News

Mouse and Pen, a pro bono social media service, launched today to help organizations market themselves using emerging online strategies.

According to a recent study*, only 41% of firms using social media vehicles said they have a strategic plan to guide their activity in that space.

“It’s time for local organizations of all sizes, from sole proprietorships to large companies, to create strategies that engage their customers through social media,” said Scott Fuhr, owner of Mouse and Pen. “The economic climate may have been better earlier, however now there is a once-in-a-blue-moon chance to grab market share from competitors. No one else is pursuing it. Dive into the online world now and get more results.”

In addition, the study also showed that 55% of companies said they use social media for sales-related activities.

“This research demonstrates that developing an overarching social media strategy for your business will increase sales, but many organizations don’t know how,” said Fuhr. “Customers and prospects are more likely than ever before to strike up a conversation directly online. In fact, they now expect to communicate in real-time with a human online and get product news and information around-the-clock. If they can’t, they’ll spend their money elsewhere.”

A Philadelphia-area author recently enlisted the services of Mouse and Pen to promote a book about helping children with autism.

“Mouse and Pen was instrumental in helping me redesign my web site and also supported me as I started my first blog,” said Mary Barbera, Board-Certified Behavior Analyst, and author of The Verbal Behavior Approach. “The increase in traffic to my blog and website are up 74% since the blog launched. Within the first few days of advertising the blog redesign and my first post, I received three new inquiries for consultation.”

Fuhr added that organizations or services that are not operating with an appropriate social media strategy are risking major opportunities for business growth and can expect their competitors that do have active social media elements to pull ahead and take leadership positions.

Areas of concentration for Mouse and Pen include creating and executing online promotions by leveraging the growing power of blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and RSS feeds (Really Simple Syndication).

For more information about Mouse and Pen, email [email protected], or visit the blog, at www.mouseandpen.com.

About Mouse and Pen
Mouse and Pen provides social media strategies and marketing services that improve sales via blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, RSS, press releases and websites. All projects are executed with two goals in mind – to engage readers and to achieve business results. Mouse and Pen is powered by Scott Fuhr, a marketing professional with over 13 years of strategic public relations and communications experience. Services are currently provided pro bono. Visit www.mouseandpen.com

Today HootSuite releases a significant update to the popular social media dashboard, including a complete interface refresh and features utilizing new HTML5 technology standards. Notable changes include multiple design themes, improvements to Facebook media publishing, and language localization.

With the recent announcement of Google’s HTML5 site and many other brands including Apple on-board, HootSuite has made a substantial investment in this new technology standard. Using HTML5 allows HootSuite to release unique features for a rapidly growing customer base.

The release continues HootSuite’s mission to make social media outreach easy and efficient for a worldwide customer base which includes governments, publishers, enterprises, start-ups and power users.

HootSuite5 with HTML5

Using HTML5, HootSuite engineers added geo-specific search option, allowing users to retrieve messages posted near their physical location. This tool will be a boon for Twitter users eager to shop locally, community groups seeking volunteers, and companies reaching out to new clients in their business area, plus myriad other scenarios. Further, HTML5 enabled significant performance improvements resulting in quicker load times for columns and tabs for an even more responsive user experience.

Analytics in Dashboard

HootSuite has tightly integrated Google Analytics, adding in-dashboard views to track conversions, goals and traffic patterns. This new feature, coupled with HootSuite’s existing custom URL parameter tool, lets marketers achieve deep research without switching sites.

