http://dv.kikin.com/blog en larry@kikin.com Copyright 2010 2010-09-09T19:03:18+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/increasing-loyalty-and-engagement-with-your-core-audience/ http://kikin.com/site/increasing-loyalty-and-engagement-with-your-core-audience/#When:19:03:18Z Business Insider was one of our first commercial partners providing content to their fans within kikin.  BI, as an innovative and progressive publisher, realized by surfacing their content, whenever it is relevant, their fans would become more loyal and engaged.   We worked together to ensure that the distributed experience would provide the same elements of their content, photos, videos and of course the core article. In addition to reading the full article about the Apple iPad from Business Insider on say CNN’s review of the iPad, kikin also provides links back to BusinessInsider.com.  Yesterday was a monumental day for kikin.  We ascended to being one of Business Insiders top 50 traffic referring partners.  This means that not only are BI fans consuming content via kikin they are also following the links back to BI.com to read more.    This is an excellent justification for building loyalty through distributed programs like kikin, not only will it increase access to your audience, but will also encourage them to share and come back to your site.  Every publisher should be working with partners like kikin to drive engagement and loyalty with their core audience.   To learn more about kikin and partnering, contact us at http://www.kikin.com. 2010-09-09T19:03:18+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/introducing-kikin-v.-1.0/ http://kikin.com/site/introducing-kikin-v.-1.0/#When:15:08:01Z kikin v1.0 is finally here!  Over the last 6 weeks the team worked tirelessly to bring you an even better personalized web experience.  Here is what you can expect from v 1.0: You'll notice a completely redesigned Personal Browser - it now has a clean, fresh new look.  The Personal Browser will now accompany you on every page you visit becoming the first browsing companion built specifically for you. kikin analyzes information from each web page you visit and pulls relevant content based on your preferences and what is likelyl the next thing you would want. We've added Facebook and Twitter to the Personal Browser providing you immediate access to the major features of both, including real time search, relevant news feeds from your friends and ability to post from any page.  Connect kikin to Facebook and Twitter and experience the power of your social network in action. Local information and context is becoming more and more important to people across the web, so we’ve partnered with Microsoft and Nokia to bring you  their mapping services, Bing Maps and OVI Maps.  If you opt-in to their service from the kikin settings menu you will see a map associated with the geo-location of the web page you are visiting.  Lastly, we’ve dramatically increased the content available from kikin when navigating the web.  Now kikin will deliver you the top 4 sites associated with any topic or site you are interested in.  We are very proud of the improvements we’ve made to kikin with this release. Look forward to many more innovations over the coming months to provide even more personal and exciting experiences. Let us know what you think and if there are any features that would make kikin a more personal experience for you. 2010-08-13T15:08:01+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/you-favorites-sharing-discovery/ http://kikin.com/site/you-favorites-sharing-discovery/#When:14:58:50Z Too often in the world of startups, online advertising, and social networking people get lost in buzzwords, shorthand, and insider-speak. As kikin’s social marketer, even I get overwhelmed in the mess of ROIs and CPCs. However, the best acronym I remember is KISS – Keep It Simple Stupid. kikin’s value proposition is simple. Simple, but potent. kikin is about enhancing the browsing experience for the consumer, making the web personal, and giving publishers a vehicle to reach their fans at the exact moment of intent. Plain as day. We bring information from valued sources to highly valued consumers. As Scott Portugal stated in his recent Ad Exchanger article, “Stop Making Sense”, “…firms have succeeded because they've stripped out as many complexities as possible, Amazon is the best example of how to simplify a task like shopping and make "Discovery" an integral part of the process, and deliver a usable service”. Another good example is search. Search works because it is simple for consumers and buyers; Google matches keyword queries with an advertisers message (based on purchased keywords) this 1:1 matching is direct and straightforward.   kikin uses our entity extraction, url categorization and intent analysis technologies to do something far more powerful than just word matching - we allow publishers and marketers to directly connect with their consumers at exactly their moment of intent within highly relevant contexts.   We make navigating your favorite sources even easier, and we provide more relevant results that match intent. Nothing complicated is going on– just a better web experience with the user at the center. If you need an acronym to understand kikin, try rearranging the first letter of these words: You, Favorites, Sharing, Discovery. Good luck!  -Caitlin P. Abber, Marketing 2010-07-19T14:58:50+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/kikin-smart-caring-innovative/ http://kikin.com/site/kikin-smart-caring-innovative/#When:14:30:35Z   There are many reasons that we know we are doing something truly innovative here at kikin. Relevance and personalization are the future of the web, and every day we read articles that reinforce this notion. Take for example this recent Gizmodo interview with Mozilla’s Christopher Blizzard (ok, cool last name). There were three key quotes in the article that really spoke to what we are doing at kikin, and I have highlighted them for you here.  Christopher: It isn't just about the browser as a piece of technology, but it's also sort of who you are, where you go, what you know, and trying to make everything really easy on mobile devices. 'Cause it's still a huge pain in the butt to type on devices and get something. So connecting data, connecting who you are—which your browser knows you better than anyone really. It's kinda creepy, actually. And bringing those cross-mobile and desktop. So I use that technology [Firefox Sync] on multiple operating systems and a machine at home and for me it's been revolutionary. Like everything syncs. I start up a new browser and it knows exactly who I am. We believe that this notion of your browser knowing who you are and what you like is crucial to a rich web experience. Whether you are on CNN, a blog about your neighborhood, or shopping for some summer fun, your browser should anticipate not only how you will browse, but also the topics, searches, friends, and companies you are likely to click on. kikin is currently in the process of expanding this same service to the mobile web and giving consumers the ability to synchronize those experiences between devices. Giz: Before, when it was Mozilla vs. Microsoft, it's easier for people to get behind that in a way. People don't feel so bad about using Google's browser. They're not like, ‘Fuck Google.' That was kind of like a big part of [Mozilla vs. Microsoft]. So where does Mozilla go from there, in this kind of environment? How do you compete? Christopher: We ask that question a lot internally too, and it always comes back to the fact that we care about people. It actually is the most important thing. And the web is a democratizing force. So as long as we continue to make things that people love, people are gonna continue to use it. As long as we stand behind the technology that we have, and continue to improve and invest in it as a mechanism for getting the larger goals done, we're gonna be fine. I'm not that worried about competing with them. Competition aside, this is the core value of kikin. From the very beginning, we set out to build something for the user enhancing user’s web browsing experiences. Every addition and change we have made, from the publishers we have partnered with, to the way we have incorporated advertising, has been to the benefit of the user. Web apps and browsers all must go in the direction of user-centric innovation if they truly want to be successful.   And I will leave you with this final quote: Christopher: I come from a slightly different standpoint. I mean, there's a bunch of new issues. There's monetization; there's agility; there's engines. What's interesting is that browsers have gotten now to the point where it's possible to build really useful, intensive applications in and of themselves, that are useful in and of themselves, not just viewing data or making it convenient to get to." kikin is more than a browser or a simple application. We aim to be  an invaluable tool that gives you ownership of your web experiences, makes them truly personal and delivers information that would otherwise go unnoticed.. How many other browsers can say that? -Caitlin P. Abber, Marketing 2010-07-09T14:30:35+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/kikin-connects-with-windows-live/ http://kikin.com/site/kikin-connects-with-windows-live/#When:20:28:12Z kikin is proud to announce our expanded partnership with Microsoft. Through this partnership we will be expanding our sharing capability enabling our users to connect with even more of their friends as they browse the web using Microsoft Windows Live. Microsoft has been a great partner of kikin; we started working with Bing search in November and now have expanded to Windows Live social networking and sharing.   Over the coming weeks we will release the integration of Windows Live throughout the kikin experience making sharing a simple click away … we will let you know the minute it is released.  Enjoy!If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at info@kikin.com 2010-06-29T20:28:12+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/kikin-was-there-the-future-of-privacy-forum-event/ http://kikin.com/site/kikin-was-there-the-future-of-privacy-forum-event/#When:16:51:19Z On June 23, I attended a special Future of Privacy Forum eventfeaturing Congressmen Rick Boucher and Cliff Stearns at the CannonHouse Office Building in Washington, D.C. The hour-long session was a unique opportunity to hear more from thecongressmen about the discussion draft of a bill intended to applyprivacy rights online and offline. The primary goal of thelegislation, according to the congressmen, is to help consumers trustthe internet more by requiring clear disclosure about how behavioraldata is collected, used, and shared. Both Boucher and Stearns made itclear that their