Pluck Corporation, a social media
services provider, today is expected to announce two big client wins: The RealNetworks owned Film.com, and the RealNetworks-operated Rollingstone.com.
Based in Austin, Texas, Pluck
licenses white-label social networking tools to a number of top publisher clients, including Hearst, Meredith and The Washington Post.
Pluck's SiteLife service facilitates reader blogs,
photo sharing, content ratings, reader comments, and forums, while its BlogBurst blog syndication network serves up content to major news outlets, magazines and broadcast networks worldwide.
"We
help publishers make the crucial transition from read-only sites, to read-and-write sites," explained Pluck's Director of Products Adam Weinroth.
RollingStone.com is utilizing Pluck SiteLife to
power its recently relaunched forums, giving readers a place to rant about music, movies and politics.
On Film.com, Pluck SiteLife is enabling real-time conversation on movies, television, and
pop culture as well as discovery modules highlighting the most popular and most commented stories for site visitors.
The two sites are responsible for combined monthly audiences of more than 10
million unique visitors--but not any visitors, according to Weinroth.
"Their audiences are really Web-savvy and completely immersed in the latest social networking tools," he said. As a result,
Weinroth added, "it's incumbent upon us to really deliver a seamless and powerful social experience."
Last year, Pluck helped the Gannett-owned USA Today to successfully relaunch its Web
site as a social network laden with video, blogs, dynamic content-sharing and recommendation tools. In just a month, the site saw a dramatic 380% increase in registrations, while its unique visitor
rates grew 21%, according to Nielsen//NetRatings.
In March, media holding company Demand Media acquired Pluck for a reported $75 million in cash. Pluck previously raised $10 million in two rounds
of funding in late 2004.
Demand Media, which was founded by former MySpace CEO Richard Rosenblatt, has been busy picking up content sites and other new media companies. It secured $100 million in
financing last September, bringing its total investment to $320 million.
In 2004, RealNetworks took over operations of RollingStone.com per a seven-year global licensing agreement with Rolling
Stone owner Wenner Media.
Film.com, meanwhile, was originally founded in 1994 by Seattle film critic Lucy Mohl as an independent voice of film commentary online. Then, early last year,
RealNetworks took the reins and relaunched Film.com as a platform for film previews, movie trailers, DVD releases, and coverage of TV programming and celebrity news.
Other Pluck clients include
Circuit City, Conde Nast, Discovery Communications, The Economist, and Fox News.