Marginize

Boston, MA, November 23, 2010: TechStars-company Marginize, offering a social space on every Web page, announced today the launch of a new widget for website publishers, as well as the introduction of a new set of interaction and identity features for end users. Used on more than150,000websitessince thesoft launch of its browser plug-in in June 2010, Marginize augments web browsing by providing a social space in the right margin of any website, where users can interact with each other through comments and check-ins. The publisher widget now lets all visitors see the Marginize activity stream onparticipating sites, which include Boston.com, Xconomy.com, and other top technology blogs.

“Xconomy articles generate social media conversations that were notvisible on the pages themselves. Marginize brings the conversationback to the site, and readers benefit” says Bob Buderi, CEO and Editorin Chief at Xconomy. “Users of Marginize's browser plug-in werealready using it on Xconomy, so enabling this natively brings thiscapability to all our readers, and lets us proactively engage in theconversation."

Marginize is attractive to website ownersinterested in enabling the social conversation about their content directly on their own pages, and taking an active part in it. Already available as a browser plug-in for Chrome, Firefox and Safari, and a bookmarklet for IE, the new Marginize publisher widget is now available natively on Boston.com, Xconomy, and several other technology-related blogs for any visitor to these sites.The publisher widget helps publishers create a space on their pages where their visitors can engage with each other and with the site.

Marginize attracts social media-savvy users who regularly share web content with their friends and followers, as well as casual users who want to see what the world is saying about the sites they are browsing

• Twitter in context: The Marginize space on every webpage is pre-populated with Twitter messages linking to the page, showing the existing conversation in context.
• Foursquare-like check-ins: Marginize users can “check in” to any web page, much like Foursquare users check into physical locations, to show they have visited the page and have interacted with its content.
• Sharing with friends and beyond: Users can add their reactionsin the margin of any page for all future visitors to see, as well as broadcast their reactions through their favorite social network – Twitter, Facebook or Google Buzz. Marginize conversations are threaded, and comments can be over 140 characters long.
• Bragging rights: Through repeated check-ins and comments, users earn badges and rewards related to their interests, tastes and affiliations. Badges allow Marginize users to find new people with similar interests, while having fun and earning bragging rights.

The Marginize widget is offered at no charge to website publishers, and will later be available for anyone to add to their site. In the meantime, beta invitations can be requested at www.marginize.com/publishers or by emailing publishers@marginize.com. Premium services also let website publishers offer their site visitors customized site badges as well as special offers and promotions.

“The Social Web has created a way for ideas to flow within existing groups of people, on Facebook for example. But often, ideas need to flow between people who care about the same websites. Marginize enables this by adding a space on every webpage that belongs to the visitor, so that the voice of the people can be heard where it matters, which is on the pagesthey are browsing,” shares Ziad Sultan, CEO of Marginize. “The Marginize space can be seen on any page using the browser plug-in, and can now be seen natively on the websites of our early partners. This adds a layer of transparency and inclusiveness to the web. We like to call it the augmented web.”

About Marginize

Marginize creates a social space on every webpage, in which users can interact through comments and check-ins, in the context of the page they are browsing. It can be used to see what people are saying about any web page, as well as to share reactions in context with their existing friends and beyond. The company offers two versions of its tool: a user-enabled browser plug-in and a publisher-enabled website widget.The company launched its initial offering in June 2010 and has already seen its functionality used on over 150,000 websites. Marginize publisher partners now include Boston.com, Xconomy, OnStartups.com, and other top technology bloggers. Marginize was part of the TechStars program in 2010 and is funded by a roster of top investors including Atlas Venture, Longworth Venture Partners, eonBusiness, SOSventures, andDavid Cohen, Dharmesh Shah, Joe Caruso, Jean Hammond, Bill Warner, Will Herman, Michael Mark.