Wetpaint Press Room - Recently Updated Pages

Alex Berg

alexberg — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 03:12:34 CST

VICE PRESIDENT, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT

Alex Berg began his career in website design and user experience at the Disney web portal Infoseek Corporation, where he held a number of key site management roles. From 1996 to 1999, Alex worked on various high-profile sites, including ABC.com, NBA.com, and Oscar.com. In 1999, Alex moved to England, where he worked at Sportal Ltd. (formerly Pangolin Ltd.), one of the UK’s leading sports websites. While there, Alex hired, trained, and managed the production team for consumer content and online apparel.

Alex then moved back to the States to work for Blue Nile, Inc., an online retailer of certified diamonds and fine jewelry. As the Director of Website Development, Alex dramatically increased site conversion and sales and also managed two major site redesigns that resulted in significant revenue gains for the company.

Alex left Blue Nile to take a position as Creative Director overseeing Expedia.com's editorial and design teams. After defining Expedia’s visual merchandizing strategy for a retail site experience, he spearheaded the first significant site redesign in five years.

Alex holds graduate certificates in Business Administration and Product Management from the University of Washington and Berkeley as well as a B.A. in History with an English Minor from Washington State University.

For more on Alex check out his LinkedIn page.

Last Wetpaint site I created:

The Ultimate James Bond Wiki

Welcome to the Wetpaint Press Room

wetpaint — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 15:41:27 CST

The latest news from Wetpaint and other helpful company information.

Press Releases

The latest Wetpaint press releases:

See all news releases

CEO, Ben Elowitz on Wetpaint

Wetpaint Partners

Take a look at some of the big names using Wetpaint to create community here! Wetpaint Partners

Wetpaint in the News

See what everyone is saying:

CNET News - The biggest brands on the Web
TechCrunch - The Most Engaged Brands On The Web
MediaPost - Brands Need Fans, Not Friends
The Hollywood Reporter - 'True Blood' tops new TV fandom ranking system
USA Today - Flash activists use social media to drum up support
TechCrunch - MSN Picks Wetpaint To Add A Fresh Coat To Its Entertainment Pages
BusinessWeek - Wetpaint's Ben Elowitz: How to improve BusinessExchange
Xconomy - Ontela, Visible, Wetpaint Win WTIA Awards
Social Times - Wetpaint Adds Premium Features to Drop the Ads
USA Today - New tech start-ups can rise from the economy's ashes
MediaPost - HBO Digs Teeth Into 'True Blood' Fans
CNET - Wetpaint Injected User Content to Old-Fashioned Web Sites

See all news stories

Wetpaint Company Overview

Wetpaint Awards & Honors

See Wetpaint getting recognized:

2009 AO Global Top 250 Private Tech Companies by AlwaysOn & STVP

WTIA Achievement Awards Consumer Product of the Year

2008 AO Global Top 250 Private Tech Companies by AlwaysOn & STVP

Best in Digital Media by Washington Technology Industry Association.

OnHollywood's100 Top Private Companies.

Time names Wetpaint a Top 50 Website of 2007.

Best Wikis (Hosted) by SEOmoz two years in a row.

TV Fandex First to Measure “Engagement” Rather Than Just Viewership of Popular TV Programming

wetpaint — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:42:37 CST

Initial Fandex Rankings Show Most Engaged Viewers Spend up to 5 Hours a Week Discussing a Single Episode; Weeds, House, True Blood, Command Some of the Highest and Most Sustained Online Engagement

June 22, 2009 – Wetpaint released today the Wetpaint TV Fandex, the first-ever measurement tool that gauges “online engagement” with popular TV programs rather than just measuring size of viewing audience.

Measured from sources including Facebook, Twitter, Google, and Wetpaint fansites, the rankings are generated through an algorithm that tracks consumption and creation of content and fan buzz. The TV Fandex is calibrated to measure both the online footprint of popular shows with a large established fan base, as well as the velocity of emerging TV shows as they generate early online buzz.

“It’s clear there is a fundamental decentralization underway in how consumers experience TV programming, but the measurement tools have remained substantially the same.” said Ben Elowitz, CEO, Wetpaint. “Fans now have the tools to connect and evangelize and they are using them with gusto. The TV Fandex provides networks and producers with the first gauge of the winners and losers in creating and retaining an online audience.”

Wetpaint provides an easy way for fans and brands to create fansites where consumers can share their knowledge, connect with others, and create an authentic community. The Wetpaint network of more than 1.5 million websites is dominated by TV and entertainment. A recent survey indicated that more than 30 percent of fans on Wetpaint fansites spend more than five hours a week connecting with other fans on subjects related to their favorite show.

Amid the shift towards an audience that consumes content when and where it wants, TV programmers are proactively pursuing their top fans and recognizing that the online audience has the power to drive conversations about their brand. Fans have proven to be the most durable asset entertainment companies have, and those same fans are essential when it comes to evangelizing and spreading awareness for the brands they’re passionate about.

