Daily Archives: July 22, 2009

The new XING Partner Ecosystem is paving the way for even more diverse ways for the over 7.5 million XING members to benefit from the platform in their daily working lives. At the same time, the launch marks the opening up of the leading European business network for new applications from third-party developers.

A total of 16 applications from XING and 13 new partners from seven countries will be launched step by step on the XING platform from this afternoon onwards. Utilizing the new application platform of the XING Partner Ecosystem, Europe’s leading business network will provide its members with a wealth of business-related apps developed by partner companies. In the coming days, new tools by Huddle.net, Doodle, Dopplr, Deutsche Welle, MindMeister, SlideShare, spreed, travelload, Tungle, sueddeutsche.de, Wallstreet:Online, WELT ONLINE and ZCOPE will be introduced to the platform via the new OpenSocial interface. From news and project management through to travel planning and data sharing – the new apps can be installed free-of-charge at www.xing.com/opensocial and will be available to all XING members, in addition to the existing features on the XING platform.

Stefan Gross-Selbeck, CEO of XING AG, said: “Working together with our partners, our overriding aim is to make XING even more valuable for our business community. With this goal in mind, the requests and requirements of our members will form the key focus of our efforts as we develop the XING Partner Ecosystem further and select new apps on an ongoing basis.”

New apps will ensure added value for diverse business needs
XING members have a vast range of different professional interests and requirements. Accordingly, applications will provide different degrees of added value for different users. This insight forms the central reason why the launch of the XING Partner Ecosystem incorporates a wide variety of new apps designed for members to make use of XING in even more diverse ways. The first apps to be introduced are targeted primarily at business professionals who collaborate remotely with colleagues and business partners, who travel extensively on business and wish to stay informed about news and current affairs. New apps will be added to the application platform on a continuous basis over the coming weeks. These will complement the apps already developed by XING itself, including the “XING News” and “Ask XING” apps launched in May and the “TwitterBuzz” app launched in June. Uniquely for business networks, the XING Partner Ecosystem will therefore provide a broad mix of international apps that are tailored precisely to specific industries and professions, or have a local focus. Together with new partners, XING will be expanding this spectrum of applications on an ongoing basis.

XING Partner Ecosystem: New opportunities for third-party developers too
Jason Goldberg, Chief Product Officer at XING AG, sees the opening up of the platform as an equally exciting opportunity for XING, its members and third-party developers alike:

“The new XING Partner Ecosystem and the enabling of access to external developers carry immense potential for building on the user value our members can gain from XING. We will be collaborating with both international and regional partners, as we are aware too that most business is local for many of our users. Besides our members, our partners are of course also set to benefit greatly from offering their app to a community of more than 7.5 million users.”

XING actively selects partner companies and requires them to both meet the Company’s strict standards with respect to data privacy and technical and content quality, and also to offer useful business-related services to the largest number of members possible. Mr. Goldberg continues: “We are very pleased about the large response we have already received from third-party developers wishing to work with us. The user feedback we are now receiving will be absolutely key to developing the most relevant apps for our members, together with the very best partners.” Companies interested in partnering with XING can learn more about the XING Partner Ecosystem at www.xing.com/net/opensocialpartner.

Here’s a summary of the first new partner apps:

Social scheduling:

Doodle
Doodle is a leading online tool when it comes to find the right time for a group of professionals to meet. It takes away the pain of email volleys and calendar notes and closes the gap between personal calendar systems. On XING, Doodle is enhanced with social features, e.g. you can see meeting polls in progress in common with your contacts.

Tungle
Tungle.me, a first in click-to-meet technology, is the simplest way for professionals to make meetings happen. Tungle.me enhances a user’s profile by allowing XING members to view their availability and quickly schedule a meeting by proposing multiple times. When the meeting is booked, everyone’s calendar is automatically updated. Tungle syncs with Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple iCal and Entourage for Mac.

Collaboration/project management/workspaces:

Huddle Workspaces
Huddle Workspaces offers XING members secure workspaces to privately share information and work together with their connections. Users can store and share files, collaborate on documents and create private discussions. With Huddle Workspaces, documents can be created and edited online, users may also post comments and request approvals. Tasks, whiteboards, phone and web conferencing are available upon synchronising with a free, full Huddle.net account.

