Ringside Networks

Press Release

Specialty Retailer Enhances Brand and Builds Customer Ties Online with Ringside Social Application Platform

Facebook developers empowered by open source platform to create bigger footprints and generate new revenue models

Web 2.0 Expo — SAN FRANCISCO and PHILADELPHIA — April 22, 2008 — Harnessing the power of social networking for businesses of all sizes, Ringside Networks, Inc. today announced The Haddonfield Running Company and its family of retail stores are one of the first website deployments of the Ringside Social Application Server™, less than a month after entering Beta Test.

The Voomaxer application is available on the following web sites:
Runningco Link: http://runningco.ringsidenetworks.com
Facebook Application Link: http://apps.facebook.com/voomaxer/
Voomaxer Link: http://www.voomaxer.com , Beta release: http://ringside.voomaxer.com

Haddonfield Running deployed the Ringside Social Application Server on www.runningco.com to enhance its brand by bringing social capabilities directly to customers and site visitors. For Voomaxer, a popular Facebook social application available on the site, the Ringside open source platform empowers developers to create a bigger customer footprint and generate new revenue models independent of Facebook.

“We have succeeded with personal service and word of mouth to compete against the big box stores like Sports Authority. Now, with the Ringside Social Application Server, we can extend that personal connection to our website and strengthen our customer loyalty programs,” said Dave Welch, CEO of the Haddonfield Running Company stores.

Running Profiles, Friends and Facebook

Runners can now easily connect with friends in the www.runningco.com community, as well as their friends on Facebook, enabled transparently through the deployment of the Ringside Social Application Server by Haddonfield Running. This allows runners to connect and plan runs together if they live close to each other or trade training tips. The Haddonfield Running website becomes the hub of social interactions in this passion-centric community. As runners recommend joining the community to their friends, word of mouth spreads about the stores and builds the brand.

Here is how it is done: By enabling the social aspects of its community, Haddonfield Running takes advantage of the ability for customers to create meaningful profiles about themselves through the Ringside Social Application Server. Users can create profiles with general information and add running-related information like favorite runs, training preferences, and personal best times. With the Ringside Identity Mapping capability, runners that are Facebook users can also link directly to their Facebook Profile and simply extend it with additional information about their running preferences.

“We do not sell on the web, but we want to use the web to build our brand,” explained Joe Halin, manager of the Moorestown Running Company, part of the Haddonfield Running family. “We rely on word of mouth from satisfied customers for our growth and success. The web gives us a way to leverage that, and these new social capabilities really get our customers involved more with us.”

Voomaxer – Facebook Social Application for Runners

Voomaxer allows runners, swimmers and bikers to track their training and racing. It takes advantage of the Facebook capabilities to allow friends to share their training specifics. Haddonfield Running uses the Ringside Social Application Server to run Voomaxer on the www.runningco.com website.

Jonathan Otto, the creator of Voomaxer, added, “The Ringside Social Application Server gives us a way to unlock our Facebook deployment. It has opened up new revenue models to sell this service to specialty running stores across the country on a Web 2.0 subscription basis.”

Users of www.runningco.com and Facebook can update and view their running logs from either environment. The Ringside Identity Mapping technology allows friends in both Facebook and www.runningco.com to share their running information as they wish.

Case in point: Morristown Cross Country and Track Coach Lorenzo Eagles intends to have his runners “log their miles on Voomaxer to earn miles for the team’s Mileage Club T-Shirt program. Most of them use Facebook and will enter their data there, but I will access just their running log information via the www.runningco.com website. This added level of security provided by Ringside lets them keep their private information on Facebook and share only their running information with me.”

Future Social Applications

Haddonfield Running’s Welsh has further plans for social applications to enhance his relationship with customers. “The running profiles, friends, and Voomaxer social applications are just the beginning for us. We expect to leverage the Ringside Social Application Platform for reaching out into the Road Racing and Triathlon community. For example, we will allow any race director to easily post a race on our website, and then any participant can add comments and information like pictures and video to the race event.”

The Ringside Networks open source software is available for immediate download at www.ringsidenetworks.com and www.ringsidenetworks.org, the corresponding open source community website.

For more information about Ringside Networks, please visit www.ringsidenetworks.com. For timely updates on Ringside Networks news and commentary, please subscribe to an RSS Feed at http://bobbickel.blogspot.com/.

Resources

Ringside Social Application Server launch news release: Ringside Networks Brings the Power of Social Networking to Every Business http://www.ringsidenetworks.com/about/news/prarchive/2008/ringside_launch.html

Ringside Networks artwork/graphs:
http://www.ringsidenetworks.com/Products/images/2008March/FB-RingsideIntegrated.png
http://www.ringsidenetworks.com/Products/images/2008March/RingsideArchitecture.png

Ringside Networks datasheet: http://www.ringsidenetworks.com/Products/RingsideDatasheet.pdf

Logo – Long: http://www.ringsidenetworks.com/Products/images/2008March/logo-long.jpg
Logo – Square: http://www.ringsidenetworks.com/Products/images/2008March/logo-square.jpg

About Ringside Networks

Ringside Networks, Inc. provides the industry’s first Social Application Server, allowing any website to harness the power of social networking. The free and open source platform is designed for companies to enable their global communities to interact and communicate like never before. Funded by Matrix Partners, the private company was founded in 2007 in Marlton, New Jersey by former executives and developers from Bluestone Software and JBoss. For more information, please visit the website at www.ringsidenetworks.com.

Ringside Social Application Server is a trademark of Ringside Networks. All other names, brands, or products may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.

Contact:

Bob Bickel
Ringside Networks
+1 609-410-5056
bob.bickel@ringsidenetworks.com