Userplane to Release APIs Supporting Google’s OpenSocial Standard

November 15, 2007; 09:59 AM

SANTA MONICA, Calif.--Userplane (www.userplane.com), the premier application platform for online communities and a wholly owned subsidiary of AOL, today announced that the company will be releasing OpenSocial APIs -- allowing OpenSocial application developers to integrate Userplane apps, such as Webchat, Webmessenger and Webrecorder, within their applications.

These products can be completely integrated into the OpenSocial ecosystem, giving developers access to integrate any Userplane app into their OpenSocial application. Userplane also will release OpenSocial applications of its own, to showcase Userplane technology. For more information, visit www.userplane.com/plugins.

In addition, application developers can use the Userplane Money API to deliver ads within their OpenSocial applications. The revenue sharing system provides virtually instant payout for any volume of display ad units. Currently, Userplane serves tens of millions of daily ad impressions for Facebook developers, providing a very attractive and stable monetization strategy.

“Our goal with open platforms is to help developers engage their audiences with easy-to-integrate products that also provide revenue,” said Michael Jones, CEO of Userplane and senior vice president of AOL. “OpenSocial is a great new standard for developers to grow their businesses, and we’re glad to support this effort. We released our Facebook API a few months back and now support many applications within that environment. We expect the same success with OpenSocial.”

Last week Google unveiled its new OpenSocial standard -- a common set of APIs that developers can use to create applications that work on any social network or website that chooses to participate. With standard JavaScript and HTML, developers can create apps that access a social network's friends and update feeds.

Userplane offers customizable publisher tools, such as live IM and chat, that can be added to any site for free, simply by cutting and pasting a few lines of code or implementing a more custom install via an XML API. Userplane serves unobtrusive ads in its players, and splits the proceeds with participating publishers.

Earlier this year Userplane released its own Facebook application, and made Userplane Money available to anyone developing applications for Facebook. The move enabled developers to earn money with the widgets they make available to users of the popular social networking site.

About Userplane

www.userplane.com

A wholly owned subsidiary of AOL, Userplane is the world’s premier communication platform for online communities. The company’s hosted applications enable instant community and communication for websites of any scale and audience. The combination of instant and elegant with robust and powerful has made the platform a must-have for thriving sites worldwide -- supporting millions of daily users. Founded in 2001 by long-time partners Michael Jones, Nate Thelen, and Javier Hall, Userplane is a diverse and talented team headquartered in Santa Monica, Calif.