content or move to another service, we’ll share clear instructions for doing so in the coming weeks.

You can find more information answers to other questions you may have here.

Finally, we’d like to offer thanks to all of our users, especially those who have been with Posterous since day one. The last four years have been an amazing journey. Your encouragement, praise and criticism have made us better.  Thanks for that. We look forward to building great things for you over at Twitter.

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The plethora of information and interesting things to find on the Internet can leave some people with the feeling of information overload. Ryan Nance is an individual who welcomes the Internet's avalance of information.

Ryan created 5 Things I Learned Today to curate the top 5 daily things he wanted to remember from his RSS feed of 6,000 sources of inspiration. 

My name is Ryan Nance and I studied creative writing, wrote poetry and read obsessively, but found myself editing travel websites for a living. My obsessive reading translated into an over-the-top research and reading habit. I began collecting all of the RSS feeds I could possibly manage, sift, and breeze through. 

I was amazed and astounded with so much I found every day. It wasn't information overload for me, it was an overabundance of enthusiasm. I'd share 20-30 things a day with friends via facebook, twitter, IM, email. And there was a day when a good friend told me it was all great stuff, just too much. 

5 things seemed like a good number: substantial, brief, room for variety. And it was a challenge for me. After it became a habit to post 5 picks every day, a friend suggested the video format we then began to explore. Since then we've expanded out to cover events and festivals, art happenings, celebrities, poetry, music and even the occasional podcast. 

Of the nearly 3,000 things that we've found, there are really too many amazing ones. But here are 5 that I can't possibly forget are:

1. The underwater sculpture garden 
2. The International Space Station's time-lapse video flying over the aurora 
3. Photos 'styled' to look like Song Dynasty paintings 
4. Faces of past and present stars pastiched 
5. Mini Self-opening origami 

Posterous has been a solid, flexible and easy platform. I began using it because it was light and dead simple. I kept using it because it grew and scaled enough to let me do the things I wanted: embeds, tracking, following, email subscriptions to readers and really sop much more.

Check out these other Posterous Spaces examples: 

Diptic - The official blog of mobile app Diptic

Humbled MBA - Jason Freedman's lessons learned..and relearned

Mark Mann - New York based photographer

Want to be featured? Submit your Posterous Space to our inspiration center!

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This week's Spotlight is on Jane Kim who is the makeup artist behind The Glamourist, a San Francisco based hair and makeup design business. Jane uses her Posterous Space to share her recent work, tutorials, and personal stories. Our favorite post is her play-by-play breakdown of how her fiancé popped the big question. 

I'm a SoCal native residing in SF.  I love food, fashion, puppies and recently became engaged! I live with my fiancè, lazy dog and a nagging cat.

I've technically been a makeup artist since 2000. I didn't fully launch my business until 2010 when I got laid off from a previous employer. What seemed like the end of the world, at the time, turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The business was initially started as a way to supplement my income but suddenly the business took off and I have yet to look back.  

Although being a makeup artist seems like glamorous of painting beautiful faces,  there is a lot that goes on behind the scene to maintain the business.  Marketing is important, building good relationships , providing great customer service and social media has become an integral part of my business. 

Check out these other Posterous Spaces examples: 

Panama Notes - Logging travel photos for the world to see

Curry Up Now - Indian street food trucks using social media to engage with their fans

Anideo Blog - iOS and Android app development

Want to be featured? Submit your Posterous Space to our inspiration center!

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This week's spotlight is on Claire Smyth from Northern Ireland who is a collector of curious things and the curator of The World of Kitsch. 

I started my Posterous blog as a simple way to share photos of the bizarre bits I'd pick up in charity shops (thrift stores) with my circle of friends. It's grown into something much bigger over the past three years, and now has a worldwide readership.

I feature classic vintage design, good, bad and ugly, as well as innovative products and just plain silly items.

You really never know what will pop up next. One day I'll be sharing images of beautiful retro interiors, the next it will be posts of dogs wearing sci-fi costumes. The key theme is that it will always be something a little unusual and definitely interesting amongst your day's web viewing.

