Most websites have a link that says “about”. It goes to a page that tells you something about the background of this person or business. For short, people just call it an “about page”.
Most websites have a link that says “contact”. It goes to a page that tells you how to contact this person or business. For short, people just call it a “contact page”.
So a website with a link that says “now” goes to a page that tells you what this person is focused on at this point in their life. For short, we call it a “now page”.
It’s useful for the same reason an “about” page is useful on your site: because people on your site want to know more about you.
Besides answering the common question, “What are you up to these days?”, those who have a now page say it’s a good reminder of their priorities. By publicly showing what you are focused on now, it helps you say no to other requests.
via Now Now Now
In late 2015, Derek Sivers created a /now page for his website. He’d often get emails from people asking about what current projects he was working on. He’d respond, with information about where he was at and what he was focused. He created a page for those interested in what he was doing now. You can see it here.
It’s an idea that really took off. It became so popular that Derek started curating the /now pages from his community and nownownow.com. Immediately, I thought it had useful applications within the science community.
How Is This Different From An About Page?
An about page has to do a lot of work. It has to establish credibility, provide an overview of your expertise and explain how the blog can help a particular person. Sometimes people include their publications on these pages, sometimes on a separate page.
Every large project, whether it is a research or personal, can be broken into smaller parts. This page can talk about those specific parts you are working on now.
What To Include On A /Now Page?
- Is there a common focus with your social media and blog content at the moment?
- Do you have any side projects you are working on?
- Is there anything you are trying to learn about regarding science communications? Simply posting about it on your /now page may lead to others making useful recommendations.
- Are there any campaigns you are putting a lot of attention towards?
- Has an article or book you’ve authored come out recently?
- Has your research been focusing on a particular topic?
- Are you trying to grow a hashtags popularity?
Many of these are focused on social media. These reflect my biases and lack of experience in science or ecology.
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This is a concept that is still being explored. Many marketers and bloggers are using it, but there are no case studies or information about how to create one. There also aren’t any resources discussing their effectiveness.
I immediately thought this would be useful because many of the science blogs I read are by people with a PhD and a lengthy career. It can be overwhelming reading about their work history. A /Now page could make it easier for me to connect to, and learn from them.
So many science bloggers are focused on their work, and blog usability can be overlooked. This is one of the quickest ways to remedy this.