What is the Pulse?
The Pulse is a simple dashboard illustrating the range of online activity at BlackBook. Here’s where you can see who’s scoring points, earning badges, and unlocking prizes.
How do I get into the Pulse?
Just register with BlackBook and you’re good to go. All your activity on BlackBook will accrue points — some things more than others — as well as unlocking various badges, achievements, and other hidden bits. We’ll periodically give away swag to the top scorers (sometimes with notice, sometimes as a random surprise).
Why should I get into the Pulse?
It’s easy, non-invasive, entertaining, and goofy. And while you can also earn occasional real-world payoffs, it’s not meant to drive you into a virtual box we can plaster with ads. We don’t really care about badges, and neither do you. But that sort of thing is just the amusement of the day. Eventually, the Pulse will learn from your online habits on BlackBook and will attempt to show you more of what you seem to like. And your activity will in turn start influencing what other like-minded people see. That evolution is still a little ways off, but soon, soon. In fact, very soon the Pulse will even pay attention to what you’re doing on BlackBook’s various mobile apps and other platforms.
Tell me about the badges anyway!
Oh all right! Let's talk about levels first -- these are based on how many total points you've accrued so far in the Pulse. Like any velvet rope line worth waiting for, you begin on the Wait List of which there are three levels:
Wait List 1
Wait List 2
Wait List 3
As you get more points, you'll be promoted up to the Guest List. You can walk right in! Once again, you have three levels to chew through:
Guest List 1
Guest List 2
Guest List 3
And of course, your ultimate goal is to make it all the way to the VIP List, which means you get the best table at the whole club that is the internet:
VIP List
Beyond that, there are all kinds of badges for visting the site, reading pages, commenting, sharing, and other things, both public and secret. You'll just have to unlock those to see what they look like. Special incentives may come and go for certain badges and real-world prizes, depending on contests, time of year, our mood, the weather, cosmic rays, and so on.
The Pulse sounds scary! What about my privacy?
Your privacy will still be 100% protected in accordance with our privacy policy. Any interaction of your data outside of BlackBook will only take place with your informed, opt-in consent.
What else do I need to know?
Nothing! Just register and everything else is automatic. Watch the site and email lists for announcements, offers, and promotions as you see fit. Mainly, just do what you always do on BlackBook, and have fun doing it.
