SAN JOSE, Calif., June 20, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- The media call it "MySpace for the PR industry." It's the first-ever social networking site for professionals, and it's powered by a company that has made a name for itself in the burgeoning market for online communities.
MyRagan.com launched in early May using SNAPP PRO(r), a product by Me.com that allows users to instantly design online social networking communities using the look and feel of their own brand.
"The site has exploded with over 6,000 members in six weeks," says Mark Ragan, CEO of the Chicago-based publishing house Lawrence Ragan Communications. "We credit SNAPP for allowing us to capture the interest of our customers by quickly building a community that reflects our trusted brand."
Ragan Communications is the leading resource and publisher of information about corporate communications, internal communication and employee communications.
"The SNAPP platform offers an amazing array of tools for our members," Ragan said. "And it blends in perfectly with our current web presence."
The software solution allows MyRagan members to upload profiles, Instant Message one another, create groups and events, discuss burning issues on forums and share videos, music and blogs.
"Millions of consumers have fallen in love with social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook," Ragan said. "So we took a chance that professionals would want a site like this for their industry."
"SNAPP PRO turned out to offer everything we needed -- and the outpouring of support from our customers is proof of its success."
MyRagan.com is an online community built from the ground up for public relations and corporate communications professionals. The SNAPP platform offers members more than 40 social networking tools to build a robust online presence that is both global and specific to industry.
Highlights of MyRagan.com include:
-- Rich user profile model enables users to profile themselves by
defining their specialty and expertise in PR, their industry,
company, and title, location, and interest areas. Members can also
create content through links, RSS feeds, photos, video, audio, or
blog posts.
-- Search tools make it easy to find "like minds" and/or conversations
and content of interest based upon multiple search parameters.
-- Conversation and content building tools, including discussion
groups, user forums, RSS, instant messaging, chat rooms and blogs.
These tools are integrated with user profiles and search functions
to make for an online experience that emulates the type of
relationships and community experience that people build in the
offline realm.
"Previously, networking among PR and corporate communications professionals was limited to organized events often bound by local presence, email lists and discussion groups," said Mark Sigal, CEO of Me.com. "By leveraging Me.com's SNAPP PRO solution, Ragan has been able to rapidly launch a highly targeted, brand-centered community that seamlessly integrates the different conversations, contexts, content and communications that are meaningful to their audience. We believe that SNAPP PRO is destined to be a game-changer for lots of specialized information publishers."
The response to MyRagan has been overwhelming with 6,000 members joining the online community within the first three weeks of launching. The site is currently in beta and will be adding functionality in the coming months that enhances the type of content users can work with, enables greater customization of content of interest and provides better mechanisms for targeted communications.
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About Me Dot Com, Inc.
Me.com is a social networking platform solution provider enabling community builders of all sizes to rapidly deploy, customize and administer online communities around a connected community model that extends the reach of brands beyond a single Web site. Founded in 2005 and privately held with financial backing by noted angel Kimball Small and Brainstorm Ventures, Me.com is headquartered in San Jose, CA. For more information, please visit our Web site at http://www.me.com.
Me.com and SNAPP are trademarks of Me Dot Com, Inc. in the United States and/or other countries. Other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.