Interview with KickApps VP of Marketing Michael Chin

Last week I interviewed the Michael Chin of KickApps. We discussed how his company powers indie gaming communities and how social media platforms will fare during the recession.

Adding a social media component to websites is gaining traction. John McCain did it with McCain Space. The CW did it for GossipGirl. And the indie gaming site, SonyPspInfo, built community features into their site too. They all happen to use KickApps to build social media into their web properties.

KickApps recently released a game widget. Features include an updated version of the classic arcade game, Breakout and a news feed that can be powered by RSS feed or community recommendations. I had a chat with Michael Chin of Kickapps to learn more about his company and the new widget.

Interview with Michael Chin: Senior VP of Marketing

Ms. Pixel: What is your company about?

Michael Chin: We’re a hosted social media platform. We offer a suite of applications which allow people to create social media experiences or add them to their website. With a social network you can go in and create a public profile. We also enable people to upload videos, blog and participate on message boards.

Ms. Pixel: Do you have people on hand to help with product implementation?

Michael Chin: KickApps is a self-service platform. That means anyone can create a site and we have a variety of very easy to use tools which enable anyone to create and deploy their own websites even if they don’t have any technical expertise.

For example, we have a drag-and-drop Styler Site where you can customize the basic design of your site, or you can upload your own CSS and HTML code. We also have a drag-and-drop Widget authoring environment we call the Widget Studio, where you can create customized video players, slideshows, music players, and a large number of Flash modules created by components.

We have a services group focused mainly on customer technical development and design. We also partner with consultants and agencies to help with implementation.

Ms. Pixel: So I checked out the gaming widget that Kickapps recently released. Can you tell me what it does and how it’s been helpful to your clients?

This widget in of itself is an example of what is possible. For us it’s about providing applications that enable anyone to come in with whatever their needs are. For example, the content of the widget can be powered by the community or by external sources (RSS feeds). The ‘Drag and drop’ functionality allows people to create flash widgets as well.

Ms. Pixel: Have you noticed any trends in social gaming?

Michael Chin: We’ve seen gaming communities emerge early, particularly around our message board platform. Message boards and forums continue to be a well used application in our suite. It’s a really interesting platform for us because we’ve taken its development well beyond where it was by adding things like profiles.

Ms. Pixel: What will KickApps be doing in the future?

Michael Chin: We’re at the point now where the market is coming around to social networking, We’ve spent the early days developing the platform. Now we are more focused on widgets, new features and integrating third party applications.

Ms. Pixel: So with the current financial crisis where do you see the market for social media platforms going?

Michael Chin: Whoa. That’s a good question! What we’ve seen is a major shift in the world of media, marketing, brand and customer relationships. Social and consumer generated media has changed a number of dynamics in the industry. For example, we’ve seen the impact of YouTube and Flickr on television.

Traditional marketing has significantly changed. You’ve got bloggers who can be pretty influential. We’re also seeing a shift from traditional approaches to marketing, advertising communications to publishing that factor in social media in significant ways. For us, this is a good thing, we’ve spent the last couple of years building our product and platform but also spending time building the business and delivering solutions to the marketplace. We’d like to think of ourselves as being in a pretty good spot.

Obviously, it’s a bit of a scary time for all of us but we’re not seeing abandonment. If anything people are rushing to embrace it.

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