MindMeister
MindMeister brings mind mapping to the web, using its facilities for real-time collaboration to allow truly global brainstorming sessions. Users can create, manage and share mind maps online and access them anytime, anywhere through the award-winning web interface. Mind maps are highly useful to brainstorm and share ideas, manage meetings, structure documents and plan projects the easy way.

ZCOPE
ZCOPE is an easy to use project management tool for networked teams of all industries working together from remote locations. It follows the agile method and is focussed on the essential in managing projects. Using ZCOPE, teams can share version-controlled documents, communicate via project blogs, and collaborate on tasks.

Collaboration/web meetings:

spreed
spreed is a web-based solution for organizing web meetings, online conferences and presentations in Europe and around the world. Using spreed, XING members can hold free-of-cost web meetings and telephone conferences, give presentations, distribute documents, or simply meet online with attendees.
That means: they reserve a meeting room, invite participants, and present themselves and their ideas to the audience, live on the Internet.

Sharing:

SlideShare
SlideShare allows XING members to upload PowerPoint presentations, Word or PDF documents, share them with other members, and to find expert presentations on a wide number of topics. XING members can use SlideShare to embed presentations or documents into their profile, and show off their expertise, product, or service to their network: yet another way to get even more business leads.

Travel:

Dopplr: Where Next?
Dopplr is an online service for smarter travel. It helps you share your travel plans privately with friends and colleagues. It spots co-incidences and helps you make more of your trips. For example, it can tell you that three people you know will be in Tokyo when you are there next week. Dopplr’s Social Atlas helps you discover good places to eat, stay and explore while traveling.

travelload
travelload helps frequent travelers organize their trips, manage itineraries, and more. Create a personalized route itinerary, and post it on your XING profile, or download essential trip info onto your smartphone or mobile device, and take it with you wherever you go.

News:

Deutsche Welle
Deutsche Welle is Germany’s international broadcaster that produces television, radio and online content in 30 languages. Its unique mix of news, background information and cultural highlights offers European insights to international issues to people around the world. The “DW News app” offers XING members the possibility to integrate current news from Deutsche Welle into their profile. Every member can adjust the settings to meet their needs. Besides selecting a language, it is also possible to illustrate subject headings in different ways.

wallstreet:online
For the numerous XING members in the Finance industry, the wallstreet:online app is the ideal accompaniment to a XING profile. wallstreet:online is the largest and most active financial community in Germany. Users can create virtual portfolios and watch lists, read news and view detailed analyses and opinions. By linking stock details to the latest community postings, the wallstreet:online app puts detailed market info just a mouseclick away.

WELT ONLINE
With one of the largest circulations in Germany and a broad range of press coverage, the online news portal WELT ONLINE keeps XING readers up-to-date and in-the-know on a daily basis – extensive background coverage and topical stories. Users can filter news accordingly to their own interests and view these news items directly on their start page. They can also find out what other people are reading, and share views on specific issues and current affairs with both the XING and WELT ONLINE communities.

Edutainment:

sueddeutsche.de – CareerCamp
XING users can check their career opportunities at the sueddeutsche.de CareerCamp by taking tests on a variety of subjects such as etiquette, general knowledge or personality. Users can also see their ranking among all participants, or just their contact network. The app also features news and links to interesting and most latest articles on sueddeutsche.de, the online portal of the Süddeutsche Zeitung, Germany’s largest daily quality newspaper.

About XING:
XING is the leading European online business network. Over 7.5 million members use XING in 16 languages to do business, find jobs, and pursue a career. XING helps members get connected and stay in touch with their contacts with customized networking solutions and services. Members are active on XING because of the real value generated, with XING Jobs, over 26 thousand specialized groups, and over 90 thousand live networking events a year, organized by members for members.
XING AG went public in December 2006 as the first Web 2.0 company to do so. A continual increase in membership figures leads to increasing revenues and profits. XING AG is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, and has local offices in Barcelona, Istanbul and Milan.
XING. Powering Relationships.

Huddle.net has today unveiled its team collaboration and project management application for the XING business social network. Huddle Workspaces is one of the first applications to be available as a part of XING’s new Partner Ecosystem launch.