intention was not to inhibit targeted advertising,but to empower consumers with information and preferences/controls toshape their experience.The proposed legislation would require prominent disclosure about howa user’s behavioral information is collected, used, and shared. Thebasic requirements are both opt-out (for first party transactions,affiliates of first parties who use the information for anoperational/transactional purpose) and opt-in (for the collection ofsensitive data, like health or financial information, and for sharingthe data with unaffiliated third parties).Regardless of the outcome of the legislation, kikin is alreadyexceeding its requirements. kikin users are given a clear andconspicuous disclosure (in bold, directly above the consent mechanism)at install: “kikin uses your browsing history to provide personalizedcontent, including advertising, from sites you like.” kikin does notcollect any personally identifiable information from users atregistration, nor does it collect any data that users may enter intofields on websites. In addition, categories of interest that kikindetermines anonymously for users do not include sensitive areas.Boucher indicated that it’s likely the draft legislation will bemodified in response to 60+ detailed comments received so far, andthat the full House may not consider it until the fall. Until then,kikin will continue its current practices, monitor the legislativefront, and continue to provide a reliable, relevant product to itsusers.Thanks to Future of Privacy Forum co-chair and director JulesPolonetsky for the invitation to the event. -Richard Weaver, Trust and Safety 2010-06-25T16:51:19+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/introducing-our-newest-release/ http://kikin.com/site/introducing-our-newest-release/#When:15:00:45Z This NYC heat wave has not slowed progress in the kikin office! Today we released an improved version of kikin featuring new partners and a number of backend features. On the client side, we have established a crash catching mechanism for direct kikin crashes (hey, it happens!). We fixed PDF viewing in Internet Explorer and improved our installer. The whole download/install process should be much smoother now. In terms of infrastructure, we built our all new  RSS Feed Indexer to more efficiently capture, index and distribute our partner content. The most exciting (and noticeable) additions are our integration of Business Insider, Match.com, and Newsinc (which includes g4tv, Eonline, CBS, Meredith Magazine, and Thomson Reuters to name a few…). Business Insider will bring you relevant business and technology content into relevant sites as you navigate the web. Match.com results will bring excellent dating tips and articles, as well as profiles from singles in your area. NewsInc.  aggregates many of your favorite  video sources providing different perspectives on news and entertainment topics. These improvements are just a few of the many exciting ways we are enhancing kikin, and making it the best way for you to browse the web. Stay posted for more improvements and partner integrations. You’ll love what we’re up to next! If you want to leave us any feedback, you can do so HERE! 2010-06-24T15:00:45+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/updates-from-kikin/ http://kikin.com/site/updates-from-kikin/#When:18:56:22Z We’ve been very busy here at kikin HQ. From opening an office in Israel, to hiring interns (and maybe watching some of the World Cup), we have been working on expanding and improving your kikin experience. Yesterday a couple of the winners of the 'Find The Wheel Sweepstakes' came by to pick up their iPads. We showed them around the office, ate some cupcakes, and demoed kikin for them. It was a good time and we were so happy to have them in the office and properly thank them for helping us promote kikin. Thanks again, Jacob and David! Be sure to check out more photos on our Flickr site!   We have a lot of exciting news to share in the upcoming weeks, so stay posted and keep enjoying kikin! -the kikin team   2010-06-17T18:56:22+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/carlos-bhola-on-mixergy.com/ http://kikin.com/site/carlos-bhola-on-mixergy.com/#When:14:51:27Z Last Friday, our CEO, Carlos Bhola was interviewed by Andrew Warner on Mixergy.com! You can watch the entire interview here! // Business Tips via Mixergy, home of the ambitious upstart!   2010-05-19T14:51:27+00:00 http://kikin.com/blog/kikin-is-a-member-of-iab/ http://kikin.com/site/kikin-is-a-member-of-iab/#When:15:45:39Z kikin is proud to announce it has been accepted as a new member of theInteractive Advertising Bureau (IAB). More than 375 leadingmedia/technology companies are working together to 1) Prepare for therequirements of pending legislation and regulation 2) Standardize admeasurement guidelines and creative standards and 3) Create andpromote best practices for consumer messaging and disclosure.kikin will also be participating in the IAB/NAI’s new CLEAR Ad Noticeprogram to give consumers insight into the advertising they seeonline. This program is expected to come into use in the next fewmonths and will dramatically increase the visibility consumers haveinto the data that publishers and advertisers collect. In addition,consumers will have many new tools to edit or delete the data andimprove the advertising that they receive. -Richard Weaver, Trust and Safety 2010-05-12T15:45:39+00:00