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New Media News Every Morning

NewsGator, Gigya partner on new content syndication for media companies

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NewsGator Technologies and Gigya are bringing new capabilities to media companies looking to grow both the audience and revenue for their content. NewsGator will integrate Gigya’s Wildfire distribution and tracking technology into its syndication network.

Major media companies around the world are turning to NewsGator Widget Services to simplify the syndication of content. With NewsGator’s syndication network, media companies have access to the industry’s largest database of public RSS content. The network has an archive of over 2.1 billion individual content items and more than 7 million posts are added daily.

On the other hand, Gigya’s technologies have become the industry standard for distributing and tracking content on the social web, reaching 142 million unique widget users worldwide in May 2008.

It’s a good mix towards offering its media clients with a streamlined process for content syndication, the ability to distribute content to audiences on more than 50 platforms, and sophisticated tracking that details where content is being consumed.

Originally posted on July 22, 2008 @ 10:23 am

KickApps, Clearspring to accelerate widget creation, distribution, and advertising

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Social applications provider KickApps and widget syndication company Clearspring Technologies announced a strategic partnership to further accelerate widget usage and monetization. Under the agreement, Clearspring will promote KickApps’ new WYSIWYG Widget Studio, a self-service widget-authoring environment to the Clearspring user base. This will enable Clearspring customers to easily build their own rich-media and interactive widgets with tremendous ease. KickApps will use Clearspring’s powerful distribution and tracking services to provide one-click distribution and in-depth analytics to anyone using the KickApps Platform.

KickApps recently launched an internal initiative around the development of WidgeADs, its new industry standard format for widget advertising. Using Clearspring’s WidgetMedia services, both companies will collaborate on delivering a powerful end-to-end widget advertising solution for publishers and marketers.

Originally posted on June 11, 2008 @ 6:52 pm

Find Real Estate Foreclosures With New Widget

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As someone on the prowl for a nice house at the right price, I can tell you firsthand that the market continues to drop, giving strong buyers their pick of the litter.  Unfortunately, folks who are forced to sell, are in quite a pickle.

Foreclosure.com, a major source for foreclosure listings and data,  has released a WordPress-compatible plugin that allows bloggers, real estate agents and others to instantly add listings to their Web sites.

Foreclosure.com offers users a free 7-day trial. After that, interested parties pay a monthly subscription fee.  The downloadable widget also acts as a potential revenue source, giving publishers a slice of the subscription fee pie

Sign up here.

Those who search listings will be able to view aerial satellite images of all listings, as well as property types, cities, states, numbers of beds and baths and listing prices.

The widget also helps agents and other real estate professionals stay on top of their listings and share data with clients.

Originally posted on June 3, 2008 @ 8:50 am

Gigya releases social features, will traffic follow?

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logo_gigya1.jpgWidget provider Gigya announced the release of Gigya Socialize, a technology that gives website owners the ability to grow both traffic and engagement by adding social features. Gigya Socialize also gives site owners a choice: implement plug and play components or access the Open API for complete control.

With Gigya Socialize, any site can tap into this growth engine by incorporating popular social features like invitations, sharing, and newsfeed.

Social features can be engaging for users but it is not the only guarantee for traffic.

Originally posted on May 29, 2008 @ 10:21 am

Little Widgets Equal A Lot of Money

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Currently the largest widget syndicator service in the world, Clearspring has just secured an $18 million round of financing.  The company, which says it tracks 4 billion widgets a month,  plans to use the new-found cash to expand its viral marketing network and make more of an international push.

Publishers, developers and advertisers can spread their content over 80 social networks and track results – even making some money along the way.

From Honda automobiles to Snapple beverages to recording artist Radiohead, Clearspring widgets are used by a wide array of people and corporations.

Personally, I’ve used the widgets to help promote one of my podcasts.  While the player is customizable and sleek, I’ve always been disappointed that the audio will not play until 100% of the file is downloaded.

The company’s founding principals is to keep it simple, always improve, listen, adjust, and innovate – and basically, enjoy the ride.

Originally posted on May 21, 2008 @ 10:53 am