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New Media News Every Morning

Travelocity and IgoUgo team up to offer Voluntourism community forum

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travelocity.pngTravelocity’s annual travel forecast poll recently found that 38 percent of respondents are likely to take volunteer vacations in 2008, whether that be an entirely charitable trip or extending a vacation to include volunteer activities. While more and more concerned citizens are looking to enrich their travel by volunteering on vacation, many still don’t know where to begin or what types of itineraries fit their needs. To connect like-minded individuals while providing inspiration and ideas on the types of volunteer opportunities available, Travelocity and IgoUgo have launched a voluntourism community forum where users can share their own trip experiences complete with photos and personal commentary.

By exploring the voluntourism community site, would-be volunteer vacationers are able to see photos and read first-hand accounts of other travelers’ experiences.

Originally posted on December 18, 2007 @ 10:53 pm

DocCheck community of healthcare professionals to to go worldwide

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doccheck.pngDocCheck, the community for medical professionals in Europe, is now making its social networking package available in other countries. The Italian version is already online. English, Spanish and French versions will follow in January 2008. The English version is also aimed at the US market. Within DocCheck Faces, medical practitioners can put their profile on show, set up their own forums and exchange news with colleagues.

In addition to the new community, services such as DocCheck Litbot (a program for managing medical publications) and the English-language DocCheck e-journal will also be available to US physicians.

Originally posted on December 18, 2007 @ 3:56 pm

Online shopping community ideeli secures $3.8 million funding

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ideeli.pngOnline luxury shopping community ideeli.com has secured $3.8 million in funding from Kodiak Ventures and angel investors. ideeli offers a curated selection of in-style luxury accessories at 50 to 90 percent off, plus weekly giveaways, to their affluent membership base. By combining pre-sale editorial coverage, last-minute alerts of sale starts, an innovative mobile platform and a variety of community features, ideeli creates a fun and social way for members to shop. This environment drives a high level of anticipation and engagement, which provides ideeli’s luxury and fashion partners with an opportunity to tell a more detailed story about their products and brands.

Brands view ideeli as a way to drive demand in their retail channel for current season items. Brands also sell past-season merchandise via ideeli to not only have a safe, discreet place to clear excess inventory, but also to turn that inventory into highly effective integrated advertising. Many luxury brand partners have recognized the company’s innovative and immersive approach and are utilizing ideeli’s innovative take on Web 2.0 as one of their first social media efforts.

Originally posted on December 17, 2007 @ 10:34 am

Universal Music Group strikes music streaming agreement with imeem

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umg.pngUniversal Music Group (UMG) and imeem announced an agreement that will provide the imeem community with on-demand, interactive streaming of Universal’s extensive digital music and video catalog. With this announcement, imeem is the first social networking company to offer full-length, streaming access to the entire music and video catalogs of all four major music companies on an advertising-supported basis.

Today’s news is a milestone for imeem’s ad-supported social music and media model, which enables artists, labels, studios, and media companies to make their music and video freely available for interactive streaming to the imeem community and share in the advertising revenue. imeem’s ad-supported model also gives brands and businesses new ways to connect and interact with a highly-engaged audience of millions of consumers in the 24-and-under youth demographic. A number of the world’s largest brands and companies, including Apple, Nike, Microsoft, AT&T Wireless, Toyota Scion, T-Mobile and Puma, are currently working with imeem on advertising and brand sponsorships.

imeem now offers millions of songs and videos from all four major music companies and thousands of independent labels. imeem users can upload their favorite music, video and photos, search for and stream full-length audio and videos on-demand, and easily find new content through social discovery features. The imeem community can also express themselves with their favorite content by creating and sharing custom music and video playlists with friends and fans on imeem and on third-party sites across the web.

Originally posted on December 10, 2007 @ 2:55 pm

Userplane shared $500,000 in ad revenue with online communities for first six months of Userplane Money

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userplane.pngUserplane has paid out more than $500,000 in just six months to web publishers that have implemented Userplane Money.

Perfspot, a new social networking destination, has been adding “significant” revenue since signing on to Userplane Money.

“Userplane has found a way to give us the feature-rich applications our users love, along with built-in additional revenue stream,“ said Hart Cunningham, CEO of Perfspot. “The application was easy to install, and signing up for Userplane Money revenue sharing required no additional effort on our part. Userplane is a win/win scenario for all concerned, and is helping us succeed in our competitive market niche.”

Launched earlier this year, Userplane Money is a revenue-sharing program that helps websites of any size make money. So far, thousands of sites have joined Userplane Money, including many of Userplane’s top publishers.
Any website can sign up merely by agreeing to the terms of service. Once a $25 minimum is met, publishers can request and receive their revenue share via PayPal, typically within 30 days.

Originally posted on December 6, 2007 @ 2:13 pm