Highlights From the Wetpaint Fandex 100 Include:

• Mystery, suspense, surprise result in longer tails. Programs with big reveals, surprise twists, or dramatic finales see enormous spikes in online fan activity, often with a prolonged echo effect.
• Sci-Fi and supernatural genre shows can quickly gain ground even before they premiere. New sci-fi shows like Dollhouse and Fringe ramp up quickly to rival established hits like Lost and Supernatural in online momentum and, in many cases, before the program even premieres.
• Premium series can inspire year-round fan activity. Fans of shows like True Blood and The Tudors remain engaged online long after the show’s season finale and throughout the course of the off-season.
• Reality shows are hot mid-season but then online engagement drops sharply after finales. American Idol and Dancing with the Stars see a slew of online fan activity during the show’s broadcast as the audience is highly engaged while watching. Online buzz for these shows has a tendency to surge with the arc of the season and drop off abruptly after the finale.

The TV Fandex 100 rankings will be updated weekly to reflect the real-time changes in audience interest and attention. Updates can be found at the Fandex website, www.fandex.com, as well as on Twitter at www.twitter.com/tvfandex.

Wetpaint Fandex 100 Top 10 (Week of June 22nd)

1. True Blood
2. NCIS
3. House
4. Weeds
5. Supernatural
6. Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles
7. Bones
8. The Mentalist
9. The Tudors
10. Gossip Girl

Methodology
The TV Fandex 100 leverages data aggregated from multiple sources that have proven to be the most relevant, real-time, and reflective of fans’ alternating passions online. A mix of search, social media, and fansite activity measures round out the most comprehensive algorithm to supplement Nielsen rankings in determining the most popular and engaging shows on TV.

Wetpaint News Releases

wetpaint — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:35:29 CST

Releases are listed in reverse-chronological order.

Wetpaint Surpasses 8 Million Monthly Visitors and Launches New Features

wetpaint — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:34:14 CST

New video galleries for collecting and featuring YouTube videos, enhanced discussion forums, premium services, and other new features make Wetpaint the perfect place to start your fan community

February 18, 2009 – Wetpaint, the leader in social publishing with more than one million social websites and more than eight million monthly visitors, today debuted an array of new features that make it even easier for anyone to create and grow the ultimate fan site. From the hottest TV shows (Dollhouse, CSI, True Blood, The Tudors, Battlestar Galactica) to diehard sports affinities (New York Giants) and other obsessions (Miley Cyrus, Warrior Cats, Little Big Planet, Twilight), Wetpaint enables superfans to collect and share content and discuss and dissect their interests and passions.

“Watching YouTube videos and socializing with others in the discussion forums have been two of the most popular and engaging aspects of Wetpaint, so we committed to enhancing the features around those two modes of interaction,” said Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint. “With these latest improvements, the eight million people who use Wetpaint on a monthly basis can do even more to make their Wetpaint sites the ultimate online destination for their interests.”

The newest suite of Wetpaint features unveiled today includes:

Video Galleries
Wetpaint users have always been able to easily embed YouTube videos in their sites, but now they can collect and organize them in a centrally located Video Gallery. To make sure the best videos are bubbled up for the entire community, videos can be “featured” and related videos easily discovered.

Enhanced Discussion Forums
The latest round of enhancements to the Wetpaint Discussion Forum feature encourage chatterboxes to feature, lock, and edit any of their own posts to keep the conversation on track.

Premium Upgrade
Private groups or small businesses and non-profits looking for an easy way to create a social presence online can now upgrade their Wetpaint site for 9.95 per month to get an ad-free experience. More premium services and features will be added soon.

Layout Controls
With Wetpaint, page layout possibilities are endless when you’re a whiz with WYSIWYG tables, but if you just want a quick way to create a two-column layout, click the new layout zone button on the toolbar.

New Content Modules
Make your Wetpaint site come to life by surfacing the latest activity across the site with two new content modules, one that features the best discussions and the other showcasing the most active contributors from your Wetpaint community.

New Wetpaint Droplets
Take your Wetpaint site wherever you go online, including Facebook and MySpace. These embeddable widgets make it easy to share the latest site contributions and your additions to any Wetpaint site with others wherever your online travels take you.

All of these new features are immediately available on Wetpaint.com, where anyone can easily start a free public or private social website.

Meredith Special Interest Media Group Signs on to Wetpaint

wetpaint — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:32:05 CST

Meredith Special Interest Media Joins ABC, CBS, T-Mobile, HTC, and Other Leading Brands to Provide Users With an Online Collaborative Platform

February 12, 2007 - Wetpaint (www.wetpaint.com), the consumer-friendly Wiki for collaborating and publishing online, and Meredith Corporation (NYSE: MDP), one of the nation's leading media and marketing companies, today announced an agreement to launch a series of Wikis for Meredith's most popular special interest magazines and websites. A Wiki is an easy-to-use, collaborative platform that lets anyone dynamically share their passions or interests online.

The first Wiki to launch will be Scrapbooks etc. at http://wiki.bhgscrapbooksetc.com. Meredith's new Wiki builds on the growing scrapbooking trend and invites scrapbooking hobbyists to contribute their knowledge, tips, and tricks to the website. In the coming months, communities for Kitchen and Bath Ideas, Remodeling Center, Do It Yourself, Creative Home and All People Quilt will also be launched.

"Meredith's movement toward increasing reader involvement and emphasizing an online reader community allows for the perfect alliance with Wetpaint," says Jeff Myers, General Manager, Special Interest Media, Meredith Corporation. "The goal is integrating our brands into the daily lives of our consumers by engaging them in new ways. We'll accomplish this by building experiences that supplement the pages of our magazines."

