The best way to incorporate a Strutta contest as part of your site is to create a domain C-name.

In this example, we're going to create the Cname "contest" at www.exampledomain.com. When the settings are correct, our fictional contest should reside at http://contest.exampledomain.com. Every domain registrar has specific directions as to how to accomplish this domain change, and Google provides a list of instructions for many of them at the bottom of this page.

For the sake of this example, we'll use the specific instructions for GoDaddy, a popular domain registrar. Keep in mind for that for this to work, your DNS settings need to be pointing to your domain regsistrar itself (like it is by default when you buy it), or your domain needs to have an A-record or be CNAME'd already at the top level. Still with us? Great.

1. Log in to your account at www.godaddy.com.
2. Open the Domains tab and select My Domain Names. You'll be directed to the Domain Manager page.
3. Click the domain that you'd like to use with Strutta.
4. Click the Total DNS Control And MX Records in the box entitled Total DNS Control.
   Note: Adding entries to the Manage Subdomains section does not create a CNAME record.
5. Click Add New CNAME Record. If you've already created a CNAME record for the address, click the marker icon under the Actions column next to the existing CNAME record.
6. In the box that reads "Enter an Alias name," enter: contest.
7. In the "Points to Host Name" box, enter: hosted.strutta.com. Keep the TTL setting as the default.
8. Click OK. In the Review and status box, you can see the results of your updates.

The changes won't take effect immediately, but will before too long. If your settings in your Strutta account are set correcty, then once the change has taken effect, our example contest would be live at http://contest.exampledomain.com.

We understand that the preceeding directions can be incredibly confusing, especially if it's the first time you've ever made changes to your domain's DNS settings. It can be downright daunting. If you need a hand, hit us up at the feedback link on the top left, or using the contact info at the bottom of this page.

A case study of online competitive video dynamics

In the few years YouTube has been around, it has grown into a powerful new medium which has affected fame, politics, marketing and activism. Yet in spite of its powerful cultural impact, there seems to be very little information that talks about how exactly YouTube works and how it has the effect it does.

This is not a big surprise: like other web giants, YouTube is a closed, monolithic web service. To help its users sift through the massive video database, sophisticated algorithms produce real time charts, generate content suggestions and map video relations. And just like Google PageRank, the algorithms behind all this have become a valuable trade secret.

This raises a bunch of questions. Is there such a thing as a 'PageRank' on YouTube? Just how does a video get popular? Does everyone have an equal chance at fame?

These questions become even more important when you consider the phenomenon of online contests powered by user-generated media. And of course, that's something that we're very interested in here at Strutta...

The soon-to-launch "new version" release of Strutta puts all the power of our technology into your hands.

Whether you are a competitive video creator looking to host your own contest, a marketer wanting to create a UGC (user generated content) contest for a client, or a brand manager that wants a fully customizable contest platform API, the new Strutta will have something for you.

Just yesterday our development team turned a corner that represents a very significant milestone. They sat back in their chairs and started evaluating the mostly-finished product, making the finishing touches before we give you a first glimpse in just a few days time. The good news is that this will free up our beloved team to start telling you the story of how this is all coming together. Over the next two weeks I'll be coaxing them out into the sunlight, and each will share a few notes about our process or our product from their perspective. 

In addition, the "look and feel" of this blog will seemingly change overnight sometime in the very near future, to better match the elements we've already released (see inset photos). When that happens, expect nothing less than total "Strutta team" access via our blog. Our Sr. User Interface Designer Ross Howard-Jones has built a new theme for Drupal that will give you access to such basic blog features as: Search! Archives! Photos! And if I can help it, regular contributions from team members not named Jordan.

Thanks again for your pateince while we prepare to launch. Remember that we're always listening, so if you have any questions or feedback, you can leave them here as comments or hit us up on our contact form.