More Tools

Other new tools to help broadcast messages, monitor conversations, and track results include:

Interface Re-design and Themes – A new interface lets users access more information at once. Users may now select design themes, including a refreshed version of the classic blue and green design, plus two new choices: Blue Steel and Magnum

Facebook Media Preview – Add a photo thumbnail, title and description when posting links to Facebook profiles or pages — a highly requested feature from the Feedback channel

‘Twitter Native’ ReTweets – Choose between traditional manual RT-style to quote an update, or the newer “Twitter native” style of automatically rebroadcasting the message

File Drag and Drop – Attach an image or other file easily using Chrome 5, Firefox 3.6 and Safari 5 browsers Just drag from the desktop and drop into the message box to upload with a pre-shortened link

Language Localization – Already available for the iPhone version, language localization lets users view HootSuite in their preferred language, starting with Japanese; more linguistic choices to come

Keyboard Shortcuts – Clicking Shift+Enter on the keyboard now sends the update, saving mouse-clicks and time another user-requested feature

Handier Help – The refreshed interface improves access to the trove of tutorials and answers at the Help Desk, as well as the Feedback channel for feature requests

Resources

Release blog post — more info about the release and features: http://blog.hootsuite.com/hootsuite-html-5/

Media Kit company descriptions, logos, executive bios and media contact info: http://blog.hootsuite.com/media

Social bookmarks media and blog articles referencing HootSuite: http://delicious.com/hootsuite

HTML5 Info

Google: http://www.html5rocks.com/

Apple: http://www.apple.com/html5/

Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTML5

Formspring, the social network that lets you connect with the people you care about through conversational Q&A, today announced integrations with MySpace and WordPress. As of today, Formspring users will be able to share their Formspring answers on both platforms. These new integrations add to already available Formspring integrations with Facebook, Twitter, Blogger and Tumblr.

Launched seven months ago, Formspring is already ranked the 63rd most visited website in the U.S. according to Quantcast. With 50 million unique visitors per month, Formspring’s users frequently share answers to their other social media and blog platforms. Currently, over 40 percent of Formspring’s 13 million registered users share answers on other sites, and with the option of MySpace and WordPress this number is expected to rise.
Formspring users with MySpace accounts will now be able to easily publish their Formspring answers to their MySpace profiles, and will also be able to find friends from MySpace on Formspring. WordPress users will now be able to automatically publish updates to their blogs and sites.

“These integrations with MySpace and WordPress will help us continue to build our rapidly growing global audience,” explained Formspring CEO and Co-founder, Ade Olonoh. “Even more importantly, bringing MySpace and WordPress into the fold lets our users have the ability to share their opinions and insights with their friends and followers through all of the top social media and blogging platforms.”

Tungle Corp., the company that makes scheduling meetings easy, has been named the official scheduling application of BlogWorld & New Media Expo, taking place October 14-16, 2010 in Las Vegas. The company also announced the release of its free WordPress and TypePad plug-ins for calendar publishing and integrated scheduling. WordPress and TypePad, with over 30 million blogs published on these platforms, have added Tungle.me to the widget selection, allowing users to integrate scheduling directly into their sites.

“I’ve saved a ton of time scheduling meetings since discovering Tungle.me,” said Scott Stratten, President of Un-Marketing and opening keynote speaker at BlogWorld 2010. “I’m psyched that I can add the Tungle.me plug in and publish my availability directly through my site, and accept or reject meeting requests without a time-wasting email exchange.”

WordPress and TypePad users with a Tungle.me account can now add the Tungle.me widget to their blogs. The widget embeds a mini Tungle.me page into the user’s blog or website, allowing visitors to click-to-expand and see availability, suggest times to meet, and send a meeting request—without leaving the site.

“With over 350,000 posts daily and 250 million plus blog visitors monthly; corporate and personal blogs are at the heart of business communication,” stated Marc Gingras, CEO and founder of Tungle. “The Tungle.me widget closes the asynchronous communication gap between bloggers and their audience to make meetings happen. Now bloggers can share their availability and book meetings, right alongside their Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social widgets.”

As part of its initiative to support bloggers, Tungle has formed a partnership with BlogWorld. Through this partnership, conference attendees, speakers and exhibitors can select a personalized Tungle.me URL upon registration for the event. They can then customize their Tungle.me page and synchronize it with online calendars. Attendees can also choose to be added to the BlogWorld group in the Tungle.me directory, making it easier for them to schedule meetings with other attendees.

“At BlogWorld, it is as much about who you meet and the connections you make as it is about the content,” said Rick Calvert, CEO at BlogWorld & New Media Expo. “By partnering with Tungle, we are able to offer our attendees better service, enabling them to easily schedule meetings with each other onsite, as well as before and after the show.”

