AOL offers presence to bloggers

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AOL offers presence to bloggers


AOL seems to have its sights set on the blogosphere. After the news today of AOL purchasing Weblogs, Inc, AOL is now offering online presence capability for its millions of AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) users to be use in conjunction with online blogs. As part of promoting this new feature, AOL has partnered with Six Apart (MovableType & TypePad), Facebook, Inc., LinkedIn Corporation., and Glam.com. I should mention that Skype already offers the capability to show your presence on a web page. Although the news release promotes the chat capabilities more than voice capabilities, no doubt AOL has voice in mind and helping to connect people via voice. They even have the SMB market in mind as seen by this promo image they sent me showing how you can connect with a realtor:


Check out the news release.


In concert with our CEO Jon Miller's fireside chat at the Web 2.0 event, we are announcing several new partners for the AIM service, and rolling out a new free AIM Presence licensing program that will give any blogger, podcaster, consumer or small business the ability to add AIM presence and the AIM service to their Web site.

This free presence availability promises to light up user-generated and independent commercial sites alike, enabling real time communications with audiences and customers via the largest IM network in the U.S.

AOL'S AIM SERVICE TEAMS WITH FACEBOOK, LINKEDIN, SIX APART AND GLAM.COM TO BRING PEOPLE TOGETHER IN REAL-TIME

Invites Bloggers, Podcasters, Consumers and Small Business Owners to Add AIM Presence to Their Web Sites with Free Licensing From AIM.com

Dulles, VA - October 6, 2005 - Top blogging, media and social networking services are teaming up with AOL to bring the AIM service directly into their communities, integrating users' online status and giving them one-click access to real time communications whenever they like. AOL's new partners, including Facebook, Inc., LinkedIn Corporation., Six Apart, Inc. and Glam.com, Inc. join a growing list of sites and services that are integrating AIM 'presence' and the massive reach of the AOL network to let users see when friends, family members, colleagues and contacts are available for text, live voice and/or streaming video chat ( http://www.aim.com ).

Today AOL also announced that it is giving bloggers, podcasters, consumers and small businesses the ability to add AIM presence and one-click access to the AIM® service to their Web sites free of charge. Called AIM® Presence ( http://www.aim.com/presence ), the new program offers a free distribution license and lets sites and services publish AIM presence by simply cutting and pasting a line of HTML code into their Web pages. The program uses the familiar Running Man icon to indicate presence so that visitors can see when others are online and available to communicate.

"The AIM service should be everywhere our users are and want to be, from blogs and shopping sites to professional and social networking services," said Chamath Palihapitiya, vice president and general manager, AIM and ICQ, America Online, Inc. "With the new AIM Presence program, we are taking this commitment to a deeper level, enabling everyone from bloggers and podcasters to small businesses to tap our network's reach and connect with key audiences in real time."

Facebook, LinkedIn, Six Apart, Glam.com Join Growing List of AIM-Enabled Communities.
Effective today, Facebook ( http://www.facebook.com ), an online directory that connects people through social networks at high schools, universities and colleges, has selected AOL to be its exclusive provider of instant messaging and presence technologies. Facebook will build AIM presence and the AIM service into users' profile pages on Facebook.com, enabling them to share online status and initiate IM sessions from within the service.

In addition, AOL has selected LinkedIn, a network that enables professionals to find jobs, people and opportunities through their existing network of business relationships, as its preferred provider of business profiles for the AIM service. In turn, AOL will be the sole provider of instant messaging services for LinkedIn (http://www.linkedin.com ), which will integrate AIM presence to enable its 3.8 million users to communicate with their connections in real time. AIM users will be able to add their LinkedIn connections to their AIM® Buddy List® feature with one click, and to instantly invite contacts from their AIM Buddy List feature to connect on LinkedIn.

Also announced today, Six Apart ( http://www.sixapart.com ), a leading provider of weblogging (blogging) software and services best known for its Movable Type publishing platform, TypePad service and LiveJournal community, has formalized its integration of the AIM service within its growing community. Under the agreement, Six Apart will empower its over 11 million bloggers to share their AIM presence information on their blogs so that readers, fellow bloggers and media can easily be in touch.

