Pluck (previous profiles) is quietly building a very nice suite of web 2.0 products (see Shadows as well).
They announced two new products on September 12 – InSite RSS and InSite Blogging. Both products are aimed at online content publishers, particularly online newspapers. Both can generate significant revenue for Pluck, as they charge for these services. Pluck also announced their first customer for these products.
I spoke with Dave Panos, the CEO of Pluck, via email about these products and their first customer deal.
InSite RSS
InSite RSS is a tool to allow sites to integrate RSS feed content directly into their websites, adding significant stickiness to their users.
InSite RSS: Allows publishers to provide their readers with personalized news services that leverage millions of available RSS feeds. With InSite RSS, portals can deliver a “My News” style offering, giving users control over feed discovery, subscription and consumption. InSite RSS keeps sites on par with major web portals and ensures that all feed source providers are referenced and linked to appropriately. InSite RSS leverages Pluck’s award-winning consumer RSS technology and Pluck’s FeedFinder service for RSS feed discovery.
InSite Blogging
With InSite Blogging, site users/readers can create their own blogs. For sites with a local focus, like online newspapers, this can be a very effective tool for adding stickiness, as well as increasing content creation on local issues. While editorial control can be an issue (as the LA Times found out quite painfully), this can be a way for newspapers with an online presence to stop the customer bleeding they’ve had to suffer over the years.
InSite Blogging: A hosted, managed solution that enables publishers to offer community blogging as part of their web sites. The service allows publishers and web portals to offer readers a fully-featured citizen journalism program complete with photos, community tools, tagging, categorization, management and reporting. Once embedded into a web site, the service opens new sources of content and contextual advertising space while building reader loyalty and page views. InSite Blogging is built on technology Pluck acquired earlier in 2005 from EasyJournal, a third-generation community of hundreds of thousands of active bloggers.
First Customer
Pluck also announced their first customer for Insite Blogging – The Austin American-Statesman, a Cox newspaper and Central Texas’ leading daily newspaper (it basically owns Austin).
The blogging sites can be seen here and here. An example blog (lots have sprung up after only a few days) can be seen here (see screen shot also).
Library Clips and Outsell Now also blogs about Pluck’s new products.
Congratulations to Pluck. If they can get traction in this space, there is a real revenue opportunity for these products.