The free Tungle.me WordPress plug in can be found at: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/tungleme-official-widget/

The free Tungle.me TypePad widget can be found by logging into your Tungle account at http://www.tungle.me and clicking on Management, then Widget.

About Tungle
Tungle Corp.’s Tungle.me makes scheduling meetings easy–across organizations, calendar systems and time zones–by eliminating the multiple emails, phone calls and double bookings that typically come with finding a time to meet. Tungle.me synchronizes with leading online calendar systems including Outlook, Google Calendar, Apple iCal, Entourage for Mac, and Lotus Notes, and does not require visitors to sign in or register to schedule meetings. Tungle.me supports scheduling meetings on-the-go with Tungle.me for iPhone and Tungle for Blackberry.

Founded in 2006, the Montreal-based company is venture-backed by investors Commonwealth Capital Ventures, JLA Ventures and Desjardins Venture Capital.

About BlogWorld & New Media Expo and Social Media Business Summit
BlogWorld & New Media Expo is the first and only industry-wide tradeshow, conference, and media event dedicated to promoting the dynamic industry of new media including all forms of blogging, podcasting, social media, social networking, online video, music, Internet TV and radio. The BlogWorld conference features more than 120 educational sessions, panel discussions and keynote presentations, while the New Media Expo features the only industry-wide new media marketplace where thousands converge to network and find all of their online business and marketing resources. Running concurrent with the BlogWorld conference, the Social Media Business Summit is the world’s largest social media business conference where marketing executives, business owners and world-renowned companies send their teams to learn the strategies, tactics, tools and technologies they need to build their brands and grow their businesses with social media.

Additional information on BlogWorld & New Media Expo, including conference and registration details, is available at www.blogworldexpo.com

The event is scheduled to take place Thursday, May 27th at Arena, located at 135 W. 41st (Broadway & 6th Ave). Doors will open at 5:30 with complimentary appetizers and drink specials available at the event.

Represent your business among the hundreds of professionals from around New York City that have come together to relax, have fun and network with other local businesses with EMRG Media. It will be the happening place to be for business networking in New York City. The event is targeted for professionals in advertising, finance, fashion, and many other industries based in NYC.

“We found that these events are in high demand and with our audience including corporate event planners, advertising executives, media, marketing, finance and other leading professionals in New York City. It’s a great way to bring them together in one place to make strong connections and build their individual networks in this economy,” said Mario Stewart of EMRG Media.

When it comes to business in New York City, connections are an important asset to the growth of your company. EMRG Media’s Business Networking Series is the place to gain some of the most important contacts for your business. Contact EMRG Media, a New York event planning company, by phone at (212) 254-3700 or http://www.emrgmedia.com/networking by email to reserve your place at this important New York City social networking event.
About EMRG Media:

EMRG Media started about eight years ago and is now New York’s premier event planning, marketing and publishing company. The company has accomplished public acclaim and recognition as an innovative, corporate event marketing company with an impressive roster of clients. EMRG Media channeled the years of niche expertise and knowledge of consumer trends into an events directory featuring the best of what New York has to offer including event spaces, restaurants, night clubs, and hotels.

FaceTime Communications (www.facetime.com ) announced today that it has added social network compliance and feature controls for Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Designed to help organizations meet regulatory compliance, such as FINRA’s Regulatory Notice 10-06 and to aid in the prevention of accidental data leakage, the controls allow posts to be pre-approved, logged and archived or blocked if they do not meet company policy.

