'Net Features : real-time content

Echo Helps Publishers Wrestling with Real-Time Content Moderation

Michael Garrity — Thu, 09 May 2013 15:00:00 GMT

Conversations are constantly taking place all over the Web, from websites to applications to mobile devices that are always on the go. And although this presents brands with more opportunities to spread their messages and create awareness, it also makes it far more difficult to monitor everything that is being said about them online.

But moderating those conversations just got easier thanks to the real-time Web platform provider Echo, which recently just announced the availability of DiscussIt Moderator, a new application designed for high-volume environments that allows publishers to moderate real-time conversations about their brands across multiple applications and websites.

As part of the Echo App Ecosystem, DiscussIt Moderator works as a centralized moderation tool that will augment the Echo StreamServer’s built-in standard moderation features, which include “bad word” filtering, spam detection and community flagging. However, DiscussIt Moderator will also let publisher teams co-moderate content from any Echo Enabled application, such as Comments, Media Galleries, Forums, Social Chattter or Lifestreams, and all from within a single, centralized interface.

Using configurable rules, DiscussIt Moderator is able to automatically flag any questionable content for review, and then insert said content into a live message stream that can be split into various sub-streams that allow individual moderators to collaborate on different sections simultaneously. This means they can approve, deny, edit or directly respond to items through the user interface and remove any inappropriate material.

The tool also features the ability to moderate multiple websites/domains, advanced real-time search functionality, the ability to “deputize” standout community members as moderators and in-depth usage analytics. Plus, it’s made to be quick and easy to configure and launch.

One of the biggest brands already on board with DiscussIt Moderator is the global professional wrestling corporation WWE, a company that has openly embraced social media as part of its recent marketing efforts.

“WWE fans are passionate and generate thousands of comments during each live event, both on social networks, as well as directly on WWE.com,” said the company’s EVP of Digital Media, Perkins Miller. “DiscussIt Moderator enables our team to easily co-moderate real-time content across all of our properties, which makes it easier for our fans to feel connected to our content and our WWE Superstars.”

User-Generated Photo Galleries on Display

Allison Howen — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:57:00 GMT

It is no secret that visual content, such as images and videos, help increase engagement rates on websites. Finding an elegant way to fit this type of content into a site, however, can be daunting.

Luckily, companies can leverage a new application from Echo and Chute, which enables users to integrate user-generated content into websites and apps. The Chute Media Gallery app is powered by Echo and provides marketers and publishers with a unique way to feature real-time photo walls about any topic on their sites.

“People are producing visual content about brands every day,” said Khris Loux, co-founder and CEO of Echo. “Chute Media Galleries provide an easy and efficient way to instantly harness this content and use it to create engaging, real-time experiences for websites, microsites or as part of marketing and advertising programs.”

The Chute Media Gallery app is currently available in Echo’s App Ecosystem. Users can leverage the app to create photo galleries for a specific hashtag, search term or user account. The photos can be generated from a user’s local harddrive, or from photo sites like Facebook, Flickr, Picasa, Twitter and Instagram.

It is also important to note that the Echo platform provides Chute's app with a few important capabilities, such as automatic spam filtering and advanced moderation controls. The photos within the galleries are displayed in a pinboard-style layout that includes social features, such as the ability to comment, like or reply to each photo. Additionally, content and updates are featured in real-time, so that pages don’t need to be refreshed.

“This app by Chute is just the latest in a series of apps in our app ecosystem,” said Chris Saad, Echo co-founder. “We invite all developers to work with us to add their apps to the echo app store.”

Inspire Engagement with Pinboard Plugin

Allison Howen — Tue, 16 Oct 2012 18:05:00 GMT

Not only has the popularity of Pinterest taken the Internet by storm, but now, the layout of the pinboarding platform is influencing the design of many sites on the Web as well.

In fact, eBay recently latched onto the Pinterest-style arrangement of image tiles for its recent site redesign. And now a new plugin from real-time Web platform provider Echo allows digital marketers and developers to also take advantage of this increasingly popular layout.

The pinboard visualization plugin enables developers and digital marketers to display any type of real-time content in a pinboard style view. The plugin works with Echo StreamServer, which is a real-time activity database that captures and stores millions of updates per second. Then, the database serves this content up in real-time, and enables full customization and personalization of the items in each stream.

“Echo believes that the web is rapidly becoming real-time and social,” said Khris Loux, CEO of Echo. “Our products are designed to support this transition by giving developers and digital marketers the tools they need to employ a new method of social story telling.”

The types of information that can be displayed with the pinboard plugin range from social content such as tweets, YouTube videos, Facebook posts and Spotify tracks to traditional content like photos and store merchandise. Additionally, the plugin allows visitors to comment, like and reply to items from directly within each stream. Currently, the plugin is being leveraged as the primary content display mechanism for Interscope Geffen A&M’s new website.

“We have blended real-time social activity about our artists and brands with traditional content like partner and store merchandise,” said Lee Hammond, VP of Digital for Interscope Geffen A&M. “Every piece of content is displayed in the same real-time, visual format, driving deeper engagement with our fans.”