Since the June 2006 launch of Wetpaint's consumer platform, more than 200,000 user-created community sites have been created with 3 million contributions, creating 1 million pages of content. Wetpaint goes beyond the "you" of social networks to empower groups of "we" to dynamically create collaborative Wiki sites faster and easier than ever before. "Emerging media platforms like Wetpaint are increasingly shifting the power to the readers, enabling them to direct and control the experience," says Ben Elowitz, CEO, Wetpaint. "As a result, companies obtain greater user engagement and loyalty -- delivering value to users, brands, and advertisers alike."

About Meredith Corporation Meredith (www.meredith.com) is one of the nation's leading media and marketing companies, with businesses centering on magazine and book publishing, television broadcasting, integrated marketing, and interactive media. The Meredith Publishing Group features 26 subscription magazines -- including Better Homes and Gardens, Ladies' Home Journal, Family Circle, Parents, American Baby, Fitness, and more -- and publishes more than 200 special interest publications under approximately 80 titles. Meredith owns 14 television stations, including properties in top-25 markets Atlanta, Phoenix, and Portland. Meredith has more than 400 books in print and has established marketing relationships with some of America's leading companies, including The Home Depot, DIRECTV, DaimlerChrysler, Wal-Mart, and Carnival Cruise Lines. Meredith's consumer database, which contains approximately 85 million names, is one of the largest domestic databases among media companies and enables magazine and television advertisers to target marketing campaigns precisely. Additionally, Meredith has an extensive Internet presence that includes 31 websites and strategic alliances with leading Internet destinations. Meredith Hispanic Ventures publishes five Spanish-language titles, making Meredith the leading publisher serving Hispanic women in the United States.

Day of Decision Using Wetpaint Technology to Organize Protests in More Than 100 Cities

wetpaint — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:31:27 CST

Visit http://dayofdecision.wetpaint.com to Find Where Protest Will Happen in Your City

May 26, 2009 - With tens of thousands expected to turn out in more than 100 cities worldwide to protest today's California Supreme Court ruling on Proposition 8, Day of Decision is using the Wetpaint platform to easily and quickly organize the simultaneous events. Built by grassroots activists over the last several months in anticipation of today's ruling, http://dayofdecision.wetpaint.com hosts the critical details for anyone that wants to join the official protest city by city.

Wetpaint technology makes it easy for many people to contribute what they know to a website; it enables and empowers groups like Day of Decision to organize flash activism events for their communities. With more than 55 separate protests expected in California alone, Day of Decision effectively organized this huge effort with Wetpaint technology.

New Study Indicates Social Media Pays; Correlation Between Brands SM Efforts & Financial Performance

wetpaint — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:30:37 CST

ENGAGEMENTdb Report Ranks Who Is Succeeding and Who Isn't With Social Media; Starbucks, Nike, SAP, Thomson Reuters Hit the Top Ten; Website Launching Today Lets Anyone Evaluate Their Own Social Media Efforts

July 20, 2009 - A new study released today from Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group confirms that deep engagement with consumers through social media channels correlates to better financial performance. The ENGAGEMENTdb study (www.engagementdb.com) showed significant positive financial results for the companies who measured as having the greatest breadth and depth of social media engagement. These "Social Media Mavens" on average grew company revenues by 18 percent over the last 12 months, while the least engaged companies saw revenues sink 6 percent on average over the same time period. The ENGAGEMENTdb study reviewed more than 10 discrete social media channels, including blogs, Facebook, Twitter, wikis, and discussion forums for each of the 100 most valuable brands as identified by the 2008 BusinessWeek/Interbrand Best Global Brands ranking. Activity in each channel was ranked for depth of interaction on measures that corresponded to that specific channel. Scores for overall brand engagement ranged from a high of 127 to a low of 1. The top 10 ENGAGEMENTdb brands with their scores are:

Starbucks (127)
Dell (123)
eBay (115)
Google (105)
Microsoft (103)
Thomson Reuters (101)
Nike (100)
Amazon (88)
SAP (86)
Tie - Yahoo!/Intel (85)

Qualities of Success Companies that scored well in the study generally have dedicated teams, however small, active in the social media channels they utilize. The study found that the most successful teams evangelize social media across the entire organization to pull in a broad range of stakeholders. These companies view social media as an indispensable tool to help them achieve results, and their approach is conversational. This mode of operation differs from the approach of traditional communications and early corporate blog experimentation, which emphasizes messaging and talking points. "This is the first study of this depth on the top global brands and we think the results provide a good guide for corporations and brand marketers in every industry," said Charlene Li, Founder, Altimeter Group. "The success stories we have uncovered provide a blueprint for companies making decisions about how to best apply their marketing and consumer relations resources." "The ENGAGEMENTdb study goes a long way towards validating the importance of social media for business," said Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint. "The closer any company is to its customers, the better, and it's hard to argue with the ability for social media to create such proximity. In this day and age, companies should feel much more comfortable investing in social media -- the correlation to results is so clear." Four Quadrants of Engagement While each company in the study received a quantitative score, the ENGAGEMENTdb study revealed that companies fell into four specific categories in terms of their breadth and depth of investment in social media channels -- Mavens, Butterflies, Selectives, and Wallflowers.