I regularly feature kitsch or unusual artists on my Posterous space, but my absolute favorite has to be Dan Lacey 'The Painter of Pancakes'. He paints Internet memes and news stories, always with the subject balancing a pancake on their head. I was thrilled when Dan painted me last year, obviously including a pancake!

I also adore taxidermy, and have a small collection of stuffed birds and piranhas. I often post taxidermy on my blog, a specialty being stuffed beasts dressed in tiny human clothing. Creepy is another facet of The World of Kitsch.

Thanks to the ease of Posterous The World of Kitsch has grown and led to exciting opportunities. I travelled to London in 2010 and picked up a Cosmopolitan Magazine award for blogging, and in 2011 I was interviewed on BBC Radio about my site.

Check out these other Posterous Spaces examples: 

shellsalad - even a non-foodie needs to eat

The Five-0s - Fan blog dedicated to Hawaii Five-0

Art Swap! - Artist & Illustrator of Things Chimerical 

Want to be featured? Submit your Posterous Space to our inspiration center!

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See the full gallery on Posterous

During office hours I am a software engineer who works in New York while at other times I am a random guy in Jersey City who loves to walk along the Hudson river waterfront, shoot pictures and enjoy life. 

I prefer taking photos with 3rd party camera applications since they allow a broad range of features which are not yet available on iphone's shipped camera app. For example, I use Pro HDR for daytime shots since it takes multiple exposure shots allowing the details from a bright background to be captured just fine. I also use Camera+ when I need to shoot multiple shots quickly and slowshutter for night shots since it allows long exposure and slow shutter speed.

For post processing, I try several apps and my favourite includes Camera+, Filterstorm, Photo Fx, PS Express, and ColorEffects. As far as creativity goes, every person has his own taste and every photo is creative in one way or the other. However I would mention the below points:

I - If your eyes like it, its a good composition to shoot.

P - Play with the photo. During post processing try multiple apps on same photo to create different versions and see what works for you.

H - Hesitate from shooting - Never. Remember once the moment is gone and you did not shoot, you may regret later. So go for it!

O - Observe your surrounding as anything and everything around you could be the subject of your next shot. 

N - Numbers. Don't restrict yourself to taking just one shot. Take multiple shots with variance. Keep the decision to pick your best shot to share for later. Believe me, all photographers have some terrible shots in their collection. Its just that other's have not seen it.  

E - Entertain yourself while shooting. If you get bored, don't shoot and take a break since your photos too will reflect the same.

My friend's Spaces: Naveen's Shot with my Phone and Sudhir's AtrixView

Check out these other Posterous Spaces examples: 

earthfaves blog - your favorite places network

making more dots - Exploring the Adjacent Possible (or something...)

img of a... - a happy camera owner

Want to be featured? Submit your Posterous Space to our inspiration center!

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This week's Spotlight is on Andrea Bianco, a freelance illustrator and concept artist. Previously a programmer, Andrea's mix of programming and visual arts has brought him to web design and game development. 

How would you describe your artistic style?

 I'm still in the middle of developing a personal and coherent visual style; I’ve no hurry and I’m not even actually looking for a personal style, I’m sure it will come with time and experience! Right now I prefer to study a lot and keep improving. I especially love to study the Italian masters like Michelangelo, Pontormo, Caravaggio, Parmigianino, Boldini, De Nittis, Fattori, and of course the nature and the people around me.

Your bio says that you are a kick-ass guitarist, who are some of your musical influences?

Ahah, well "kick-ass" was quite ironic, I admit it! I actually started studying guitar 14 years ago and it's one of my biggest passions. I play many kind of genres and I especially enjoy progressive rock, some avant-garde and a bunch of the many directions of jazz. A list of guitarists that are influencing me would take a book or so.

See the full gallery on Posterous

What inspires you?

 I'm a very curious person and I find inspiration in everything around me, especially in the production of the artists I admire. Some of the artists that are especially inspiring me in my growth as a concept artist and as an illustrator are Jean Giraud, Hugo Pratt, Magnus, Craig Mullins, Brom, Rainart and Sparth, but there are literally hundreds of impressive folks out there! I’m also inspired a lot by my favorite directors, like Tarkovskij, Fellini, Maro Bava, etc.

