SocialVibe and Automattic Bring Power to the Publishers

LOS ANGELES, June 15 // -- SocialVibe, a social media utility that connects brands and people across social media, and Automattic, the company which leads the WordPress Open Source project and runs WordPress.com, announced today they have partnered to allow WordPress.com's 7M+ bloggers to benefit from the content they are creating and the audience they are attracting. The partnership allows WordPress.com bloggers to "get sponsored" in a way that is both rewarding and helps further engage the bloggers' audience by a paying brand and earn real money for their charity of choice.

SocialVibe was founded on the principle of empowering personal publishers (better known as people) in social media. Now more than ever, brands are looking for ways to partner with people creating social media content who are influencing the consumer marketplace. This new partnership gives WordPress.com bloggers a tool to take that power and create benefit for themselves and their causes by partnering with brands.

The partnership includes the implementation of a side bar widget that takes just a few moments to add and provides readers the unique opportunity to complete a brand engagement (such as rating a video), thus earning money for charity. Each time an engagement is made with a sponsor such as TNT or Sprint, the blog publisher earns a micro-donation to his or her chosen charity.

That impact is immediately visible on the widget, i.e., for a blogger who has chosen to support charity: water their SocialVibe badge might read 'My blog has provided 63 cups of clean water for people in need'. Users can switch their cause and sponsor as often as they like, and receive regular updates from their charity about goal progress and impact.

"We're excited about the addition of SocialVibe to the WordPress.com widget library," says Raanan Bar-Cohen, Vice President Media Services for Automattic. "This will give our customers the valuable opportunity to utilize their blogs for their choice of benefit."

For the brands involved, this platform provides a golden opportunity to get unique endorsements in a highly engaging manner within social media. For the WordPress.com community, it is a way to pool their individual influences to create positive change in the world.

"We are thrilled to be launching SocialVibe on WordPress.com", says Joe Marchese, President, SocialVibe. "SocialVibe continues to see tremendous growth as we provide more value to people and our brand partners. Automattic is an ideal partner for us, and we are excited to give their community a direct connection to major brands and the opportunity to receive benefit from those brands for their blogging."

Through the SocialVibe system, people have raised close to half a million dollars for charities in just over a year's time. Everyday, members are sharing their brand sponsors with millions of friends on social platforms such as MySpace, Facebook, and now WordPress.com. Members can select from an expanding and varied rosters of brand sponsors, including Sony Pictures, Colgate and Kraft Foods, to benefit one of more than 30 non-profit organizations, such as World Wildlife Fund, DonorsChoose and charity: water.

For more info about the SocialVibe widget, check out the WordPress blog.

For self-hosted WordPress sites SocialVibe has also released an Open Source widget which is available from the WordPress.org Plugin directory and can be 1-click installed from the WordPress dashboard by searching for "SocialVibe". For an example of the widget in action, please see leading entertainment blog JustJared.com.

Learn about how else you can use SocialVibe on your social networks by visiting SocialVibe.com.

About SocialVibe:

SocialVibe recognizes that individuals hold the key to generating attention and wielding influence in social media. It's a powerful new way for brands to interact with people and change the way brands participate in social media. SocialVibe allows people to choose a brand to endorse, earning opportunities to get brand perks and points. The points that members earn are then turned into funds for the charitable cause of their choice.

SocialVibe received $8 million in Series B funding led by JAFCO Ventures in December 2008, bringing its total raised to just over $12 million. Previous investor Redpoint Ventures also participated in the funding.

SOURCE SocialVibe