XING is the leading European business social network with more than 7.5 million users worldwide. It is available in 16 languages including English, German, Spanish, Turkish, Italian and French.

For the XING OpenSocial platform launch, Huddle.net developed Huddle Workspaces – which includes all the key functionality of its popular online collaboration tool. Huddle is currently available in English, German, French and Italian, with more languages to follow.

Huddle Workspaces offers XING members secure workspaces to privately share information and work together with their connections. Users receive 1Gb of free space where they can store and share files, collaborate on documents and create private discussions. With Huddle Workspaces, documents can be created and edited online, users may also post comments and request approvals. Tasks, whiteboards, phone and web conferencing are available upon synchronising with a free, full Huddle.net account.

Premium XING members automatically receive a premium version of Huddle, with more workspaces and no ads. In addition, existing Huddle users will benefit from a discount on their XING premium membership.

“It’s exciting to be a part of the XING Partner Ecosystem. With its more than 7.5 million users across Europe, XING is truly leading the way in business networking,” said Alastair Mitchell, co-founder and CEO, Huddle.net. “We’re positive that Huddle Workspaces will deliver on XING’s major aim of connecting remote professionals and make it easier for them to work together on projects or brainstorm with new ventures.”

“Using Huddle, XING members can get work done together and go beyond networking,” said Jason Goldberg, Chief Product Officer at XING. “Our network now goes a step further by offering collaboration. It makes our site even more useful for our members’ business lives – and Huddle offers the perfect technology for it.”

As a part of its expansion into Europe, and the XING deal, Huddle.net appointed its first European channel partner – Synistema, which will oversee enterprise sales in Italy, France and Portugal. Huddle.net has already established its presence in the US with the launch on LinkedIn and a reseller partnership with InterCall, the world’s largest conferencing provider.

“Huddle.net is an enviable position of being a global company,” Mitchell continued. “We are headquartered in London, but have customers across Europe, the US, the Middle East, Australia and South Africa. With the launch on XING and adding a new channel partnership, we are officially kicking off our European expansion. We expect Huddle to be available in all the European languages by the end of this year.”

Huddle.net has been recently named as the Best B2B/Enterprise Start-up at the TechCrunch Europas Awards and one of the 50 global technology start-ups to watch by BusinessWeek.

About Huddle.net

Established in November 2006, Huddle.net delivers a network of secure online workspaces where users can share files, collaborate on ideas, manage projects and organise virtual meetings. Its customers include P&G, Pearson, Nokia and UNICEF, hundreds of thousands of small businesses and a number of UK and US government departments.

In October 2008, Huddle.net launched on the LinkedIn application platform as the only non-US company, along the likes of Amazon and Google. In February 2009, the company partnered with InterCall, the world’s largest conferencing provider. Huddle’s API enables developers to integrate their applications and build new services on top of the Huddle platform.

Huddle.net is a part of Microsoft’s UK Startup Accelerator Program. The company is also dedicated to the success of technology start-up companies and leads several initiatives to support the entrepreneurial community. Find out more at www.drinktank.co.uk.

About XING

XING is the leading European online business network. Over 7.5 million members use XING in 16 languages to do business, find jobs, and pursue a career. XING helps members get connected and stay in touch with their contacts with customized networking solutions and services. Members are active on XING because of the real value generated, with XING Jobs, over 26 thousand specialized groups, and over 90 thousand live networking events a year, organized by members for members. XING AG went public in December 2006 as the first Web 2.0 company to do so. A continual increase in membership figures leads to increasing revenues and profits. XING AG is headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, and has local offices in Barcelona, Istanbul, Milan, and Beijing.

Offerpal Media, the leading virtual currency monetization platform for social applications, online games, virtual worlds, social networks, mobile applications and other social gaming publishers, today announced at the Casual Connect conference in Seattle, WA, that it has surpassed 100 million unique user accounts in its database, representing more than 250 million total transactions. The milestone speaks to the tremendous growth of the social gaming industry and demonstrates the high consumer enthusiasm for taking part in virtual economies inside these social applications and gaming web sites.
“Since our launch in September 2007, we have experienced growth at a nearly unprecedented rate,” said Offerpal Media Founder and CEO, Anu Shukla. “We are particularly proud of this latest milestone because it shows that we have delivered on our long-term vision of monetizing the social Web.”