 

Check out these other Posterous Spaces examples: 

Pixel Radio - A photographer's photo journal

actionbar - Android UI design tips 

Monster Munch - Great bites in and out of Hong Kong

Want to be featured? Submit your Posterous Space to our inspiration center!

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An update to our iPhone app is now available in the App Store and features one of your most requested features: tags!

Tag your posts
Tags make it easy for readers of your Space to find posts that interest them. We sync your tags so any tags you've added through the Web are available for easy access on the iPhone app.

Tweet public posts
Easily tweet any public post! (Note: This feature only works using iOS 5)

Bug fixes and performance enhancements
We've squashed several bugs and improved the performance of media uploads. 

In case you missed it from our previous update:

Offline drafts
Compose your post over the course of an hour, a day, or even a week. Just tap "Back" -> "Save to device" while posting. When you're ready, continue your post where you left off.

Follow all 
We've added a 'Follow All' button in friend finder to make it even easier to stay up to date with all your friends on Posterous Spaces.

What are our users saying about our 4 star rated app?

"The latest release is awesome. The app is now super fast even on slow connections and is super stable. And the multiple picture and video upload is simply awesome."

"Fast, easy and versatile tool for sharing your thoughts, posting pictures and videos, and segregating content with as many or as few people as you can think of."

Download the Posterous Spaces app now:

Looking for Posterous Spaces for Android? Visit the Android Market

Do you have a Posterous Space that you update frequently with the iPhone app? Share it in the comments!

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In the spirit of making New Year's Resolutions, this week's Spotlight is on Hannah Keys, author of the blog Stop Being Crap. Hannah shares humorous insights like 'Stop Celeb-Obsessing' and 'Stop Impulse Spending' in an attempt to get her readers to take a hard look in the mirror themselves and ask, "How can I better myself today?" Hannah's blog acts as her own mirror, letting the world take a part in her own journey of self-improvement.

Can you tell us a little about yourself?

I'm a 25 year-old that's slightly obsessed with self-improvement. I also happen to be a New Zealander - we're so laid back we're practically horizontal - so I'm cutting against the grain somewhat. I'm attempting to live my life with some serious accountability while poking fun at myself along the way.

Check out these other Posterous Spaces examples: 

Peter Belanger - A behind the scenes look at a photo studio based in San Francisco, CA.

Brand Zero - Craft, design, and production.

You Kickstarted Me - A photo project profiling successful Kickstarters projects and the people behind them.

Want to be featured? Submit your Posterous Space to our inspiration center!

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To provide a glimpse of Americans’ social media resolutions in 2012, Posterous commissioned a study with Harris Interactive and published the findings at 2012socialmediaresolutions.com

When it comes to social media, we’ve all developed some bad habits.  So, with the help of True Blood star and Posterous geek Janina Gavankar, we ask you, "What's your New Year's social media resolution?"

To warm you up to the idea of sharing, we have several Kindle Fires to give away! 

Choose one way to participate:

1. Tweet what your social media resolution is from 2012socialmediaresolutions.com. Make sure your tweet has the hashtag #SocialMediaResolution. The more you tweet, the more chances you have to win!

2. Submit a short video clip announcing what your social media resolution is to smnyr@posterous.com or by filling out this form.

3. Leave a comment on this blog post with your resolution.

The contest ends January 31st.

Here's a glimpse at what others are sharing: 

my SMNYR is to take more pictures of people & less of food #peoplespotting vs. #foodspotting :) 2012socialmediaresolutions.com #SocialMediaResolution

— Brian Frank (@bfrank) January 4, 2012

Streamline my social media networks & Spend more time with my blogs.2012socialmediaresolutions.com #SocialMediaResolution

— Tina Bright (@mistybright) January 5, 2012

i resolve to clean up my followers and block spammers more often! #socialmediaresolution 2012socialmediaresolutions.com #SocialMediaResolution

— Stephanie(@scg003twitparty) January 5, 2012

Let's get the New Year started the right way!