Social media within the workplace now accounts for a significant portion of new business opportunities for many organizations; however, its rapid uptake, often against written policies, has also left many enterprises inadequately prepared from both a data leakage and a compliance perspective. These latest features, available in FaceTime’s Unified Security Gateway (USG) build upon the content filtering controls that FaceTime introduced six months ago.
“Most companies have more to fear from accidental data leakage on social media sites than malicious theft,” says Kailash Ambwani, CEO of FaceTime Communications. “Individuals and teams within all sizes of organizations are turning to social media to collaborate, often without considering the consequences of collaborating in what is in effect a public place. Even the most diligent of employees can make the occasional error in judgment, which can have serious consequences if not prevented.”
FaceTime’s USG enables organizations to monitor and control how employees use specific features within social media sites; for example, allowing users to only view Twitter messages but not post, update a Facebook status but not play Farmville or post to LinkedIn but not be able to recommend.
“Moderator” controls, allow organizations to hold status updates and comments for review prior to posting, thus complying with rules from regulatory bodies such as FINRA, OTS and the FSA, all of which have made clear that social media constitutes electronic messaging and that applicable rules and guidelines must be adhered.
As a moderated user posts a message to Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter, USG intercepts the message and notifies the user that their content will be posted only upon approval by the moderator. Moderators then approve, comment upon or reject and block posts from the USG Review Console. Approved posts are immediately visible on the social media site.
“Social networking tools are extraordinarily useful and can generate new marketing, revenue and other opportunities”, said Michael Osterman, principal of Osterman Research. “However, social networking is a two-edged sword – as useful as these tools are, they can create enormous risks for any organization. The ability to monitor and manage social networking communications allows organizations to realize the benefits of these tools while at the same time minimizing the risk from their inappropriate use.”
All traffic, both inbound and outbound, can be scanned for confidential or restricted content ensuring that the use of social media in the workplace is not creating a backdoor for confidential and business critical data to leak out.
All the enterprise grade capabilities of USG are inherited by the new social network compliance controls. These capabilities include: Integration with corporate directory services for authentication; Identity management for mapping social network user names to corporate identities; And export of logged content to WORM storage or email archiving systems for compliance retention and eDiscovery.
USG is the first Secure Web Gateway to provide social networking feature controls, and the recording and moderation of content. In addition, USG provides security, management and compliance for more than 4,000 Web 2.0 applications, such as instant messaging and Unified Communications, and protects the enterprise at the gateway with URL filtering, anti-malware and Web anti-virus protection.
Social Networking Compliance control is available as a USG module from $4800 for 100 users on a virtual appliance with the first year maintenance and support.
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About FaceTime Communications
FaceTime Communications enables the safe and productive use of Unified Communications and Web 2.0, including social networks, blogs, and instant messaging. Ranked number one by IDC for five consecutive years, FaceTime’s award-winning solutions are used by more than 1,500 customers for the security, management and compliance of real-time communications. FaceTime supports or has strategic partnerships with all leading public IM network and Unified Communications providers, including AOL, Google, Microsoft, Yahoo!, Skype, IBM and Cisco.
FaceTime is headquartered in Belmont, California. For more information visit http://www.facetime.com or call 888-349-FACE. The FaceForward blog, at http://blog.facetime.com, offers thoughts and opinions about the changing nature of Internet communications.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) is urging a federal judge to dismiss Facebook’s claims that criminal law is violated when its users opt for an add-on service that helps them aggregate their information from a variety of social networking sites.

Power Ventures makes a web-based tool that users can set up to log into their multiple social networking accounts and aggregate messages, friend lists, and other data so they can see all the information in one place. In a lawsuit against Power Ventures, Facebook claims that Power’s tool violates criminal law because Facebook’s terms of service ban users from accessing their information through “automatic means.” By using Power’s tool, Facebook argues that its users are accessing Facebook “without permission” under the California penal code. EFF argues in an amicus brief filed Monday that users have the right to choose how they access their data, and turning any violation of terms of use into a criminal law violation would leave millions of Facebook users unwittingly vulnerable to prosecution.