Mavens -- brands that have made social media a core part of their go-to-market strategies and are very active in many channels; usually driven by dedicated teams assisted by company-wide awareness and participation.
Butterflies -- brands that recognize the need to be in many channels but have only met with real success in a subset of their activities; these companies are usually spread a bit too thin.
Selectives -- brands that focus on just a few channels and excel in those; these efforts are usually initiated by an internal evangelist.
Wallflowers -- brands present in only a few channels and very lightly in those; these brands are sitting on the sidelines and are wary of the risks. They are still trying to figure out the best next steps and investments in social media.

Rank Your Company Against the ENGAGEMENTdb Top 100 Launching today, the ENGAGEMENTdb website (www.engagementdb.com) makes it possible for companies and brand managers to quickly find out how their social media efforts rank as compared to those of the world's most valuable brands. After taking a quick survey, respondents will receive an email evaluation of their social media efforts compared to the companies in the ENGAGEMENTdb report. Additionally, companies can detail their social media efforts for inclusion in the ENGAGEMENTdb through the website. This data will be used in future research and study of the benefits of social media. The Wetpaint/Altimeter ENGAGEMENTdb Report can be found at www.ENGAGEMENTdb.com

About Altimeter Group
Altimeter Group provides advice and consulting on digital strategies, with a focus on how organizations can leverage social and emerging technologies to achieve results. It is led by Charlene Li, the co-author of the best selling book, "Groundswell". For more information, please visit http://www.altimetergroup.com.

Wetpaint TV Fan Sites Adopted by MSN

wetpaint — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:30:07 CST

MSN Gives Fans the Power to Create Content by Incorporating Wetpaint TV Fan Sites for Some of TV’s Most Popular Shows.

November 17, 2009 - Wetpaint announced that MSN will expand its Entertainment property by incorporating Wetpaint TV fan sites, which will provide MSN customers with the most vibrant fan-focused TV content available online. MSN adopted Wetpaint fan sites for nine popular TV programs, such as Dancing with the Stars, Mad Men, and NCIS, among others. Each adopted Wetpaint fan sites will feature show blogs, episode recaps, and character and actor guides. With a robust fan community on each site, the Wetpaint sites attract audiences who stay engaged with their favorite show even after the latest episode fades to black.

“Through our relationship with Wetpaint, MSN Entertainment enriches its content experience for fans that can’t get enough of their favorite TV shows,” said Adam Berliant, director, MSN Entertainment and Sports. “By harnessing the power of the Wetpaint community, MSN Entertainment can effectively cover popular TV shows by allowing the real experts, the fans, to create the experience.”

“TV fans on Wetpaint have an insatiable desire to delve into the intricacies and nuances of their favorite shows,” said Ben Elowitz, CEO, Wetpaint. “And when those fans dive deep on Wetpaint, they create volumes of high quality content that attracts other fans. It’s the virtuous circle of fandom in action and it has tremendous business value.”

Wetpaint is a leading platform for creating passionate fan-based communities online, which generate rich, compelling low-cost content that attracts and engages audiences. Fans, through Wetpaint, are able to easily create pages of original content, join conversations, post new topics and threads to a discussion, upload photos and videos, and more. This generates a large, high quality content base that is constantly evolving and attracting an organic audience through search engine referrals.

Wetpaint Partners

wetpaint — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:14:26 CST

Wetpaint Partner Sites

Capitol Records

Find sites for Yellowcard, the Gorillaz, Lily Allen, & A Fine Frenzy where fans share the most up to date news on releases, band info, tour dates & locations, & even get to connect with the artists themselves!

Dell Tech Center

Dell's consumers provide world class technical support for one another with the help of Dell's site design. Check this out for everything Dell!

FOX

Fox has done an excellent job fostering community spirit and dedicated fans who all contribute to sites for popular shows such as Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles, 24, House and many others!

HBO

The True Blood site is a fangtacular example of a thriving Wetpaint community, where fans share their ample appreciation of the hit HBO series.

HP & their users have made some amazing strides in creating a community that has helped numerous users with questions & advice on HP products. They also have a site dedicated to Small Business.

HTC

A Windows Mobile community site where users exchange tips, tricks, fixes, & advice for their HTC Smartphones!

New York Giants

Giants fans explore their storied history and favorite players in this interactive site for one of the oldest NFL teams!

Oracle

Members of the Oracle community unite here to collaboratively create & share content about Oracle related subjects they're passionate about!

ICanHasCheezburger?

An LOLspeak guide for every LOLcats fan!

Sasquatch Books

Popular publications from Sasquatch Books, Book Lust, How to Date & Should I Do What I Love have their communities active, providing feedback & participating in discussions about the titles

Showtime

Hit shows from Showtime including Weeds, Californication, Dexter, Tudors & The L Word have proven to hold some of the most passionate fans out there! See their amazing sites here!

T-Mobile Sidekick

The T-Mobile Sidekick Wiki might just be the most amazing site so far! With hundreds of pages of content created by the community for the community, you can get just about any question answered here! Winner of a Webby!

TNT - Turner Network Television

Stop by TNT's site for the most collaborative gathering of information & opinions on The Closer!