Finally, Glam.com ( http://www.glam.com ), a new web site offering magazine-quality fashion and beauty editorial with embedded e-commerce, has selected the AIM service as its exclusive real time communications partner. Glam.com will give its users the ability to register their AIM® Screen Name as part of their Glam profile and will give them the ability to connect via text, voice or video for a more social shopping experience. Glam will also add an "IM this" button to its pages to let users share images and links to hot finds or great deals, making the online shopping experience more fun and interactive.

AOL extends its commitment to connecting communities.
Facebook, LinkedIn, Six Apart and Glam.com join ranks with Apple Computer, Inc., Plaxo, Inc., IPCelerate, Inc., Intellisync Corporation, CareerBuilder, Inc., Ruckus Network, Inc., Pivot Solutions and Thomson Financial in connecting communities of IM users. These sites users' will also be able to chat with at-work IM users on enterprise networks from members of the AIM® Enterprise Federation program, including Jabber, Inc., Parlano, Inc., Antepo, Inc., Omnipod, Inc., Reuters, Inc. and Microsoft Corporation.

To learn more about the new free AIM Presence licensing program for individuals and small businesses, please go to ( http://www.aim.com/presence/faq.adp ). To learn more about AIM's commercial presence program, please contact [email protected].

About The AIM® Service
With more than 42 million active users in the U.S. alone, the AIM® service ( http://www.aim.com ) is at the center of one of the largest and most dynamic online communities. The AIM service is an integrated communications client that is available for use on computers, mobile phones and other handheld devices. It offers instant messaging, email and mobile texting as well as a variety of voice calling and streaming video services. Features include a Plaxo-enabled AIM® Address Book and integrated access to the AOL® Explorer, AOL® Mail, AIM® Mail, AIM® Talk and AOL® TotalTalk services.

About America Online, Inc.
America Online, Inc. is a wholly owned subsidiary of Time Warner Inc. Based in Dulles, Virginia, America Online is the world's leader in interactive services, Web brands, Internet technologies and e-commerce services.

Media Contact:
Krista Thomas
America Online, Inc.
703.265.5880,
[email protected]

All company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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P R E S S R E L E A S E

Glam.com and AOL Team to Let Women Shop Together Online

New Interactive Fashion and Shopping Site Taps the AIM Service to Offer Shoppers Real-Time Communications

San Francisco Oct. 6, 2005 Glam.com, the first website to offer magazine-quality fashion and beauty editorial with embedded e-commerce, enabling women to purchase virtually any featured merchandise, today announced that it has entered into an agreement with AOL. Under the terms of the agreement, Glam will integrate the AIM service into the Glam.com site and make real-time text, voice and video communications available to all Glam users. Using the AIM service on Glam.com, visitors will be able to share links to merchandise they find on Glam and chat about the items, browsing and shopping together online similar to the way women do in real life.

Women browsing and shopping on Glam.com will now be able to see when friends or other shoppers are visiting Glam.com, and will be able to connect in real time through the AIM® service. Shoppers will be able to send each other instant messages with product images and links, letting them look at fashion items together, give their opinions, weigh in on purchase decisions and, for the first time ever, re-create online the experience of shopping together at their favorite store.

Glam.com will also have regularly scheduled AIM® live chats with fashion designers, professional stylists, retail buyers and editors, so that users can chat with the designers themselves about their new collections, ask stylists for tips on products, and hear from retail buyers about upcoming trends.

"Working with AOL to offer the AIM service to our user base reinforces our commitment to continually enhance Glam.com's revolutionary approach to online shopping," said Fernando Ruarte, co-founder and vice president of Products at Glam.com. "Now, Glam.com users can have a unique, fun and convenient experience shopping online with friends, enjoying the social pleasures of shopping that were previously limited to the offline world."

"Shopping is a very social activity, and people like to bounce fashion ideas off of friends before they buy. We are extremely pleased to be joining forces with Glam to bring that fun offline experience to life on the Web," said Chamath Palihapitya, vice president and general manager of AIM and ICQ, America Online, Inc. "With high-quality voice and video services now fully integrated, the AIM service will let Glam shoppers chat in any way they like, with friends old and new."

