Release 88 sneak peek, Mashable Awards nomination, Holiday promotions, ONTD Games: news

December 14th, 2011 - Happy December Holidays and welcome to the official LiveJournal newsletter! Bringing you system updates, community events, and other newsworthy nuggets from the world of LiveJournal. Here's a look at what's news on and around LJ:

Release 88 sneak peek

Our final site update of the year, Release 88, is scheduled to go live around Tuesday, the 20th of December. We'll send out another announcement when the release goes live. In the meantime, barring any last minute changes, here's a sneak peek at a few features coming to LiveJournal with Release 88:

Comment pages have been redesigned! More information about specific changes will be announced in the next few days.
The LiveJournal homepage has been updated to include the LiveJournal Today feature, where you can find some of the recent entries on the site highlighted by our Editorial team.
The Update page and Edit entry pages have been changed. Most notably, the font in the HTML editor has changed, how lj-cuts appear in the Rich Text Editor (RTE) has been updated, and a few buttons/menu items are in different locations than they previously were.

More information about Release 88 will be available at

lj_releases when the release goes live.

LiveJournal nominated at 5th annual Mashable awards!

Congratulations LiveJournal on being named a finalist in the 2011 Mashable Awards: Best Social Network.

For more than 10 years, LJ has changed the way people communicate with each other. Our global reach spans across millions of users, journals and communities. We have been with you when you were bullied (

bullying_begone), when you were obsessed with fanfiction, when you discovered the mind-numbing power of celebrity gossip (

ohnotheydidnt) and when you just wanted to share what was on your mind with the rest of the world.

Thanks to our users, LJ has been able to define the core concepts of Social Media: communication, creation and content across all online channels.
Vote for us here!

(Voting ends Dec.16, 2011)

Win an iPad 2!

Spirits of the season

Tis' the season, as it is often said, to embrace our companions and reflect as another year comes to pass. To that end, we here at LiveJournal U.S. invite you to join us in our celebration of December holidays at LJ's very first B.Y.O.B. (Bring Your Own Beliefs) Gift-Away! Bring out your favorite spirit of the season as we openly embrace the customs (or lack thereof) of the final month of the year.

To get your chestnuts roasting, we're throwing special giveaways on both LJ and Facebook for U.S. residents. Check out LJ_Contests for all the details. Our apologies to non-US residents, we'll get you in the mix during our next promotion. Stay tuned!

The Great ONTD Games community owner search

Mega Stan!

ontdgames is starting from scratch and we're in the market for a gaming fanatic residing in the U.S. who can take over as owner and inspire some of that delicious ONTD fierceness! If you've got that ONTD sparkle gleaming in your eye and you love games then you might just be the community owner LJ is looking for!

If you win:

You take the reins of ontdgames and its supporting media channels (twitter, YouTube, etc.)
Choose a current-generation video game console of your choice, handheld or home system, to call your own.
One free video game a month for one year.
A brand new community theme style drafted by our design team with your guidance.

You’ll also have access to the LiveJournal editorial team for PR, marketing, social media support and other goodies.

When: Monday, December 12, 2011 until we find the right person.

Check out LJ_Contests for the particulars.

Spreading the holiday cheer, vGift style!

Close out the year by sharing something wintery and sweet with your friends on LJ. If you have a Paid or Permanent account, you can send six Snowman Cookies now until Monday, December 19th, at midnight, PDT! You'll see both the free and the $0.99 vGifts displayed until you've sent them to your friends. If you're not receiving vGifts then you may have disabled them. To enable vGifts, visit Edit profile (under Profile), scroll down to the bottom of the page, and check your settings. Make sure the box beside 'Disable sponsored only' is NOT checked! Enjoy!

For news about LJ_Scribe and LJ_Photophile and recent contest winners, we'll see you under the cut!

Photo of the week

Congrats to

julz_t, winner of our 93rd

lj_photophile contest!

FYI: We pick entries for the poll based on a combination of comments, +1 ratings, and staff input. The winner receives 500 LJ tokens. We thank you for sharing your talent with the global LiveJournal community.

Welcome back, dear scribes!

Congratulations to

gringo_in_tj,

trappified, and

twhitesakura, who won prompt #42 of our

lj_scribe writing contest! We've selected 4 finalists in response to our 43rd prompt theme for your review.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Holidays!

Release 88 sneak peek, Mashable Awards nomination, Holiday promotions, ONTD Games