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Robert-Paul Jansen is a photographer based in the south of the Netherlands. He captures the world around him to share in his aptly titeld photoblog, things I see. Interestingly, all his post-processing of his images is done on his iPhone and sent from the Posterous Spaces iPhone app.

What kind of photography are you interested in?

I love looking at photography in general, but I prefer landscapes and street photography. Photography is a tool to capture the world. You create history.  

That’s what I love about it. I also love looking at old photographs and see what living in those times was like. Not only the subjects and surroundings on the photos are different, also the material and look of the photographs themselves change over time.

What's in your photography toolkit? 

I use two cameras, the Nikon d5100 and the iPhone 4. Mostly I go out with both of them and decide which one to use for a specific shot. Sometimes I use both and make the decision at home, while processing.

I also have a monopod and tripod and us ‘the Glif’ to be able to use my iPhone on it to shoot panoramas, hdr photos or film. 

All my photos are processed on my iPhone. With the new iPhone 4s it’s more and more possible to process my 16MB photos from the d5100 on it. 

Why did you choose Posterous as your platform of choice?

I have tried Posterous and tumblr since I started using the iPhone to take and share photos. I made the decision to stick with Posterous exclusively in the beginning of this year. Why? It just worked. One of the things I like about Posterous is the autopost feature. It just saves me a lot of time.

All my posts (photos) are shared automatically on twitter and facebook. And I’m thinking of adding flickr and Picasa to the autopost as well. The photos on Facebook are put directly on my timeline as if I have uploaded it directly to Facebook while other services put very tiny thumbnail in the timeline . With Posterous autopost you get a nice looking photo. Autosharing on twitter adds the tagging which I love as well. 

What are some of your favorite shots?

Its really hard to pick my favorites. Each and every photo has a story behind it. But to show three:

See the full gallery on Posterous

Check out these other Posterous Spaces examples: 

Gym Hero Blog - Gym Hero is an iPhone app to track and document your workout routines and fitness.

The Oregonian - Photos and thoughts from The Oregonian newspaper in Portland, Oregon.

Perpetual Sandwich! - (a chronicle of sorts)

Submit your Posterous Space to our inspiration center!

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Who would have guessed the impact of 140 characters?  Whether a Tweet contains breaking news, a marriage proposal, or a hilarious insight, Twitter has become part of our daily conversation.

That’s why we’re psyched to announce a new way to easily embed a Tweet to your posts and help you expand the story beyond 140 characters.

Example:

Now on Posterous Spaces: Embeddable Tweets post.ly/4BqnN

— posterous (@posterous) December 8, 2011

Thanks to our friends at Twitter, your Tweets are rendered beautifully with photographs, videos and conversations and all links, @mentions and #hashtags remaining interactive to engage with your audience.

And because we are always looking for ways to simplify your sharing, it takes just seconds to embed a Tweet on your Posterous Space.  Here’s how:

From the Web Editor: Paste the Tweet url into the Web Editor as a pull quote, add your own views and publish.  

From any browser: Select the Tweet or short Twitter conversation you want to embed by clicking on the timestamp and then on the Posterous Spaces bookmarklet button on your browser toolbar. Add your own witty comments, a picture for context and post away.

Email it in: Copy and paste the Tweet url into the body of your email.  Craft your story around it and hit send.  We’ll embed the Tweet automatically in your post.

From our iPhone or Android apps: Copy using the Link to Tweet feature, paste it into the compose window and you are all set.

Having problems finding the URL for your tweet?  Read these instructions.

Need a visual?  Watch a quick screencast below.

Tweet_Embeds_final.mov Watch on Posterous

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You asked and we listened. We've just released another improvement to help you manage your Spaces: a new Posterous Bar. 

The new Posterous Bar is less conspicuous, more functional in helping you get the most common tasks done, and looks great across all themes. 

See the full gallery on Posterous

If you're logged in, depending on your membership to the Space, you can can Post, Manage, Follow, or jump directly to your Reader. Visitors of your Space can now easily follow you.