Features and Benefits:

Glam.com visitors can use the AIM service within Glam.com
Glam.com will be seamless integrated with the U.S.'s #1 Instant Messaging network
New Glam.com users get an AIM® account and Screen Name when they register at Glam
Users can see their Shopping Buddies on Glam and, with one click, invite them to shop together co-browsing the Glam.com site and looking at pages together
Users can see, and shop with, any member who is online on Glam
Users can send and receive any Glam.com pages to each other and to any AIM user
Users can also use the Mobile AIM service for shopping

Log on to www.glam.com for additional information.

About Glam.com
Glam Media, with offices in the San Francisco Bay Area and New York, is one of the first companies to bring together the worlds of high technology, fashion, and publishing. Glam has built a category-creating website that completely alters the online shopping experience. Glam Media is backed by the blue-chip venture capital firms of Accel Partners, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Walden VC and Information Capital. Glam Media, Inc. is led by seasoned executives from media, publishing, technology, and fashion companies such as Armani, eBay, NetObjects, Tickle, Versace and Yahoo. The editorial staff of the company is led by professionals from Vogue, In Style, Elle, Harper's Bazaar, The New York Times, and Ziff Davis.

Media Contact:
A Glam / Spark contact should go here.

All company and product names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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P R E S S R E L E A S E


LinkedIn and AOL Form Agreement to Enhance Business Communication Via Profile Integration and Presence Services

LinkedIn becomes preferred provider of business profiles for the AIM service; enables its users to see when their connections are available for real-time dialogue

Palo Alto, Calif. [October 6, 2005] LinkedIn Corporation, operator of the world's largest business network, today announced that it has signed an agreement with America Online, Inc. to integrate its AIM® service into LinkedIn to provide LinkedIn users with AIM presence information, so that they can easily see when their LinkedIn connections are online and available for real-time communications.

This new capability for instant text, voice and video communication will give the more than 3.8 million LinkedIn users a new way to maintain and strengthen their relationships with relevant business contacts, such as clients, business partners and former co-workers.

Under the agreement, LinkedIn also becomes the preferred provider of business profiles for the AIM service, enabling AOL® members and AIM® users to integrate their LinkedIn profiles into their AIM® profiles. The more than 41 million active AIM users will also be able to add their LinkedIn connections to their AIM® Buddy Lists® with one click and will also be able to instantly invite contacts from their AIM Buddy Lists to connect on LinkedIn.

Meanwhile, LinkedIn will enable its users to register their AOL® or AIM® Screen Names with LinkedIn and detect when their connections are online and available for real-time communication through the AIM service. LinkedIn users will also be able to invite their LinkedIn connections to join the AIM service, so that they can detect their connections' presence on LinkedIn and converse with them in real time. Both AOL and LinkedIn will make the integrated features available at no additional charge to their users. The AIM service as well as Personal accounts on LinkedIn will continue to be free.

"LinkedIn is a best-in-class service that will make it easier for AIM users to stay up-to-date with their professional colleagues," said Chamath Palihapitiya, vice president and general manager for AIM and ICQ at America Online, Inc. "Through this agreement, we are bringing real-time communications to the largest business network on the Web, giving people instant text, voice and video access to their network of colleagues and existing business partners."

"We chose AIM as it is already the most popular instant messaging service among our user base of 3.8 million business professionals," said Reid Hoffman, CEO of LinkedIn. "By providing AIM presence information within LinkedIn, we provide our members with another vehicle for maintaining and strengthening existing business relationships."

About LinkedIn Corporation
LinkedIn is the world's largest and most effective business network. On LinkedIn, more than 3.8 million professionals find jobs, people and business opportunities through their existing network of trusted business relationships. LinkedIn offers four premium services. Hiring managers posting jobs on LinkedIn Jobs (https://www.linkedin.com/jobs) receive candidates recommended by fellow employees or other trusted contacts. More than 230,000 service providers listed in the LinkedIn Services business-to-business directory (https://www.linkedin.com/services) have an opportunity to be at the top of the search results when contacts of their former clients search for recommended service providers. More than 950 membership organizations use LinkedIn for Groups (https://www.linkedin.com/groups) to strengthen connections between members and develop greater loyalty to the organization. LinkedIn Business Accounts (https://www.linkedin.com/business) enable recruiters and researches to search beyond their personal networks and get in touch with job candidates and experts more quickly and efficiently. LinkedIn Corporation is located in Palo Alto, Calif. and is funded by Greylock and Sequoia Capital, the venture capitalists behind Google, Yahoo!, Cisco and Apple.



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