Today I’m delighted to announce the launch of KickApps 3.0, the latest version of our private label, hosted platform that’s powering social media experiences for thousands of web publishers around the world.
We typically differentiate our approach by speaking to the breadth of the KickApps platform and the ease of customization and deployment. We developed the KickApps platform as a suite of hosted web services (SaaS) to surface powerful web tools that allow publishers of all skill levels the ability to access the entire platform on a self-serve basis. The success and market acceptance of KickApps 2.x proved that these fundamental approaches are exactly what web publishers need. We now have over 14,000 enterprise sites that have integrated KickApps powered experiences and the rate of new sites being added is growing week over week.
With KickApps 3.0 we’re taking this vision to a new level by providing expert developers and others with minimal technical 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.
First, for highly customized needs, we released our KickApps 3.0 API Developer Kit which provides all the information and sample code necessary for web developers to build new applications on our platform on a self service basis. While most web publishers will find that their needs are met by the hosted platform, the API Developer Kit provides everyone else the freedom to access the entire KickApps platform for deeper levels of integration and customization. This opens the doors for large companies with very complex needs to efficiently build out social media functionality on their websites using KickApps and for creative developers it provides the freedom to innovate on top of the KickApps platform.
On the other end of the scale, KickApps 3.0 introduces 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.
There are far too many things in 3.0 to mention them all on this post. The best way of finding out more is to create and deploy your own social media site. You can do that by signing up here. Remember, it’s free and you’ll have you own community site live in a matter of minutes. You can also read our press release and go to KickDeveloper.com where you can review our release notes and see videos about 3.0 and various features.
One of the best things about working at KickApps is watching our clients’ sites go live. Here’s one where you just go “WOW.” Bonnaroo Music & Arts Festival, is a “four-day, multi-stage camping festival held on a beautiful 700-acre farm in Manchester, Tennessee every June. Bonnaroo brings together some of the best performers in rock and roll, along with dozens of artists in complementary styles such as jazz, Americana, hip-hop, electronica, and just about any contemporary music you can think of.”
Bonnaroo launched their KickApps site a few weeks ago and it has really taken off. The site was designed by Marina Del Ray based Threshold Interactive. You can get to it either by clicking ‘Community‘ on the homepage or by scrolling down to the site’s widget (powered by KickApps) at the bottom of the page. Widgets are a great way of contextually integrating your community with your existing site. In Bonnaroo’s case, they’ve created a widget that features photos of a bunch of happy, smiling people that represent the Bonnaroo community. This effectively acts as a banner that says to site visitors, “Hey, come check out the fun we’re having in this part of the site!”
Another smart thing that Bonnaroo did was what they did to get people to the site. They sent an email to their mailing list last week to tell people about the new community site. They’re also holding a Bonnaroo Community Member contest to get people to participate in the community. Members can win some great prizes, including VIP tickets, regular tickets and merchandise. In order to enter the contest, people have to create a personal profile, upload a profile picture and at least 5 pieces of media (photos, audio or video). Genius!
One of the tips that we laid out in our white paper, “9 Steps to a Successful Online Community,” talks about ’seeding a community’ and getting people to participate. Getting a community up and running can be challenging. It’s a blend of marketing and programming to give people a compelling reason to come along and participate. In time, the community will flourish on its own but more often than not it requires a push to get things going.
It’s obviously working for Bonnaroo. There are a TON of photos and videos that people have uploaded about their Bonnaroo experiences. Many ‘Roosters’ are really investing time in their profiles and interacting with other members (DelightfulTiffany joined today and already has 657 friends!). The message boards are buzzing with rumors about who’s going to play this year’s show. Word is that Led Zeppelin is heading to this year’s Fest–pretty damned cool.
When your goal is building the industry-leading white label SaaS social media platform you’re essentially creating applications and products that will be customized and you have to take into account the various ways people will choose to deploy them. A key facet that has to go into the design is flexibility and extensibility and you need to create an environment that invites third party developers into the mix.
We’re taking a major step in making the KickApps hosted platform even more flexible and extensible by continuing to expand the KickApps API Developer Kit. Affiliates can use the Dev Kit to access some of KickApps’ Platform’s features ‘a la carte,’ modify workflows, integrate with third-party functionality, and deeply integrate KickApps-powered functionality with their own hosted pages and media.
This is a powerful option for affiliates with highly custom needs to integrate KickApps-powered social media experiences beyond what is already provided by the hosted platform. To use the Developer Kit and related APIs, you”ll need programmers, servers, and a licensing budget. The first thing you should do is to scope out your project and evaluate whether you can achieve your goals using our hosted Platform or if APIs make sense. For the typical KickApps implementation, integrating our free, powerful hosted platform will be the right approach (using custom CSS, HTML, Widgets, client side JavaScript customizations, feeds and the SSO plug-ins).
In addition to the KickApps Developer Kit we’re implementing the open application standards defined by Facebook Platform and Google’s OpenSocial™. We’re going to be the first white label hosted platform to do this and will enable thousands of developers around the world to extend their applications and widgets to thousands of social media communities powered by KickApps.
We’re extremely excited about opening up the Platform. We believe that it’s a win-win for our publishers and it also creates new opportunities for developers to create cool social apps that live between niche networks and general networks like Facebook and MySpace. This openness reflects real-life social habits and more than anything is the foundation for even greater levels of engagement with people.
Welcome back everyone. I hope you had a good and safe new year. What does the tech industry do at this time every year? Get ready to hit CES of course!
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