There's no need to do anything if you're using one of our standard themes as the new Posterous Bar will replace the current one. If you have a customized theme, check out this help article to set up the new Posterous Bar.

Let us know what you think!

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Earlier today, we released the first annual report on the State of Private Sharing. The results illustrate what you've told us all year: You want more control over who sees what you share and an easy way enabling everyone to participate.

And we're just getting started - many of you have noticed the performance improvements that rolled out this week, and we have several other features planned that will make sharing with the people you care about easier than ever before.

In related news, we're thrilled to announce that Brian Frank has joined Posterous as our Chief Product Officer.  Brian's accomplishments in product definition and design across web and mobile services are numerous, and we couldn't be more pleased to have him on board. You can read more from Brian on his own Posterous Space, http://www.brianfrank.com.

Survey Details:

We commissioned a survey of 2,014 U.S. social networking users aged 18 and over in October, 2011. This means that we paid Harris Interactive to field the survey for us.  They have asked us to include this disclaimer below.

Data for this survey were collected by Harris Interactive Service Bureau ("HISB") on behalf of Posterous Inc. HISB was responsible for the data collected and Posterous was responsible for the survey design and data analysis.

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This week's Spotlight is on Gibrian Foltz, an artist sharing his latest pieces of art in his Space titled 'Roam.' 

Check out these other Posterous Spaces examples: 

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We're pleased to announce two new themes available in the theme gallery: the Actor theme and Blackbelt theme.

Actor
Janina Gavankar, an actress on HBO's hit series TrueBlood, designed the Actor Theme letting anyone be a sharing star. 

Janina believes that actors and everyone else should easily be able to professionally represent themselves and their work online. What better way to share than with Posterous Spaces? You can read more about Janina's take on social media in a recent Forbes interview.

For tips on installing and customizing the Actor theme, click here.

Blackbelt Theme
The Blackbelt theme has a very clean design geared towards presenting your content center stage. This theme is ideal for media rich Spaces such as photo blogs and portfolios.

Stay tuned to our How Do I... Space for more quick tips, tricks, and tutorials on customizing and making the most out of your Space.

Using either of these two themes for your public Space already? Share the link in the comments!

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Since the introduction of Spaces, users questioned whether or not we would continue supporting bloggers and blogging in general. Rest assured that your Space can still be used as a blog and we intend to stay true to being the the easiest way to share publicly or privately!

Just in time for the Blogworld Expo in Los Angeles we are happy to announce two new tools that will help our strong community of bloggers: Zemanta and Blogsy.

Blog Smarter with Zemanta, your personal blogging assistant. 
Zemanta is a tool that helps you enrich your posts with relevant photos, information, and links in real time. Simply start typing and Zemanta will assist you with content recommendations right from within the Posterous post editor.

See the full gallery on Posterous

To install Zemanta: 

1. Go to zemanta.com/download.
2. Download the browser extension for the browser of your choice.
3. Click on the extension while in the post editor to see content recommendations!

You can learn more about Zemanta here.

iPad blogging app Blogsy now supports Posterous Spaces.
Features include a WYSIWYG editor with drag and drop images from Flickr, Picasa, Google Image Search, and the built-in web browser. You can find it in the Apple App Store.

See the full gallery on Posterous

If you want to learn more about how to use Blogsy you can check out their demo videos.

We have 10 Blogsy promo codes to give out - simply retweet this post for a chance to win! We will notify the winners on Friday, November 11.

Visit us at Blogworld Expo Los Angeles 2011!
Attending the Blogworld Expo in LA this coming November 3-5? Come say hello at our booth and grab a free Posterous t-shirt and tote bag!

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This week's Posterous Spotlight focuses on Paul Shipper who is a freelance designer, photographer, and illustrator based in New Zealand. He runs PS STUDIO DPI and has worked professionally for clients large and small across the globe. His specialties include photography, creating illustrations for film posters, book covers, and brand designs for companies.