Offerpal Media was founded as the first offer-based payment solution for social applications on the Facebook platform. The company has since expanded to integrate with hundreds of applications across dozens of other top-tier social networks including MySpace, Bebo, hi5, Tagged and many more, as well as destination gaming, social networking and virtual world sites such as IMVU, Aeria Games, WeeWorld and others. The company has also aggregated several of the most popular direct payment options such as credit cards, PayPal, mobile payments and micro-transaction providers to deliver a full-service virtual currency payment platform.

The company has continued to expand in other ways as well. Through its OfferpalINSIGHT package, for instance, publishers and application developers can gain actionable insights into the dials and levers that drive the monetization of their virtual economies. Its partnership with mobile SDK provider Tapjoy, allows mobile developers to easily plug Offerpal’s payment platform into their iPhone applications. Most recently, the company added OfferpalSECURE to its suite of monetization services as a means to reduce the lost revenues resulting from fraudulent user activity.

In February of this year, Offerpal received $15 million in Series B venture capital funding from D. E. Shaw Ventures, InterWest Partners and North Bridge Venture Partners. Although profitable since shortly after its launch, the company has used the additional funding to more rapidly extend its product offerings and expand into new markets.

Doug Pepper, General Partner, InterWest Partners, said, “InterWest invested in Offerpal because we believe they have the vision to build a large, sustainable company with differentiated products to tap into the fast growing social and gaming markets.”

About Offerpal Media

Offerpal Media was the first payment platform to monetize social applications, online games, virtual worlds, social networks, mobile applications and other social gaming publishers by providing end-users with a comprehensive set of virtual currency payment options, including direct payments such as PayPal, credit card, micro-transactions and mobile payments, as well as advertising offers such as free trials, big-brand discounts, online surveys and more as an alternate payment method. The company’s turn key monetization platform uses a sophisticated optimization engine and proprietary algorithms to generate publisher revenues at a network-wide average of $80 per day for every 1,000 Daily Active Users. The platform also allows advertisers to tap into Offerpal Media’s network of more than 100 million highly engaged and targeted consumers to generate high-value new customers. For more information, visit www.offerpalmedia.com.

VOIS, Inc., http://www.vois.com (pronounced “Voice”) (OTCBB: VOIS) (OTCBB: VOISW) today introduced Micro.VOIS (http://Micro.VOIS.com) for Twitter. Micro.VOIS, built on top of Twitter, is the easiest way for Twitter users to tell others that they want work or have work to offer. Using Micro.VOIS is as easy as adding #wantwork or #havework in a Twitter update (also known as a “Tweet”). As members Tweet jobs and opportunities, Micro.VOIS monitors the relevant data and helps Twitter members find what they are looking for.
Try It —

Actually, using Micro.VOIS is easier than explaining it. Try it right now: Using Twitter, find someone who has work or wants work. Then Tweet your project or idea with the hashtag #havework (ex. to tell people you have work) or #wantwork (for work wanted). The Micro.VOIS robot automatically adds all of those Tweets to the Micro.VOIS feed.

About VOIS, Inc.

VOIS.com (pronounced “Voice”) is a social commerce website that combines the power of social networking with an online marketplace for professional freelance and on-demand services. At VOIS, individuals and businesses have the tools to either Post Work, Find Work or Network as well as staff projects. VOIS’s social sourcing model connects a global network of talent, allowing individuals and business around the world to find and manage work cost-effectively. Vois also owns www.sCommerce.com and www.Rev2.org. VOIS is publicly traded under the symbols VOIS, VOISW. — www.vois.com

Bloggled.com, a blog backup & service company that is quickly becoming one of the most recognizable names in in blog backup security, has launched a new tool that expands its services to Twitter accounts.

The Twitter backup service saves and organizes tweets, follow lists, and other important aspects of the user’s Twitter account. In the event that the data is lost, users will be able to retrieve all of their backed up updates, lists of the users who they are following, and lists of all users following them.

The service also organizes tweets into daily caches, which allows users to quickly and easily find specific tweets and information later on.

