• by Tameka Kee , September 9, 2008

Discovery Communications' newest network, Planet Green, went live in June--but the media giant launched the online counterpart, PlanetGreen.com, first.

San Jose, Calif.-based Interwoven is the tech firm behind the Web site's content management system (CMS), which features social media capabilities like content tagging, discussion boards and forums, as well as rich media modules. The company announced the news in conjunction with the release of upgrades to a pair of its CMS tools, Interwoven TeamSite and Interwoven LiveSite.

TeamSite simplifies the Web site creation and content uploading process, and now offers publishers more than 90 building blocks (like navigation bars and rich media players) that they can plug into a site or landing page. Discovery used the product to help PlanetGreen.com's contributors create and deploy the site's content, as well as Interwoven MetaTagger, a content tagging tool, which enabled the media giant to categorize and tag articles across its entire network.

The PlanetGreen.com team also used the social media features bundled into Interwoven's CMS platforms (through a partnership with Austin, Texas-based Pluck) to add comments, hosted forums and discussion groups to the site. "With Interwoven, our web producers can post fresh content quickly, and surface related content to engage our viewers and help turn visitors into registered active community members," said Patrick Gardella, director of online architecture at Discovery Communications.

Meanwhile, Interwoven also upgraded LiveSite, its content segmenting product. The new version allows publishers to serve visitors specific content based on information detected like the time of day, geography, browser type or the search term they arrived from. "We believe Interwoven's content management solutions can make Web marketers far more effective and efficient," said Ben Kiker, Interwoven's CMO. "They can experiment and continually enhance their online presence, provided they can move quickly and listen to their customers."