Paul manages multiple Spaces to share the right content with the right people. His clients visit his work blog, family and friends visit his personal blog, and only a select few can view his private wedding Space.

How did you first get started with Posterous?
I found Posterous some years ago when I think It was just getting going. I kept seeing it in different places online as people we using it and some companies I liked were using it and I wanted to know more. It seemed like it was the solution I had been searching for... I sent my first email to post@posterous.com and the rest, as they say, is history. 

To you, what makes Posterous Spaces stand out from other publishing platforms?
There are so many options out there when it comes to starting a blog and I have tried a lot of them. I was using Blogger for some time before Posterous and let me tell you, that was a frustrating time trying to keep that thing updated!

Posterous for me was like a breath of fresh air, the company was really thinking outside the box, and it excited me... To publish from a single email was one thing, but then to be able to push that info to other services was simply mind blowing! I am very proud of how my Spaces look.

See the full gallery on Posterous

You own multiple Spaces - do you find it easy to manage and share to each one?
Absolutely! With a quick email, a post online, using the Posterous Bookmarklet or with the incredibly awesome iPhone app now it's a cinch! I have my personal space which I upload a lot of family pics to as well as things that are of interest that I want to keep apart from my work space, most of that gets done from my iPhone using pics I have taken using the built in camera. Like wise if I want to share a document, a pdf, video or mp3 file it just works!

See the full gallery on Posterous

Was it important to keep your wedding Space private?
Keeping the wedding space private was a personal choice that my partner and I made to try and make the experience of an invitation even more special for the guests we are inviting. It's a truly great thing to be able to share such an important and exciting occasion with the friends and family you love so much.

We are both from the UK and so a lot of our guests probably won't be able to make it to our big day and this was a way to get them involved 18 months prior to the wedding. They can see what we are up to, subscribe to updates, check out the venue, register their up to date contact details to our database, post a comment and engage with us in the hope of making them feel part of the preparations for our most special of days. 

Do you see yourself creating any more Spaces in the future? Private or public?
Yes! It's so easy to make lots of other spaces, and I intend to. I already have a little known space called 'pianomuse' in which I post music I have composed. It's very much just a hobby of mine. When I'm not creating visually, taking a break from the drawing board, I like to sit at the piano or my Korg keyboard and make music.

Aside from creating beautiful illustrations and designing, what are some other things you enjoy doing?
Seeing the World, going for walks/hiking, watching movies, listening to music, going to concerts, playing the drums, singing, reading art, design and photography books, hanging out with the woman I love and of course, my little girl...

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Bringing out of the box support to millions of new users around the globe, Posterous Spaces now fully supports IE8 and IE9.  Internet Explorer users can now access the full Posterous Spaces experience including a new inline reading experience, 5 new themes, slick new profile pages and new iPhone and Android apps to play with.  

All this plus the autoposting goodness and ease of use you've come to expect from us.  Whether you want to create a public blog, a private place to share family vacation photos or start a group for your classmates to stay in touch, you can create a Posterous Space for it. 

Adding members to your Space is a snap, and your members can participate through your Space's web site, their mobile device or via email.

Log in and see for yourself.  Not convinced?  Check out ComputerWorld's review of Posterous Spaces.

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Andrew Writler is a curator of beautiful imagery and hails from Ukraine. He has strong interests in poetry and cinema, and is constantly inspired by Daniel Kehlmann, Bernhard Schlink, Lars von Trier, Jim Morrison and others.

Submit your Posterous Space to our inspiration center!

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This week we rolled out some improvements to make it even easier to manage your Spaces. We've been listening to your feedback and have been working hard implementing several enhancements. 

Post and comment moderation

You will now be notified of new comments and posts that need moderation to the left of your dashboard. You will be able to approve posts and comments individually or approve/delete all at once. 

See the full gallery on Posterous

Post list view

The post list view has also been revamped to make it easier to manage your posts. The default view is now more condensed, giving you a better overview of all your Space's posts. We also allow you to toggle between the List View and an Exanded View. We also included a Settings panel giving you quicker access to your Space's settings.

See the full gallery on Posterous

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