New release extends market leadership with game-changing
innovation; Invites expert developers with Open API’s
and everyone else with point and click customization
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- KickApps, the leading on demand
social media platform, today announced version 3.0 of its SaaS
application suite. KickApps Version 3.0 makes it easier than ever for
web publishers and developers of all levels and experience to deploy
Social Networking, User Generated Content (UGC), Programmable Video
Players and Widgets. In addition, the new release dramatically extends a
web publisher’s ability to manage media,
members and reporting—all essential elements
to growing a successful online community.
The introduction of the KickApps
API Developer Kit provides access to the entire KickApps platform
for deeper levels of integration and customization. With 3.0, web
publishers now have complete control of their KickApps deployment. The
Developer Kit offers robust and secure API’s
that enable custom workflow and tight integration with a publisher’s
existing content and third-party applications.
On the other end of the spectrum, KickApps 3.0 opens community creation
to a wide range of non-technical web publishers. A powerful new WYSIWYG
site creation and deployment interface allows web publishers with
minimal technical knowledge the ability to build and customize social
media websites and widgets with just a few clicks. These point-and-click
features also help experienced web developers achieve rapid prototyping
and fast deployment.
In addition, KickApps 3.0 includes an array of community experiences
that focus on driving member engagement and viral growth: community news
feeds, social graphs, one-click media syndication, media-enabled message
boards and customized group features.
One of the most powerful enhancements is the KickApps 3.0 Affiliate
Center. The KickApps Affiliate Center is where web developers deploy,
customize, manage, monetize and moderate their online communities.
Version 3.0 transforms the KickApps Affiliate Center into a dynamic
control panel that provides real-time data essential to growing audience
and engagement. The KickApps Advertising Manager in the Affiliate Center
enables ad insertion from all major ad networks for optimal monetization.
“Our vision is to eliminate all barriers for
publishers looking to deploy a wide range of social media applications
at their own websites,” said Alex Blum, CEO of
KickApps. “KickApps 3.0 fulfills this vision
by providing both expert developers as well as those with minimal
expertise the ability to deploy and manage the kind of compelling user
experiences that are now proven recipes for rapid audience growth and
deeper engagement.”
Summary of KickApps 3.0 features:
The KickApps Affiliate Center: Gain
insight and build rapid audience growth with robust data-mining and
reporting tools
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At-a-glance information and real-time feeds monitor a full range of
community activity
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Enhanced reporting for analysis and export to a variety of formats,
covering member and media activity, widget distribution and other
essential community data
KickStart: Anyone can launch a
full-featured social media community in minutes
Create a full-featured community site in just three clicks
- Register a username and password
- Select site style from a gallery of pre-designed templates and site themes
- Choose from a list of community applications: video; audio and photo sharing; blogs; groups and message boards
Fully hosted home page for community builders that do not have a separate website
Instant Customization: Explore a
range of customization options and view in real-time with a WYSIWYG Site
Styler
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Easily customize site color, style and layout options in real-time
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Puts the power of Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) in the hands of
community builders of all skill levels
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Experienced developers can download style sheets for detailed
customization of all user-facing experiences
The KickApps Widget Studio: The
industry’s
most advanced widget authoring environment
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Intuitive and powerful, the KickApps Widget Studio serves the needs of
advanced Flash programmers, web developers and non-programmers
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Flex interface: point-and-click; drag-and-drop and WYSIWYG
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Feed Manager: assemble and organize any media in multiple formats
(e.g. RSS 2.0 )
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Dozens of default widget layouts; real-time preview; Flash and HTML
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Build new media widgets from scratch with drag-and-drop components
(including images, feeds, lists, buttons, video players, and more)
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One-click widget syndication to all major social networks and portals
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Widget Studio 3.0 available in Private Beta today and final
production March 2008
KickApps API Developer Kit: 100
percent customization and deep site integration
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Open standard, powerful, REST-based APIs covering all business
components
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Extends existing SOAP single-sign-on (including one-click Drupal,
Joomla and WordPress plugins)
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Custom feeds, workflows and display, media ingestion and management
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Tight integration with Affiliate CMS and user experiences
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Usage-based pricing model: cost-efficient and advertising-free
Flexible business model meets the
needs of websites of all sizes
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PayPal buyout of KickApps Ad inventory on a self-service basis for
small businesses
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Volume pricing of ad-free and API experiences for larger businesses
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No cost deployment available (includes advertising inventory share
with KickApps)
User-Facing Features: Dozens of new
user experiences designed to encourage engagement and grow audience
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MyHome Page features a real-time dashboard and news feeds of community
activity including recently uploaded media, comments and message board
discussions
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One-click hyper-syndication of any media directly to blogs and social
media site, including Facebook, MySpace, Orkut, iGoogle, WordPress and
Hi5
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Multi-Media Message Boards include web-cam integration and media
moderation; easy creation of new forums and profile integration of
most recent discussions
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Redesigned groups page, including dashboard with real-time group news
and updates
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Increased max file size uploads to 100MB for all media, including
videos, photos, audio tracks and blog posts
For more information on KickApps 3.0 or to get started with your own
social media experiences now, visit www.kickapps.com
and www.kickdeveloper.com.
About KickApps
KickApps’ on demand social media applications
enable web publishers and marketers to quickly and easily grow, engage
and monetize online audiences. Our SaaS platform features a broad
spectrum of applications, including social networking, user-generated
content, online video players and viral widgets. All KickApps building
blocks are tightly integrated with administrative tools that include
media moderation, member management and reporting. The KickApps platform
seamlessly integrates with any website using HTML, CSS, JavaScript,
feeds, widgets and APIs (REST and SOAP). Customers include: ABC Family,
CW Television, Guinness World Records, Scripps Network Interactive, VIBE
Magazine, HBO, Cinemax, Cox Television, the Phoenix Suns, the New York
Knicks, the New York Rangers and thousands of other sites. For more
information, please visit www.kickapps.com
and www.kickdeveloper.com.