Wetpaint Management Team

wetpaint — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:33:30 CDT

Ben Elowitz

Chief Executive Officer

Picture Coming Soon

Rob Grady

Senior Vice President,
Marketing

	Alex Berg Vice President, User Experience
	Chris Kollas Vice President, Business Development
	Kevin Flaherty Vice President, Marketing

Contact Wetpaint

wetpaint — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 14:32:19 CDT

General Contact Information

710 Second Avenue, Suite 1100
Seattle, WA 98104
Tel: 206-859-6300
Fax: 206-859-6301
www.wetpaint.com
Map to our office

Press Inquiries

If you are a member of the print and online media and would like more information about Wetpaint, or need to schedule an interview, please contact either:

Kevin Flaherty - Vice President Marketing
Direct: 206.859.6364
Email Kevin

Brands Inject Wetpaint to Power Significant Traffic Growth

jakefwp — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 19:24:37 CDT

Web Publishers Using Wetpaint Injected are Experiencing Increasing Search Engine Referral Traffic Since Adding the Social Publishing Functionality to Their Websites

SEATTLE, Oct 07, 2008 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Wetpaint, the Web 2.0 social publishing leader, today announced that Wetpaint Injected customers are experiencing significant growth in search engine referral traffic as a result of integrating the innovative social publishing solution a few short months ago. Wetpaint Injected publishers have seen their overall search engine referral traffic increase anywhere from 10% to 50%. Wetpaint Injected is now available to anyone visiting www.wetpaint.com/page/injected-contact, where developer keys and integration instructions are available for web publishers both large and small.

Wetpaint Injected is a quick-to-install, complete social publishing solution for online publishers who wish to engage their audience to author content directly on their website. Those who have installed Wetpaint Injected are finding that as their audiences create relevant, unique, and free content, search engines reward them with more and more visitors.

"Every web publisher is looking for ways to drive more traffic to their site," said Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint. "With Wetpaint Injected, we're finding many hands making light work of something that has proven to do the best job at generating free -- quality content that widens the publisher's search engine footprint to earn more and more traffic."

Wetpaint Injected has been integrated by Flixster, NuWire Investor, Freewebs, IGN, Pathable, Mixxer, AvantBride, BabyBoom Review and CoolChaser, among others. The flexibility of Wetpaint Injected is demonstrated by the variety of web publishers using the service and the ways each is leveraging it.

"Flixster is where movie fans can rate, review, and discover films through their friends and others. Wetpaint Injected has given the community another way to engage with movies by augmenting our collection of actor biographies," said Steven Polsky, president and COO of Flixster. "And we're seeing significant business results because of it. Since installing Injected on over 750,000 Flixster pages, our search engine referral traffic has moved significantly with no additional editorial investment."

NuWire Investor, a website that offers alternative investments information, has experienced a 50% increase in search engine visits since integrating the service. "Wetpaint Injected has helped us realize benefits in two ways," said Jeremy Ames, CEO and executive editor of NuWire Investor. "First, it's helped streamline content creation from our distributed editorial team. And second, it's delivering results through more search engine traffic to our website."

Now generally available, Wetpaint Injected is a complete set of APIs that publishers and developers can integrate alongside or within other web applications and services. Developer keys can be obtained at www.wetpaint.com/page/injected-contact. Startup packages for implementation, content development, and moderation are also available. Learn more at www.wetpaint.com.

Wetpaint in the News

dhughes18 — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:11:40 CDT

News Articles

The latest news articles:

CNET News - The biggest brands on the Web
MediaPost - Brands Need Fans, Not Friends
Mashable - Prop 8 Decision Protesters Use Wikis and Facebook to Organize
New York Times - Ad Revenue on the Web? No Sure Bet
WIRED Magazine - The New Socialism: Global Collectivist Society Is Coming Online
USA Today - Flash activists use social media to drum up support
Yahoo! Finance - Wetpaint Announces Bailout Plan for Foreclosed Geocities Properties
TechCrunch - MSN Picks WetPaint To Add A Fresh Coat To Its Entertainment Pages
KING 5 News - Tech Talk
Xconomy - A Tale of Two Startups: Picnik and Wetpaint, Like Peanut Butter and Chocolate
Xconomy - Spotlight on Startups: Finalists for Seattle 2.0 and CNET Webware Awards Announced
Xconomy - Ontela, Visible, Wetpaint Win WTIA Awards
Seattle Times - Visible, Wetpaint, Ontela and AdReady win WTIA awards
Social Times - Wetpaint Adds Premium Features to Drop the Ads
USA Today - New tech start-ups can rise from the economy's ashes
Xconomy - WTIA Industry Achievement Awards
NY Times - Gay-Rights Advocates Use Web to Organize Global Rally
KING 5 News - Global gay rights protest has roots in Seattle
MediaPost - HBO Digs Teeth Into 'True Blood' Fans
Xconomy - Why Wetpaint Went from Wikis to Social Publishing—the Next Step in Social Networks
Dow Jones - Wetpaint Swipes $5M For User-Gen Publishing
PC World - Drop a Wiki into a Webpage with Wetpaint
Computer World - Wetpaint lets communities 'inject' user-generated content into Websites
VentureBeat - With new release and new funding, Wetpaint wants to "wikify" the web
Puget Sound Business Journal - Wetpaint Raises $5 Million
Seattle Business Monthly - $5 Million in Round C
Northwest Innovation - Wetpaint Gets $5M
eWeek - Wetpaint Gives Websites Social Publishing Injection
Webby - Sidekick Wiki Wins Webby
WTIA - Winner of Best in Digital Media

