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Social Platforms for Publishers: Monetizing the Social Graph

Image of Ken Doctor

Author: Ken Doctor, Affiliate Analyst

Social networking is one of the top “must-master” initiatives for publishers. It’s not a fad, but a new way that most readers will incorporate in their news and information habits. The companies featured in this report have seen this publishing opportunity and moved on it. While there are literally dozens of social network platform providers out there, this report focuses on the six that we believe are the most important providers of social networking platforms to publishers: Jive Software, KickApps, Mzinga, Ning, Pluck, and ThePort. This report contains:

- Company highlights, including estimated revenue, web measures, business models, and key products for each of the six companies profiled;
- Analysis of how these companies’ business models and business targeting continue to differ while their product sets are similar;
- An overview of the competitive landscape;
- Threats and opportunities facing these companies;
- Essential actions for publishers seeking to choose a social networking partner.


Pub Date: March 19, 2009
Type: Company AnalyAsis
Segments: B2B ITTRRS MRRS NEWS STM SAS ALL CF E & T HR LTR T & C
Keywords: Advertising, Business Models, Company Profile, Web 2.0
Pages: 33
Format: PDF Application_pdf

We provide a link to download a PDF at the end of the purchase process.

Table of Contents

  • Why These Companies?
    1. Methodology
  • Company Highlights
  • What Makes Jive Software, KickApps, Mzinga, Ning, Pluck, and ThePort Unique?
    1. Product Sets
    2. Business Considerations
  • Competitive Landscape
    1. Competitors
  • Threats and Opportunities
    1. Threats
    2. Opportunities
  • Essential Actions
  • Related Research
  • Appendix: Company at a Glance

    • Tables & Figures

  • Figure 1. New Doc2Doc, Published by British Medical Journal, Powered by Pluck
  • Table 1. Jive Software at a Glance
  • Table 2. KickApps Corporation at a Glance
  • Table 3. Mzinga at a Glance
  • Table 4. Ning at a Glance
  • Table 5. Pluck Corporation at a Glance
  • Table 6. The Port Network, Inc. at a Glance
  • Figure 2. KickApp’s Social Graph Engine
  • Figure 3. USA Today Page Shows Thousands of Comments
  • Table 7. Social Network Product Feature Listing
  • Figure 4. Mzinga’s Higher-End Business Proposition
  • Figure 5. ThePort’s New Social Market Makes the Commerce Link More Direct
  • Figure 6. Jive Software Bridging Module, Connecting Customers and Staff
  • Table 8. Business Considerations

Companies Mentioned

  1. BMJ Publishing Group Ltd.
  2. Clickability, Inc.
  3. Gannett Co., Inc.
  4. Jive Software
  5. KickApps Corporation
  6. Lee Enterprises, Inc.
  7. Mzinga
  8. Ning, Inc.
  9. Pluck Corporation
  10. Ripple6, Inc.
  11. ThePort Network, Inc.
  12. USA Today