KickApps

Last updated
KickApps Corporation
Private
Industry Internet, Computer software
Founded2005
Headquarters26 W 17th Street, 2nd Floor, New York, NY, 10011, U.S.A.
Key people
Alex Blum, CEO
Eric Alterman, Chairman
Website www.kickapps.com

KickApps is a hosted platform for creating social networks and adding social software features, video players [1] and widgets [2] to websites. More than 100,000 sites use KickApps, including major media companies (e.g. NBC Universal, The BBC, H&R Block, and Scripps Networks) and a wide variety of niche websites. [3]

Social software, also known as Web 2.0 applications or social apps, include communication and interactive tools often based on the Internet. Communication tools typically handle the capturing, storing and presentation of communication, usually written but increasingly including audio and video as well. Interactive tools handle mediated interactions between a pair or group of users. They focus on establishing and maintaining a connection among users, facilitating the mechanics of conversation and talk. Although we do not have a generally accepted definition, social software generally refers to software that makes collaborative behaviour, the organisation and moulding of communities, self-expression, social interaction and feedback possible for individuals. Another important element of the existing definition of "social software" is that it allows for the structured mediation of opinion between people, in a centralized or self-regulating manner. The most improved area for social software is that Web 2.0 applications can all promote cooperation between people and the creation of online communities more than ever before.

A web widget is a web page or web application that is embedded as an element of a host web page but which is substantially independent of the host page, having limited or no interaction with the host. A web widget commonly provides users of the host page access to resources from another web site, content that the host page may be prevented from accessing itself by the browser's same-origin policy or the content provider's CORS policy. That content includes advertising, sponsored external links (Taboola), user comments (Disqus), social media buttons (Twitter), Facebook), news, and weather (AccuWeather). Some web widgets though serve as user-selectable customizations of the host page itself.

H&R Block American tax preparation company

H&R Block, Inc., or H&R Block, is an American tax preparation company operating in North America, Australia, and India. The company was founded in 1955 by brothers Henry W. Bloch and Richard Bloch.

Contents

The KickApps company was acquired in January 2011 by KIT digital. Then, in December 2012, the company was acquired again by Perfect Sense Digital.

Features

KickApps is a hosted platform (SaaS) that provides a range of social media applications to website developers and publishers that accelerate deployment of more sophisticated and costly applications such as social networking, user-generated content, media management and sharing, social marketing solutions, employee social communication, profiles, premium video players, webcam applications and widgets.

User-generated content Online content created by users

User-generated content (UGC), alternatively known as user-created content (UCC), is any form of content, such as images, videos, text and audio, that have been posted by users on online platforms such as social media and wikis. The term "user-generated content" and the concept it refers to entered mainstream usage in the mid-2000s, having arisen in web publishing and new media content production circles. The BBC adopted a user-generated content platform for its websites in 2005, and TIME Magazine named "You" as the Person of the Year in 2006, referring to the rise in the production of UGC on Web 2.0 platforms. CNN also invested in developed a similar user generated content platform, known as iReport. There are several other examples of news channels implementing similar protocols, especially in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe or terrorist attack. Social media users are able to provide key eye witness content and information that may otherwise have been inaccessible. Due to new media and technology affordances, such as low cost and low barriers to entry, the Internet is an easy platform to create and dispense user generated content, allowing the dissemination of information at a rapid pace in the wake an event taking place. However, UGC is not solely limited to mainstream news or media.

A SaaS platform allows websites to deploy a wide range of user experiences in a variety of ways: REST and SOAP APIs, feeds, programmable widgets and video players, customizable templates and single-sign services.

KickApps is often compared with Brightcove, [1] Flux [4] and Ning. [5]

Brightcove, Inc. is a Boston, Massachusetts–based software company that produces an online video platform.

Ning is an online platform for people and organizations to create custom social networks. Ning was co-founded by Marc Andreessen and Gina Bianchini and launched in October 2005. By June 2011 there were over 90,000 social websites running on the Ning Platform.

Founder and Chairman, Eric Alterman, was also founder of MeshNetworks (acquired by Motorola), Military Commercial Technologies, TeraNex, SkyCross, Jed Broadcasting, Quadfore, Centerpoint and Triton Network Systems

In January 2011, KickApps was acquired by KIT digital.

Venture Funding

Spark Capital

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References

  1. 1 2 CMS Wire - KickApps: Kicking off Video Deal with Akamai - August 19, 2008
  2. ↑ Mashable: KickApps and Clearspring Team Up to Monetize Social Widgets - June 10, 2008
  3. 1 2 TechCrunch: KickApps Actually Raises $14 Million In Series C Round - November 25, 2008
  4. ↑ TechCrunch: MTV Networks Buys The Rest Of DIY Social Networking Platform Flux (Social Project) - September 22, 2008
  5. ↑ TechCrunch: Nine Ways to Build Your Own Social Network - July 24 2007
  6. ↑ Red Herring: KickApps Draws in Dollars - August 14, 2007
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