See all news articles

Blog Mentions

The latest blog posts:

TechCrunch - The Most Engaged Brands On The Web
CenterNetworks - Wetpaint Adds External Feeds and Searches to Wikis
BusinessWeek (BlogSpotting) - Wetpaint's Ben Elowitz: How to improve BusinessExchange
TechFlash - Picnik partners with Wetpaint
TechFlash - The curse is over: A night at the WTIA's Achievement Awards
TechFlash - Can a wiki save a newspaper?
TechFlash - GroupieGuide takes on Google, Wetpaint with online groups
TechFlash - Wetpaint tops 8 million monthly visitors, releases new features
BusinessWeek (BlogSpotting) - Amy Balliett: LGBT organizer
Mashable - Wetpaint Makes it Rain, to the Tune of $5 Million
Private Equity Hub - Wetpaint Raises $5 Million
PaidContent - Wiki Firm, Wetpaint Raises a Big style $5 Million in Third Round
Silicon Valley Insider - Why Web 2.0 Deals are Safe Bets for Wall Street
Gigaom - Why Wetpaint and Other UCGs Sites Get the Big Money
Marketing Pilgrim - Embeddable Social Publishing
Programmable Web - Wetpaint Launches API and Platform
Profy - Wetpaint Promises to Make Every Website Social-Happy
Internet Evolution - Wetpaint Launches New Social Publishing Product
The Inquisitor - Wetpaint Takes $5 Million
Center Networks - Wetpaint Raises $5 Million and Launches Wetpaint Injected
Startup Chatter - Wetpaint Wikis vs. Ning Social Networks

See all blog mentions

Wetpaint-powered Flash Activism Turns Out Tens of Thousands of Prop 8 Protesters

dhughes18 — Wed, 27 May 2009 14:29:19 CDT

Flash Activists Leverage Wetpaint to Organize Rallies in 120 Cities Opposing the CA Supreme Court Decision Upholding Proposition 8

SEATTLE, May 27 (PRNewswire) - The trend of online organization leading to offline activism continued yesterday as tens of thousands of protestors rallied in over 120 cities, all planned by Day of Decision grassroots activists on a Wetpaint-powered website. The demonstrations were planned by activists using Wetpaint to create web pages that served as a clearinghouse for protest information for each of the 120 cities participating in the event, ranging from Los Angeles to New York, to Toronto. In the 48 hours leading up to the ruling's announcement, over 220,000 people visited the site http://dayofdecision.wetpaint.com, thanks in part to endorsements by popular blogger Perez Hilton and tweets by Eliza Dushku, star of the hit TV show Dollhouse.

Flash activism of this magnitude is not new to the Wetpaint network; Join the Impact used Wetpaint to organize a worldwide protest in November 2008 when Proposition 8 was first instated. The site, http://jointheimpact.wetpaint.com, facilitated rallies in 300 cities with more than 250,000 people marching in unison in support of equal rights. Just like the flash activism of Join the Impact, the Day of Decision rallies are a powerful example of the ease with which groups can use social technology online to coordinate and collaborate for offline action.

"Wetpaint was built for the very purpose of letting people easily express their passions," said Ben Elowitz, CEO of Wetpaint. "Although yesterday's rallies brought people together over a common disappointment, we're pleased that Wetpaint played in allowing so many to come together and stand up for what they believe in."

The easy-to-use Wetpaint platform provides the ability to join conversations, create new topics and threads, upload photos and videos, and create widgets that track community activity. Event and activism coordinators choose Wetpaint because anyone can contribute what they know, making events like Day of Decision and Join the Impact possible and successful.

About Wetpaint: Wetpaint provides the leading platform for fans to easily create and participate in online communities around the topics they care about most. With the world's largest network of 1.5 million fan-powered websites and partnerships with major brands such as Dell, Discovery Channel, Fox, HBO, HP, HTC, Showtime, and T-Mobile, Wetpaint offers businesses a turnkey solution for creating and fostering passionate communities that drive traffic and increase loyalty. Consumers flock to http://www.wetpaint.com to create sites around topics they love; last month consumers created more than forty-thousand Wetpaint fansites. For more company information, visit http://press.wetpaint.com/

Rob Grady

dhughes18 — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:06:34 CDT

WETPAINT SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, MARKETING

Rob’s career has focused on building brands and consumer experiences across consumer products, software and services. In his last role before joining Wetpaint, Rob served as vice president, Global Beverage for Starbucks Coffee Company, where he was responsible for product innovation and product marketing of all hot and cold hand-crafted beverages served in Starbucks stores around the world, all of which comprised more than half of Starbucks global revenue. Prior to that, Rob served in roles vice president - Beverage, director - Espresso and director – New Ventures for Starbucks’ US business.

Prior to Starbucks, Rob spent 5 years in marketing at RealNetworks, the pioneer in Internet audio and video, leading a variety of consumer software launches under the RealPlayer and RealJukebox names. Rob began his career at Procter & Gamble, where he spent 5 years delivering innovation in the health care and paper products categories.

Rob holds an undergraduate degree in Economics from Harvard College and an MBA from Stanford University.