Bloggled developed this innovative service as Twitter continues to grow and expand to new audiences. Largely regarded as the fastest growing social networking and micro blogging platform on the Internet, Twitter is becoming synonymous with how online users communicate and, in some cases, is even replacing some users traditional blogs.

The ability to save the work and effort involved in creating and maintaining a Twitter account is vital to both individuals and companies who support their marketing efforts with Twitter.

For additional information about Bloggled.com and its Twitter backup services, contact the company at (877) 216-9813.

With new innovations regularly occurring in online domains however, there is always room for a finished product. Socialepic.com should take you to a zone of complex perfection that none has dared till now.

At the base, it would just be a social networking site. It is only in execution that it stands out. Stylized flash applications like multi-user video chatting and music player would be more user-friendly. Your desktop would seem refurbished with new icons and unique items like Shoutbox and Whiteboard would be at the fingertips.

Just as an active cooperation of all sense organs makes communication more sharp, there would be focus on honing both the audio-visual and textual formats. Socialepic would have, in its different sections, genuine scope for blogs, forums, polls, and profile scanning. Different interfaces would be easily accessible to friends and strangers. There is an initiative against spammers and irritants. Abuses of any kind would obviously not be tolerated. You can easily share videos, photos, and other available articles with your group.

Each interface would be ably secured with cookies and different page-navigation would be easy. You may say that these features are available in almost every social networking site. Where it would have an edge will be in rapidity of visual functions, sending voice mails, smart web presence and brilliant coding at the back-end. It would have a 100 percent uptime.

Even as it is releasing, it is getting recommendations from avant garde people in the concerned sector. It may come as a direct assault to the sky-touching aspirations of Facebook. What makes Facebook special is its ability to isolate the professional from personal. Thus even business addicts cater to Facebook in the manner that they would never with say, Orkut.

Socialepic takes a step forward in that regard too with customized profiles and professional bookings. These people may have an official interactive collaboration among the people of their company at a slight cost. That would obviously be in a seal-in format involving only the groups and not apparent to others.

Socializing traffic gets an additional site for a welcome change. This one comes with stand-out features that make them feel valuable. Orkut is owned by Google and Facebook may be in very near future. This has made them some kind of an advertising extension. Socialepic.com looks to get people out of that mould.

Those who are introvert enough to make social beginnings with the world get an outlet to define themselves at socialepic.com. When they go through the site’s different facets, their perception of the world might change. Registration is welcome!

Social Epic is a revolutionary new social network, you can share photos, videos, music and more. Video messenger, phone and desktop client lets you keep in contact easier.

SupplyFrame, Inc. today announced the launch of a new service for technical professionals to quickly retrieve information on electronic components using Twitter. Datasheeter, the name of the new service, allows Twitter users to view component specifications through any Twitter application or web site.

The Datasheeter search tool, also known as a bot, is the evolution of several ideas for assisting engineers around the world to get quick access to accurate technical information. SupplyFrame Media previously has created purpose-built websites and widgets to assist users. The emergence of Twitter opened the door to a new and powerful channel for SupplyFrame to reach out and help engineers on the desktop. By giving engineers and purchasing professionals alternates to generic search engines and websites, Datasheeter not only makes getting job tasks done easier but also allows people to use their favorite tools for communicating and gathering information.

“It’s all about saving people time,” said Jeff Curie, VP of Marketing at SupplyFrame. “Twitter encourages tweeters to use any client software or website they chose. Today, we are leveraging the fact that there are many popular desktop Twitter applications sitting at the fingertips of engineers. Datasheeter allows people to pull technical specs on products in a couple of seconds using their Twitter client. Compared to hunting with browsers and Google, using Twitter can get the job done faster.”

Engineers should follow Datasheeter on Twitter here: www.twitter.com/datasheeter

About SupplyFrame Media
SupplyFrame Media (www.supplyframemedia.com) is the media division of SupplyFrame Inc. and dedicated to delivering high-performance, measurable marketing solutions for the electronics industry. SupplyFrame Media provides advertising solutions for electronics marketers looking to introduce new products, drive engineers to their websites, and generate sales leads. SupplyFrame Media is a business built around measurable media — high-performance advertising campaigns and marketing promotions that deliver measurable results with tools to maximize return on investment.