Homestead Technologies Announces Partnerships With Deja News and CollegeBeat

Business Wire, Oct 7, 1998

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 7, 1998--Homestead Technologies Inc., a leader in online community technology, today announced separate partnerships with Deja News, the discussion network and CollegeBeat, the leader in online collegiate marketing.

Homestead will provide co-branded versions of its free online Web site and community building service to users at partner sites, available immediately at www.dejanews.com and www.collegebeat.com.

Homestead provides end users of all skill levels with an easy, free and flexible way to build a Web site or 'micro-community' on the Web together with friends, family or colleagues. Under the agreements, Homestead will provide a community-based Web publishing solution without the need for partners to install or maintain the service or any software on their own servers.

"Internet discussion groups and college communities are clear examples of micro-communities that are formed by groups who know each other or share common interests," said Homestead founder and CEO Justin Kitch.

"We're excited to be working with these partners to provide their communities with enhanced publishing and collaboration capabilities that provide a compelling reason for users to return," Kitch added.

Deja News

Under the three-year partnership, Homestead will provide a co-branded service to the Deja News community of millions of users. Homestead has also developed a custom Deja News search Element which is integrated into the existing Homestead palette of drag-and-drop Elements, available to all Homestead native and co-branded service users, including non-Deja News members.

The element provides users with direct search access to the more than 80,000 Internet discussion forums on Deja News, including Deja News Member Forums and Usenet newsgroups.

"Deja News is constantly striving to provide better ways for communities to interact and thrive," said Guy Hoffman, president and CEO of Deja News. "Homestead's ease of use belies its powerful offering. This is an intuitive tool that our community leaders and members will use to collaboratively publish group information and resources, creating an even richer community environment."

CollegeBeat

Under the terms of the CollegeBeat agreement, Homestead will provide a complete Web publishing solution to CollegeBeat, which will promote the service to students at the more than 100 schools that are currently affiliated with the CollegeBeat service.

The CollegeBeat Homesteads(tm) service gives students access to all the tools they need to collaborate on class projects, plan fraternity events, create club newsletters or simply communicate with friends at other schools.

"CollegeBeat seeks to offer best-in-class technology and applications to the more than one million college students who have access to our site. In partnering with Homestead, we've integrated the easiest to use, yet most sophisticated Web publishing technology, which truly adds value to our community of students," said Bill Townsend, vice president of sales and marketing at CollegeBeat.

About Homestead Technologies Inc.

Homestead Technologies Inc. is a leader in online community technology, providing the first service that gives PC users of all skill levels an easy, free and flexible way to build a personal Web site or micro-community together with friends, family or colleagues. The service is available at www.homestead.com and through co-branding and licensing partners.

Founded in 1997, Homestead is based in Menlo Park, Calif., and has more than 50 employees. The company is privately held and has received investments from Draper Fisher Jurvetson, a Silicon Valley venture finance firm, and Intel Corp.

About Deja News Inc.

Deja News, the discussion network, is the Web's leading destination for discussion. Founded in May 1995, Deja News provides an easy and powerful Web interface for participating in entertaining and informative discussions with people of like interests.

The company's innovative technology also makes it possible to quickly search the archives of more than 80,000 discussion forums, including Deja News Member Forums and Usenet newsgroups.

Deja News provides discussion services to America Online, AT&T WorldNet Service, Bell South, CNET, Excite, HotBot, Infoseek, InfoSpace, Lycos, Microsoft's Internet Explorer, The Microsoft Network, Open Text, WebCrawler, Yahoo! and ZDNet. Deja News is free to users and may be found on the Web at http://www.dejanews.com.

About CollegeBeat

CollegeBeat is the only college-oriented Web site endorsed by college deans and installed on their campuses to deliver college event schedules and research tools, as well as local, regional and national news; shopping; forums; and online tools and applications.

CollegeBeat is currently installed at more than 100 colleges and reaches 1 million students aged 18-24. The company is headquartered in Hudson, Mass. Other partners include ABCNews.com, American Greetings, Barnesandnoble.com, and Six Degrees.

Note to Editors: Homestead, the Homestead Editor and Homestead Express are trademarks of Homestead Technologies. All other trademarks or product names are the property of their respective owners and are hereby recognized as such.