Last Wetpaint community I joined:	My favorite Wetpaint site:	Site I would create if I had more time:
FOX Dollhouse Wiki	wikiFido (My dog Phoebe!)	History of the O’Grady Family of Ireland

Wetpaint Announces Bailout Plan for Foreclosed Geocities Properties

dhughes18 — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:12:31 CDT

GARP (Geocities Asset Recovery Plan) to Provide Thousands of Homepage-less Geocities Communities New Housing for Their Websites

SEATTLE, April 29 (PR Newswire) - Wetpaint, the leader in fan-powered websites, announced today the Geocities Asset Recovery Plan (GARP), which will provide all current and future evicted members of the Yahoo! Geocities community the opportunity to move to a free new home on the Wetpaint network. To kick the program off and provide a stimulus of sorts, Wetpaint will offer a free custom domain to the first 1000 qualified migrants from the departing service. The GARP will also include a series of webinar style Q&A sessions with a Wetpaint Community Building Expert, who will be present in live chat format to answer any and all questions related to shipping existing content from Geocities sites to their newly constructed Wetpaint abode.

Wetpaint sites are fan-driven community sites offering functionality and amenities above and beyond what Geocities home owners are accustomed to. Wetpaint is always free and easy to use, with click-and-type editing, simple photo and video integration, discussion threads, on-site messaging, the ability to make sites public or private, and much more. As more members are able and willing to contribute to these sites, their property values will increase as the sites rank higher in search engines, attracting more and more community members with shared interests.

"America needs to recognize that bailouts and asset recovery plans aren't just for physical businesses and homeowners anymore. Creating, nurturing and maintaining an online home and community takes an incredible amount of passion and hard work, and to have all that taken away in a nanosecond is a shame," said Rob Grady, SVP Marketing, Wetpaint. "With GARP, we are committed to helping great communities find a new home that lets everyone easily contribute and start the rebuilding process."

This announcement comes on the heels of Wetpaint winning the Washington Technology Industry Association Industry Achievement Award for Consumer Product of the Year for providing users with the easiest to use platform for building social fansites around their collective passions. With over 1.5 million sites created on the Wetpaint network, the service is happy to extend their arms to the Geocities refugee group with the hopes that their content and communities can remain intact for years to come.

All new sites will be subject to Wetpaint terms of service to qualify for free domains. For more details on GARP qualification requirements visit www.geocitiesbailout.com .

About Wetpaint: Wetpaint provides the leading platform for fans to easily create and participate in online communities around the topics they care about most. With the world's largest network of 1.5 million fan-powered websites and partnerships with major brands such as Dell, Discovery Channel, Fox, HBO, HP, HTC, Showtime, and T-Mobile, Wetpaint offers businesses a turnkey solution for creating and fostering passionate communities that drive traffic and increase loyalty. Consumers flock to http://www.wetpaint.com to create sites around topics they love; last month consumers created more than forty-thousand Wetpaint fansites. For more company information, visit http://press.wetpaint.com

Wetpaint to Power SuperFan Websites For Leading Online Network

dhughes18 — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 13:08:55 CDT

MSN Taps Wetpaint to Provide Flexible Platform to Draw in Real Voices and Create Community around Popular Entertainment Topics

SEATTLE, April 29 (PR Newswire) - Wetpaint announced today that MSN Entertainment will create entertainment fansites using the Wetpaint fansite platform. This quarter, MSN Entertainment will start rolling out more than two dozen Wetpaint-powered sites slated to launch in 2009.

"We are looking to forward to launching this new fan-driven initiative on MSN Entertainment where the fans do the writing, meet each other and share their interests," said Lisa Gurry, Director, MSN. "We're pleased to partner with Wetpaint to bring this experience to our users."

"Over the last three years, Wetpaint has figured out how to bring brands and fans together to create compelling content while generating significant business value," said Ben Elowitz, CEO, Wetpaint. "With their SuperFan initiative, MSN recognizes the power of the voices of fans and the ability of this motivated audience to drive buzz and traffic above and beyond static fan pages and message forums."

Wetpaint is the leading platform for creating passionate fan-based communities online. While professional content such as a TV show, movie or musician drives the fans themselves, when they come to Wetpaint sites, fans become the content creators. This collaboratively created content is rich and compelling; delivering direct value to brands through organic search that far exceeds other online marketing options. With 60% of traffic generated through search and low internal resource drain, brands can do more with less investment and create a larger, more engaged audience that's ready to monetize.

The easy-to-use Wetpaint platform provides the ability to join conversations, create new topics and threads, upload photos and videos, and create widgets that track community activity, and are easily posted on social networks and blog sites. MSN is utilizing Wetpaint Injected, which enables brands to easily incorporate the core Wetpaint platform into their own site with a custom look and feel. Sites using Wetpaint Injected can quickly develop a large content base that drives increased search engine referrals, resulting in significant, organic, incremental traffic.

