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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

DoubleClick launches widget advertising

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DoubleClick Inc. announced the support of widget advertising within the core DART for Advertisers (DFA) ad serving platform through the creation of the new Widget Ad rich media format. Widget Ads enable media and creative agencies to integrate a viral component into any campaign to allow consumers to “snag” or “grab” the ad onto their personal homepage or social network page. Widget Ads allow brands to move beyond strictly paid media and help them to build an ongoing interactive and engaging relationship with consumers.

Interactive agencies and marketers often look to Widget Ads for easy integration of viral distribution options into any online campaign. Widget Ads are developed using the same creative process and applications as DoubleClick Rich Media ads. In addition, Widget Ads are created with a customizable Sharing Component to support virality.

The sharing component is powered by Gigya, provider of tools and technologies for distributing widgets. Gigya’s Wildfire technology installs hundreds of thousands of widgets per day to more than 50 of the leading social networks, blogs and bookmarking platforms.

Originally posted on March 17, 2008 @ 8:08 am