“California’s computer crime law is aimed at penalizing computer trespassers,” said EFF Civil Liberties Director Jennifer Granick. “Users who choose to give their usernames and passwords to aggregators like Power Ventures are not trespassing. Under Facebook’s theory, millions of Californians who disregard or don’t read terms of service on the websites they visit could face criminal liability. Also, any Internet company could use this argument as a hammer to prevent its users from easily leaving the service as well as to shut down innovators and competitors.”
Even the simple use of the automatic login feature of most browsers would constitute a violation under Facebook’s theory, since those services are “automatic means” for logging in. But the risk for users is even broader. If any violation of terms of use is criminal, users who shave a few years off their age in their profile, claim to be single when they are married, or change jobs or addresses without updating Facebook right away would also have violated the criminal law.
“The information you put into social networking sites is yours, and you should be able to access it, export it, and aggregate it as you please,” said EFF Legal Director Cindy Cohn. “If Facebook’s legal argument is upheld, it will hobble companies that enable consumer choice, as well a create a massive expansion in the scope of California criminal law.”
For the full amicus brief:
http://www.eff.org/files/filenode/facebook_v_power/poweramicus.pdf

A new whitepaper by Prescient Digital Media describes the “social intranet” as the next step in the evolution of the intranet: one with two or three accessible social media tools (e.g. blogs, wikis) and wide participation from most or all employees with intranet access, ultimately resulting in increased employee engagement, higher adoption rates, and better ROI for an organization’s technology.

In the past year or two, social media on the corporate intranet (intranet 2.0) has become mainstream with up to two-thirds of organizations in the western world having some form of social media on their intranet.

“Despite the many benefits of a social intranet, many organizations don’t plan for their intranet 2.0 initiatives and never get them off the ground” says Toby Ward, president and CEO of Prescient Digital Media. “Assessment and planning are the critical stages to social media success, but are too often overlooked.”

Organizations that haven’t adopted such tools are now in the minority and are flirting with disaster and the ‘global talent crunch’ – the fight for young, talented individuals to replace the rapidly aging and retiring baby boomers.

Though social media tools are simple and inexpensive to deploy (more than half of organizations spend less than $10,000), many organizations are lulled into complacency until the initiative fails.

Highlights of the whitepaper include:

• Definition, prevalence, and importance of social intranets, supported by recent statistics and case studies
• Why social intranets are crucial to securing and engaging the workforce of the future
• Preliminary results of the 2010 Intranet 2.0 Global Study
• Social Intranet Success Matrix, containing key factors to upgrading an organization’s basic intranet to a social intranet.

To view the social media whitepaper, please visit: http://www.prescientdigital.com/articles/download-social-intranet-success-matrix?searchterm=social+intranet+white+

Frederico Cardella, classical and operatic singer is working with Perspective Internet Marketing to launch his debut album: Amore Intimo through social media marketing. Using social ecospheres like Myspace, and Facebook, Perspective Internet Marketing hopes to grow Frederico’s fan base and record sales. Online branding using social media marketing campaign has benefited independent artists, like Frederico to give them nation and international attention without the backing of a major label.

Frederico Cardella’s music and artist information can be found on many social media sites such as Myspace, Facebook, and iLike. Through these various sites his music can be purchased and previewed on iTunes and Amazon.

“Over the last year our clients have seen significant ROI through the use of social media marketing. Our social media strategy will help Frederico Cardella reach fans all over the world,” said Ty Downing, CEO of Perspective Internet Marketing.

To listen and learn more about Frederico Cardella you can visit his website:http://www.fredericocardella.com or view his Myspace: http://www.myspace.com/FredericoCardella or Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Frederico-Cardella/113221902043145.

ChaCha.me, the new question and answer social network service from ChaCha, can now be accessed via mobile devices. This enables users to ask and answer questions from their mobile phones and see the activity posted live to their ChaCha.me page and on other social networks such as Facebook. Additionally, users can now get instant mobile alerts when a question is asked of them, allowing responses while on the go.

“Since we launched ChaCha.me just weeks ago, we have seen explosive growth. ChaCha.me is fully integrated with Facebook and Twitter, and now our users can interact through SMS texting,” says Scott Jones, CEO of ChaCha. “This is significant because now anybody with a ChaCha.me account can answer questions anywhere within the ChaCha service. For example, you can ask me questions directly by preceding your question with @scottjones, and then when I answer it, via mobile or online, it shows up on my personal and very public Q&A page, in a permanent ‘personal interview’ format. Businesses can use this functionality to create dynamic, real-time FAQ capabilities for their customers. Imagine a chef in the kitchen answering questions about an entrée from patrons dining in the restaurant right now! The possibilities are compelling.”