About Wetpaint: Wetpaint provides the leading platform for fans to easily create and participate in online communities around the topics they care about most. With the world's largest network of 1.5 million fan-powered websites and partnerships with major brands such as Dell, Discovery Channel, Fox, HBO, HP, HTC, Showtime, and T-Mobile, Wetpaint offers businesses a turnkey solution for creating and fostering passionate communities that drive traffic and increase loyalty. Consumers flock to http://www.wetpaint.com to create sites around topics they love; last month consumers created more than forty-thousand Wetpaint fansites. For more company information, visit http://press.wetpaint.com

Fans From Deadliest Catch Wetpaint Fansite Attend Largest Virtual Fansite Convention Ever

dhughes18 — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:50:09 CDT

Roving Fans Create Content in Realtime to Draw in Virtual World Fans of the First Ever "Deadliet Catch" Convention by Discovery Channel

SEATTLE, WA (Marketwire) April 27, 2009 - Wetpaint, the leader in fan-powered websites, announced today that virtual attendees to the "Deadliest Catch CatchCon" outnumbered in person attendees five to one, making it the largest virtual fansite convention ever. Thousands of fans tuned in live and viewed replays of fan-generated coverage on the Official "Deadliest Catch" fansite run by Wetpaint. Fans participated in live blog posts, real-time quizzes, questionnaires, Twitter updates, and posted hundreds of photos and videos with attendees.

The success of the event in engaging the show's fans and connecting them with one another offline continues an exciting trend of users meeting online due to shared interests, and leveraging their passions to inspire real-world fandemonium.
Three fansite members were awarded the honor of 'roving reporters' and given free tickets to the event, held Saturday, April 25th in Seattle, along with the responsibility of uploading footage and stories about the event. Through Wetpaint's Official "Deadliest Catch" Fansite, remote fans were able to submit questions to pose to the captains and crew, to view pictures and videos of the event, and to add their perspectives about the show.

"Throughout our network of over 1.5 million fan sites, we've have seen how passionate fans can be about their favorite entertainment content and TV shows," said Rob Grady, SVP, Marketing, Wetpaint. "An event like this proves that fans are significantly more engaged than online friends -- they are motivated to take real-world action and pour their passion into their favorite brands, which creates incredibly fun experiences for them, and great value for entertainment brands."
All of the fan content from comments, photos, videos, quizzes, and more can be found at the Wetpaint "Deadliest Catch" fansite, http://www.deadliest-catch-wiki.discovery.com/page/CatchCon+2009

About Wetpaint: Wetpaint provides the leading platform for fans to easily create and participate in online communities around the topics they care about most. With the world's largest network of 1.5 million fan-powered websites and partnerships with major brands such as Dell, Discovery Channel, Fox, HBO, HP, HTC, Showtime, and T-Mobile, Wetpaint offers mainstream Internet users and businesses a turnkey solution for creating and fostering passionate communities that drive traffic and increase loyalty. For company information, visit www.wetpaint.com.

Wetpaint Named Washington Technology Industry Association Consumer Product of the Year

dhughes18 — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 16:47:40 CDT

Wetpaint platform for building fan-based communities honored with prestigious award

SEATTLE, WA (PR Newswire) March 26 -- Wetpaint announced today that it has been honored as the Consumer Product of the Year by the Washington Technology Industry Association (WTIA) as part of its 14th annual Industry Achievement Awards (IAAs). The awards recognize companies, individuals and students who best demonstrate innovation and excellence in creating new technologies, applications and services. Finalists were chosen by a panel of industry experts, and the winners were chosen by the technology community through an online voting system.

"For the first time ever, thousands of votes from the local technology community determined this year's IAA winners. To be named by your peers as one of our region's best and brightest is a great honor," said Ken Myer, president and CEO of the WTIA. "We've watched the local technology community grow exponentially during our 25 years as an organization, and we believe this year's winners demonstrated that Washington continues to be a home for world class innovations. We're honored to be able to recognize these companies and individuals, and we look forward to seeing what great things they will do next."

Wetpaint is the best platform for creating passionate fan-based communities online. Wetpaint sites are so easy to create and use that anyone can follow their passion and form a community around any topic they love. Because of this, top entertainment and technology companies such as Fox, HBO, Showtime, and T-Mobile have partnered with Wetpaint to create fan communities that increase and engage their audience to meet their business objectives.

"On behalf of our nearly 1.5 million site creators and 8 million users, Wetpaint is honored to receive the WTIA Industry Achievement Award for Consumer Product of the Year," said Ben Elowitz, founder and CEO of Wetpaint. "Fans' passion for entertainment, sports, politics, and social activism inspires us every day to produce the best and most empowering online community platform possible."

The Washington Technology Industry Association, founded in 1984, is the largest statewide association of technology companies, IT departments and individual technology professionals in North America. With more than 1,000 member companies representing more than 100,000 employees in Washington State, the association is a catalyst for sharing expertise, fostering collaboration, delivering key business services and advancing the value and global impact of technology companies doing business in Washington.

About Wetpaint: Wetpaint provides the leading platform for fans to easily create and participate in online communities around the topics they care about most. With the world's largest network of 1.5 million fan-powered websites and partnerships with major brands such as Dell, Discovery Channel, Fox, HBO, HP, HTC, Showtime, and T-Mobile, Wetpaint offers mainstream Internet users and businesses a turnkey solution for creating and fostering passionate communities that drive traffic and increase loyalty. For company information, visit www.wetpaint.com.

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Wetpaint Surpasses 8 Million Monthly Visitors and Launches New Features

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Rob Grady

Wetpaint Announces Bailout Plan for Foreclosed Geocities Properties

Wetpaint to Power SuperFan Websites For Leading Online Network

Fans From Deadliest Catch Wetpaint Fansite Attend Largest Virtual Fansite Convention Ever

Wetpaint Named Washington Technology Industry Association Consumer Product of the Year