KickApps Enables Mobile User-Generated Content Authoring

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--KickApps, the leading hosted social media platform, today announced new, Mobile User-Generated Content (UGC) Authoring functionality for sites powered by the KickApps platform. As the first white label social media platform to break free from the limitations of PC-based content uploads, photos and videos can now be captured and quickly shared on their favorite KickApps enabled social media site with one click, using mobile devices that support media capture.

“Using KickApps’ new mobile UGC feature is an essential part of our model to engage our viewers as news is happening and create strong brand loyalty”

This announcement follows the company’s earlier announcements about its platform’s compatibility with the iPhone’s Safari browser and easy web cam media capture that has been allowing millions to easily create video blogs and make video posts on KickApps powered message boards.

“By supporting mobile phone media capture we've expanded user-generated content authoring to a new and very broad community,” said Alex Blum, CEO of KickApps. “Together with today’s announcement about our collaboration with VeriSign to design and develop new multi-screen solutions that will work on the broadest set of mobile devices and networks across the world, KickApps continues to set the bar for the industry around innovative new features that further eliminate the barriers for both publishers and their communities."

One of the inaugural clients to take advantage of the Mobile UGC Authoring functionality is the Cleveland-based, CBS affiliate, 19ActionNews. The station’s popular citizen journalism site, “See It, Snap It, Send It” allows members to submit user-generated content from their mobile devices, populating the site with breaking news as it happens. In the two months since implementation, UGC powered by KickApps now accounts for approximately 46 percent of 19ActionNews.com’s unique visitors and the site has experienced a nearly 8X jump in site traffic since its launch.

“Using KickApps’ new mobile UGC feature is an essential part of our model to engage our viewers as news is happening and create strong brand loyalty,” said Adam Clark, web producer at WOIO-TV/WUAB-TV. “By powering our ‘See It, Snap It, Send It’ platform, KickApps provides our viewers with an unmatched online social experience which consistently offers innovative turn-key functionality.”

To use the new mobile feature, a site’s members create a unique email address in their member profile page that serves as the upload destination. The member simply sends photos or videos as an attachment to that address from their mobile device. The subject line of the email becomes the photo or video’s title and the body of the email becomes the content’s description. This convenient process results in a continuous social media experience for the end user and further deepens the white label relationship with KickApps.

To learn more about this solution and receive a demonstration of the KickApps application, visit the KickApps kiosk in the VeriSign booth at CTIA Wireless IT & Entertainment, October 23 – 25, Booth 1008 in Hall C, Moscone Center, San Francisco, CA.

The KickApps hosted social media platform allows publishers to easily create and deploy social and rich media powered online communities on their existing websites. The white label platform is highly customizable to match the look and feel of the publisher’s website and is anchored around social networking, user-generated content, programmable video players, widgets for content syndication, and a content and community management backbone.

About KickApps

Based in New York City, KickApps provides on demand social media applications that enable web publishers and marketers to quickly and easily grow, engage and monetize their online audiences. Current customers include: Scripps Network Interactive, VIBE Magazine, HBO, Cinemax, BET Networks, Kraft Foods, P&G, The Arena Football League, among many others. For more information, please visit www.kickapps.com.