ChaCha today also introduces a number of other compelling new features to ChaCha.me, including these:

Bloggers and website owners can get live feeds of this dynamic Q&A content posted automatically to their own webpage or blog via a simple widget (HTML connection) that ties directly to their ChaCha.me profile, and feeds their Q&A updates live to their blog or webpage. The widget link is http://me.chacha.com/widgets.

Users can easily tie their questions and answers to other social networks and services including Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress, and Blogger. For example, businesses and celebrities who have their own websites can simply select the ChaCha widget, add it to their website, and users can then ask them questions right on their homepage. When the business or celebrity chooses to answer the question, the answers will post instantly to their website, their ChaCha.me page, their Facebook fan page, and more.

Users on ChaCha.me can also be alerted via SMS text or email at the moment their question is answered, a one-of-a-kind service.

Users can now post an unlimited number of photos to their profile page, personalize their page, and enjoy a new “network view” that shows recent activities of everyone they are following.

ChaCha says that additional major features are coming to the social network soon, including:

ChaCha.me users will be able to search all other users by demographic, including location, gender, and age. For example, it will be easy for users living in New York to find and interact with others their age living in New York.

Users will be able to post and find out what others are doing “in the moment” with a new “what are you doing now?” feature.

ChaCha (www.chacha.com) has emerged as the #1 way for marketers to engage teens and young adults. Through its unique “smart friend” platform, ChaCha has answered over 500 million questions since launch from approximately 15 million unique users per month via SMS text (242-242™), online (http://www.chacha.com), Twitter (@chacha), Facebook app, iPhone app, and voice (1-800-2-ChaCha™). Working with major brands such as Paramount, AT&T, Palm, Johnson&Johnson, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, and presidential political campaigns, ChaCha.com is one of the fastest growing mobile and online publishers according to Nielsen and Quantcast.

ChaCha was founded by proven innovator and entrepreneur, Scott Jones, and is funded by Bezos Expeditions; Morton Meyerson, former President and Vice Chairman of EDS as well as Chairman and CEO of Perot Systems; Rod Canion, founding CEO of Compaq Computer; the Simon family; and Jack Gill, Silicon Valley venture capitalist.

Ning, (www.ning.com), the leading platform for custom social experiences, today announced a new set of product options focused on giving Network Creators even more ways to develop and grow their networks online.

Three versions of the Ning Platform – Ning Pro, Ning Plus, and Ning Mini – will launch in July of 2010, and will include all of the features that Ning Network Creators have come to rely on for over the past five years, along with exciting new upgrades and options.

As part of this announcement Ning has signed a letter of intent with a major educational company to sponsor all K-12 education Ning Networks globally and keep the service free for teachers and their students.

Ning provides a powerful platform that enables Network Creators to focus on the important work of developing their communities. Since its inception, Ning has been focused on building the best product to serve the needs of these passionate individuals.

“Our Network Creators are some of the most passionate and creative users of social networking technologies on the web, and by focusing on our three new product offerings, Ning will be able to extend the power and control we bring to our customers,” said Jason Rosenthal, CEO, Ning. “We’re excited about our company’s new direction, and see these premium products transforming the way that current and future Network Creators build with Ning.”

As previously announced, Ning will phase out its free ad-supported product in favor of these three new price and feature offerings. This shift will put the emphasis squarely on the most active Network Creators, and enable them to build even more engaging custom social experiences for their members.

Ning Network Creator Manny Hernandez notes, “I was glad to learn the details about the new price options. They cover a broad range of Network Creator needs, including a low-cost option aimed at nonprofits and individuals. Ning has been a great solution for us on TuDiabetes and EsTuDiabetes, where we use most of the current premium services they offer. I find the new Ning Pro option a great deal and a good fit for our needs and budget.”

