IZEA is proud to announce the Alpha 2 release of CloudShout, a new Community Application Platform designed to bring community and third party applications to millions of blogs. CloudShout provides these core benefits:
- Allows bloggers to develop deeper community on their blog.
- Provides a communication layer for on-blog chat, messaging and multi-user applications.
- Facilitates interaction between users browsing different blogs.
- Enables visitors to install applications on blogs they don’t own.
How It Works
CloudShout lives in a blogs sidebar in the form of a widget. Users install the widget by registering at cloudshout.com and copying a small piece of embed code. The widget is divided into four tabs; visitors, apps, friends and messages. Each tab provides users with unique functionality.
Visitor Tab
The visitor tab shows you people who have visited your blog. People who are on your blog right now appear at the top in white, while previous visitors to your blog appear below greyed out. The status indicator denotes whether someone is online or offline, regardless of whether they are still on your blog. Friends who have visited this blog are denoted with a small icon.
Copy to embed image of Visitor Tab
<a href="http://www.cloudshout.com" title="Build Community"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3048/2930189404_72430de5ef_o.jpg" width="143" height="450" alt="CloudShout Visitor Tab" /></a>
Clicking on a user avatar brings up that users profile. The profile provides information about the user, their blogs and friends. You can also explore other aspects of their social media portfolio such as their tweets and photos.
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<a href="http://www.cloudshout.com" title="Build Community"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3211/2929392275_9a99618534.jpg" width="500" height="4250" alt="CloudShout Profile Image" /></a>
App Tab
CloudShout Apps extend your blogs functionality without giving up valuable real estate. You install blog applications via the CloudShout App Store. You can search through available Apps to find the App that is right for you. Apps are installed on a blog with a single click and appear under the Blog Apps sub tab for all visitors.
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<a href="http://www.cloudshout.com" title="Build Community"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3002/2929330395_87e358170b_o.jpg" width="183" height="450" alt="CloudShout Application Tab" /></a>
Copy to embed image of App Store
<a href="http://www.cloudshout.com" title="Build Community"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3270/2930189588_b4f51fdd01_o.jpg" width="457" height="405" alt="CloudShout App Store" /></a>
Friends Tab
The friends tab displays the relationships you have created with other users. You can scroll through the list of users or bring up the friends manager. The Friends Manager allows you to quickly find friends and manage relationships with new friends.
Copy to embed image of Friends Tab and Friends Manager
<a href="http://www.cloudshout.com" title="Build Community"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3296/2929370917_c60d57be10.jpg" width="500" height="377" alt="CloudShout Friends" /></a>
Messages Tab
Outstanding messages are denoted on top of the messages tab. You can see a quick view of your messages by clicking on the tab or open the Message Manager for more control.
Application Portability
Facebook allows users to easily install and share community applications on Facebook profiles, CloudShout does the same for blogs. CloudShout enables both owners and visitors to install applications on any CloudShout enabled blog. Applications in CloudShout are portable, allowing users to bring their apps with them from blog to blog, regardless of whether a blog owner has installed that application on their own blog.
Developer Tools
CloudShout is an open platform designed for third party developers. IZEA provides developers with user interface tools, APIs, free hosting (with delivery via CDN) and a communication layer to assist in the development of CloudShout applications. The communication layer allows developers to create games and other rich experiences without standing up massive server farms. Developers simply plug into the framework to send and receive data. Application developers can get documentation here.
Copy to embed image of CloudShout Checkers
<a href="http://www.cloudshout.com" title="Build Community"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3139/2930189260_9ed4ffd8ae.jpg" width="464" height="500" alt="CloudShout Checkers" /></a>
Media Assets
Images
- IZEA Logo (EPS, JPG, PNG)
- CloudShout Logo (EPS, JPG, PNG)
- Ted Murphy Headshot (JPG)
Quotes
“Bloggers loose a great deal of their traffic by pushing people to the social media sites they belong to. CloudShout allows bloggers to easily incorporate content from all these sites on their own blog and retain the user longer.” –Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA
“CloudShout enables applications to spread virally on blogs, allowing developers to achieve rapid growth in adoption.” –Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA
Contact Information
To schedule an interview with Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA please contact Ashley Edwards or call 866.514.1860×121. BTW… Ashley is a dude : )
