3D printing marketplace Shapeways has just integrated some new features into their website allowing registered users to follow individual designers and to view a personal feed that allows you to track your favorite sellers and artists.
Shapeways has always tried to foster a strong community among its users, and now they’ve taken it to the next level by adding a new social media twist to their user profiles with Shapeways Social. When you log in to your Shapeways account, you can now follow specific designers who make products that you want to keep an eye on. The newly added feed features a new “My Feed” option that will show you any recent activity taken by the artists and designers that you follow.
Additionally you can view a “Global Feed” that shows you general Shapeways activities including updates on items that were just purchased or new products added to the marketplace. At first glance this felt a little like viewing my own activity log on Facebook, but it only took me a few seconds to see some pretty awesome looking models that I may have missed otherwise. I think I lost about an hour today scrolling through my feeds so it certainly got me to spend more time on Shapeways than I normally do.
The follow option is located under the “Contact” option near the designers name on the items details page. You can also select the follow option under the top banner when viewing the designers store. If the designer starts to bore you, or you selected follow in error, simply select unfollow and they will be removed from your feed.
This is a good move for Shapeways, because the fact is they aren’t the only game in town anymore. With Amazon circling the 3D printing business like a hungry buzzard and new competing 3D printing marketplaces opening up regularly Shapeways needed to find a way to continue to stand out from the rapidly growing pack and keep visitors on the site longer. Adding a social media aspect to an already engaged community is a good way to do that and at the same time add some much needed functionality to the site that really should have been there from the beginning.
