NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- OpenSky.com, the social commerce marketplace that helps people discover, share and shop with their friends, announced today that the site's 2 million members have surpassed the 40 million connections mark. The shopping site, which has designed its social features to be core to the user experience much like Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest, celebrated the occasion by releasing several new social tools including; a more personalized and powerful feed (version 2.0), product discussion, navigation and join flow all working together to further enhance a user's ability to shop with friends.
"Until we came along, online shopping was like using a vending machine, systematic and boring," said John Caplan, founder and CEO of OpenSky. "On OpenSky the social piece is essential to the experience, its not just a marketing tool. The more people you connect to and interact with, the more you discover. College roommates, best friends, moms and daughters separated by geography and the grind of modern life no longer have to miss out on the fun of shopping together -- the advice, the trusted opinions and the fun of discovery"
Beginning today, members will be able to see the actions of friends and interact with them right in the flow of their daily feed. As friends comment on a product they've discovered, love an item to save it to their profile or watch a video created by one of the site's Insiders that action will appear in real time in their friend's personal feed. In addition to greater access to friends, members of OpenSky will also benefit from an improved personalization engine with enhanced algorithms that deliver members more specific matches to OpenSky Insiders and products.
"By empowering users to connect, chat and see what their friends and OpenSky Insiders discover and love right in their feed, we've created a real social graph for shopping," said Michael Schnapf, OpenSky CTO. "Watching the number of connections members are making with these tools demonstrates how engaging they find it," Schnapf added.
On OpenSky, members create their own shopping graph by connecting to their friends and their choice of the site's industry insiders – people like Bobby Flay, Molly Sims, Tracy Anderson and Bethenny Frankel -- in food, healthy living, fashion, beauty, home décor and electronics. By creating a shopping graph within OpenSky, users create a personalized shopping experience and gain access to exclusive information, advice and product recommendations from people they trust.
Emily Lawi, VP Communications, OpenSky - (917) 968-0333 or emily@OpenSky.com
About OpenSky:
OpenSky is a social shopping marketplace that helps people discover, buy and share unique goods that match their individual taste. Users can connect to friends and industry insiders in Food, Style, Beauty, Healthy Living, Electronics and Home Décor for exclusive information, advice and insider product recommendations. Since it launched on April 5, 2011, OpenSky has attracted more than 2 million members who are making more than 40 million connections to the site's insiders including: Bobby Flay, Molly Sims, Tracy Anderson and Bethenny Frankel. OpenSky was recently named to the list of The World's 50 Most Innovative Companies by Fast Company magazine.
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