Six Apart Launches New Services as Blogs and Social Media Go Mainstream

Market Wire, April, 2008

Six Apart, the world's leading blogging software and services company, today debuted a host of social media services that complement its pioneering technology offerings and respond to the explosive growth of blogging into a mainstream communications technology. The company's new services provide advertising, design, implementation, custom development and site optimization to bloggers and companies of all sizes.

"Our customers have asked us for complete solutions as their blogging and social media efforts grow," said Chris Alden, CEO of Six Apart. "Our mission is to help everyone succeed in blogging. Today, we're expanding our business so that our customers can benefit not just from our technology, but from our years of experience. With the launch of Six Apart Media and Six Apart Services, we are able to help any blogger, publisher and advertiser who wants to succeed online."

To power this evolution of the company, Six Apart has acquired Apperceptive, LLC., the premier agency for designing and implementing social media communities, and established an office in New York City. Since its inception two years ago, Apperceptive has worked with Six Apart to build and expand blog-based web publishing communities for leading properties such as The Washington Post, The Huffington Post, BoingBoing, Major League Baseball, iVillage, Gothamist, Serious Eats, and more.

Six Apart New York, currently hiring, will play a fundamental role in providing social media services to customers and advertisers and joins the company's present offices in San Francisco, Tokyo and Paris.

Six Apart Media: Advertising and VIP Services

Six Apart now provides a premium advertising program for influential bloggers and social media web sites as a powerful alternative to current advertising options, providing more control to bloggers and unique engagement for advertisers. Thousands of bloggers on hosted platforms like TypePad and self-hosted tools like Movable Type and WordPress.org have the opportunity to make money from their blogs by participating in advertising solutions created by Six Apart that bring together the best of social media, blogging, and advertising. This new program builds on Six Apart's years of experience providing innovative custom media solutions to major brands such as HP, MSN and Universal Studios.

Six Apart's new advertising services combine the depth of blogging with the breadth of social networks to create engaging, relevant online experiences that connect advertisers with influencers and their audiences. Adify, the premier technology and media company focused on vertical online advertising, provides the technology that powers the advertising program.

In addition, the Six Apart VIP program will promote and support influential bloggers in building their audiences and visibility. Services for VIPs include blog assessment and optimization, design and template analysis, and educational services and webinars.

Six Apart Services: Design, Custom Development and Implementation Services

With the acquisition of Apperceptive, Six Apart now offers design and development services for next-generation social media applications and solutions for major bloggers, large media companies and corporate customers. Six Apart Services helps organizations power custom communities, encourage user-generated content, manage web publishing from a single scalable application, and integrate social publishing platforms with existing systems for effective internal collaboration. Six Apart Services will also bolster the efforts of the Six Apart Professional Network, the vibrant community of third-party developers, designers, consultants and systems integrators who provide valuable service offerings to users of Six Apart platforms.

Blog Optimization and Tune-up Services

Six Apart is offering a suite of personal consultation services to bloggers of any kind to help get the most out of blogging. The new "Turbo Tune Up" and "Power Launch" services improve the marketing impact of a blog, and will be available to all TypePad bloggers. These services build on the tradition of world class support currently available to TypePad customers.

New Business Units

Six Apart is forming two new business units to provide the new services. Six Apart Media, led by Executive Vice President David Tokheim, will provide the premium advertising program to influential bloggers and custom advertising solutions to marketers. This group will also identify, cultivate and support bloggers for the VIP program.

Six Apart Services, led by Vice Presidents Marissa Levinson and David Jacobs, will provide custom development, implementation and design services to large publishers and corporate customers.

"By introducing these new services to bloggers, we're complementing our increasing investment in our core technologies. Six Apart is ideally positioned to capitalize on the rapid growth in the blogging market and provide complete solutions to all bloggers," said Alden.

About Six Apart

Six Apart Ltd . provides award-winning blogging software and services that change the way millions of individuals, organizations, and corporations connect and communicate around the world every day. The company provides the Movable Type social publishing platform, the TypePad hosted blogging service, Vox , a free blogging service for friends and families, advertising solutions for leading brands and influential bloggers, and a wide range of services dedicated to help bloggers thrive in today's social media landscape. Founded in 2002, Six Apart is a global company with its headquarters in San Francisco, CA, and offices in Tokyo, Paris and New York City. For more information visit the Six Apart corporate web site at http://www.sixapart.com/ .