Feature-rich platforms

The Ning Platform offers a host of powerful features for Network Creators; including blogs, photos, forum tools, branded media players, extensive design controls and integration with other leading social media services.

Over the coming months Ning will roll out even more ways for Network Creators to enhance their networks, including the following updates:

The ability to replace the Ning ID with a custom sign-in system, as well as support for authentication with Facebook, Twitter and more
New APIs to enable mobile and desktop application development opportunities
Increased design flexibility through additional homepage text boxes and RSS modules, as well as improved header and footer control
Network Creator controls to enable access to premium content
Reporting and analytics around member usage, content and demographics
New Product Packages

Ning Pro: As Ning’s flagship product, Ning Pro is the right choice for Creators who are serious about building a comprehensive social experience and need flexibility, integration and support. Ning Pro Networks offer unlimited membership, full control over branding, multimedia options including music uploads and branded players, and advanced customization. Price: $49.95 / month or $ 499.95/ year
Ning Plus: Ning Plus offers a robust set of tools and features to grow a highly-engaged, branded social network. Ning Plus Networks provide unlimited membership, full control over branding, and features including events, groups, chat, pages and Ning Apps. Network Creators using Ning Plus will also have advanced customization options that include the ability to edit CSS, add Javascript and make use of a Language Editor. Price: $19.95 / month or $199.95 / year
Ning Mini: Ning Mini is the fastest and simplest way to start social networks for a classroom, small non-profit or family group, giving organizers the ability to create a social network in under 30 seconds. Networks using Ning Mini have access to Ning’s core features including, blogs, photos, forums and video embeds, and the added ability to run custom advertising. Price: $2.95 / month or $19.95 / year
Current Network Creators will have the opportunity to select the package that is right for them within 30 days of the July rollout. Those choosing to migrate from the Ning platform will be provided with the time and tools to export their members and content using standards-based data feeds.

About Ning

Ning is the leading online platform for the world’s organizers, activists and influencers to create social experiences that inspire action. Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Ning offers an easy-to-use service that enables people to create custom branded social networks. With more than 300,000 active Ning Networks created across politics, entertainment, small business, non-profits, education and more, millions of people every day are coming together across Ning to connect around the topics they are passionate about. Ning was co-founded in October 2004 by Chairman Marc Andreessen and is privately held. For more information, visit www.ning.com

Vesta Digital LLC announces IntelBuilder 2.2 version update that integrates all aspects of online marketing tools and brings them into one powerful web based application framework.

IntelBuilder Social Media Website Platform is the first platform that offers web content management system (CMS), social media marketing, and sales lead tracking with strong reporting and measuring tools. In addition, this website platform comes with built-in search engine optimization (SEO) and business modules that help generate traffic and retain customers on your website.

Key Features
IntelBuilder is a content management system and social media platform for publishing and distributing content on the web. It is designed for easy control and maintenance and allows you to effortlessly add content pages, edit existing content and remove outdated material from your website.

With IntelBuilder users are able to automatically distribute and aggregate web content throughout the Internet – on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, WordPress, Blogger, RSS Feeds, Digg, Delicious – and other social networking and bookmarking websites – with the touch of a button. The visibility and exposure of your content increases over 200%.

IntelBuilder 2.2 offers rich reporting tools such as measuring and monitoring of online conversations taking place on the website. A blog module that comes with this platform is built into your website and unlike WordPress, is a branded part of the website. Content and Blog administrators are notified of every new conversation taking place on a blog post and therefore are able to automatically engage with that user, auto-follow and send them custom “thank you” message. This active participation creates more meaningful conversations and builds a “true” audience with users who have taken interest or liking to in the company’s product or service.

“IntelBuilder 2.2 Social Media Website Platform gives you capabilities that no other social media platform has. These new enhancements further enrich a very extensive software program and create a more engaging social media experience for their customers,” says Artem Gassan, CEO of Vesta Digital.

About Vesta Digital
Vesta Digital creates, develops and implements web-based software solutions that help businesses of all sizes to enhance productivity by increasing efficiency and overall profitability.

www.vestadigital.com