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Introduction

Clearspring Launchpad allows publishers and developers to quickly distribute content as sharable widgets.   Launchpad encompasses three powerful yet easy to use products:

• Launchpad In-Widget – tool for creating viral widgets with tracking capabilities
• Launchpad In-Widget APIs – Application Programming Interface (API) set to embed sharing and tracking capabilities into a widget
• Launchpad On-Page – configurable sharing menu to enable any Web content to be distributed and tracked

This guide provides insight into each of the Launchpad offerings and how to select the appropriate offering for a specific use.

Audience for this Guide

This guide is for publishers and developers who are tasked with evaluating the Clearspring Launchpad product family.  

This guide assumes the reader is familiar with widgets and is seeking an easy, scalable method of distributing them.  If the user is unfamiliar with widgets, they should review the Widgets 101 guide located at: http://www.clearspring.com/widgets101

Clearspring Launchpad

Launchpad enables rapid distribution of content as shareable widgets.  The widgets are portable across all the leading social networks, such as MySpace, Facebook, Friendster, etc., without the burden of creating a widget for each network.  

Each product offers comprehensive analytics and reporting.  The widgets activities can be monitored with Launchpad’s real-time management console, providing the ability to understand where the content has been distributed.

Launchpad In-Widget

Using Launchpad In-Widget, Flash widgets and Web content can easily be enhanced with sharing and tracking.

Web content, such as Flash, HTML and images, can easily become a widget using Launchpad In-Widget.  The content is “wrapped” in the Launchpad In-Widget container to create the widget. This container frames the content, leaving the content in place, and provides the “get & share” dock.

The container provides contextual intelligence to its contents.  This allows the content to behave differently based on where it’s placed. For example, the container can pass the viewer’s network connection to the widget, allowing it, in turn, to serve content appropriate for that connection speed – a broadband user might get HD video, where as a dialup user would receive lower quality standard definition video.

Viewers who wish to grab the widget can simply click the “get & share” dock to display the services menu.  The service menu first displays the list of ten popular services order by either the most popular services, the service the user is currently on or how the user grabs widgets, e.g. Jane always posts widgets to Perfsport and downloads to her Mac Desktop, menu displays the current list of destinations (e.g., social networks, bookmark sites, etc.).   The list of services available to the user can be customized to those the widget creator has selected.

The service menu can be styled to fit the widget.  Capabilities such as customizing the colors of the menu dock, the title bars and the menu back ground allow for defining a menu style that better fits the widget.  In addition to styling, the widget creator can also determine the menu size and type, such as the dock or to use a button.

Driving visibility and ultimately usage of the widget is important to all publishers.  Using Launchpad In-Widget, the widget can optionally have a customizable widget homepage that complements the publishers’ seeding of the widget.  This widget homepage provides another place for search engines and widget galleries to find the widget.

Launchpad In-Widget also supports one-click publishing to popular widget galleries, such as Google, Live, and more.   Widget galleries expose the widget to a larger audience quickly and easily.  Once published, the widget continues to maintain the features of Launchpad In-Widget, allowing the widget to be grabbed and shared.

The analytics of widgets wrapped with Launchpad In-Widget

Launchpad In-Widget captures widget views, interactions and grabs.  These user actions are delivered as detailed real-time reports. The reports show where the widget is being viewed, from where it is spreading and how users are interacting with it.

As the widget spreads across the Web, Launchpad In-Widget measures the widget’s virality.  The analytics system provides insight into which sites drive the most views and grabs of the widget, aiding the publisher in determining where to target the widget for growth and engagement.  This allows publishers the ability to have visibility into the usage and viral nature of their widget.

Why use Launchpad In-Widget?

How do you know if Launchpad In-Widget is right for you?  The following questions should be used.  Do you:

1. want to syndicate widgets or content?
2. need to track widget/content usage across the Web?
3. want to maximize the reach to services without the development burden?
4. have a widget that does not have to load before Launchpad In-Widget?
5. have a Flash widget that does not require access to level0, as this is the Launchpad In-Widget container?

Using Launchpad In-Widget, it’s really that easy to create, distribute, track and ultimately monetize Web content as widgets.

Launchpad In-Widget API

Launchpad In-Widget API is an embedded viral sharing solution built for widget developers who want full control of their users experience.   

The power of widgets built with Launchpad In-Widget API

Launchpad In-Widget API is a comprehensive set of APIs that provide viral sharing, run time contextual intelligence and widget tracking, enabling developers to fully customize the widget sharing experience.

Unlike Launchpad In-Widget, which provides a container with all the sharing services immediately available, Launchpad In-Widget API is a set of APIs that are embedded into a widget.  Developers can create their own user experience while including the power of sharing and tracking. In addition, Launchpad In-Widget API loads after the widget code, proving the developer the ability to configure services at runtime.

Launchpad In-Widget API consists of the following libraries:

• Context: provides run-time context to the widget
• Menu: invocation, configuration and customization of the Flash-based sharing menu
• Share: allows posting to and retrieving from the services available in the sharing menu
• Track: logs user behavior in a widget session
• Widget: allows for registering and updating registered widgets dynamically

To help jumpstart Launchpad In-Widget API development, the widget console provides a quick and easy tool for generating “stub” code with the appropriate libraries.  Launchpad In-Widget API is available for Adobe ActionScript 3 (AS3), AS2 and JavaScript.

Launchpad In-Widget API allows developers the flexibility to leverage the power of the Clearspring platform while providing their own custom user experience.

The analytics of widgets built with Launchpad In-Widget API

Launchpad In-Widget API provides most all the analytic information as Launchpad In-Widget.  By default, when the widget invokes Launchpad In-Widget API, the core tracking capabilities are included.  This means that the widget will automatically gather information such as views and grabs as a user interacts with the widget. 

The tracking API allows the developers to capture additional information.  Developers can record custom events, such as a user clicking a specific button on the widget.  The custom event information captured is available in the Clearspring Analytics console, allowing developers to easily understand how users interact with their widget.

In addition to custom events, the developer can track user clickthroughs.  If the widget provides links to a home page or other useful sites, the Launchpad In-Widget API URL redirect service will track the user request.  As with all the tracking information, reports appear in the widget console.

The power of Clearspring Analytics is readily available to widget developers, allowing for custom user experiences with built-in easy to use tracking.

Why use Launchpad In-Widget API?

How do you know if Launchpad In-Widget API are right for you?  These questions should be used. 
Do you:

1. need to fully customize the widget experience?
2. require control over where the widget can be placed?
3. require tracking specific user actions with the widget?
4. need the widget to load prior to the sharing menu?
5. require the context of the widget’s placement at runtime?

Using Launchpad In-Widget API allows for greater control, but requires development effort.

Launchpad On-Page

Launchpad On-Page enables any web content to become a portable widget and be distributed to social networks via the share menu.

The power of Launchpad On-Page widgets

Launchpad On-Page allows the Clearspring Share Menu to be added to any type of web content making it shareable.  The customizable sharing menu can be placed on any Web site allowing users to grab and post the content on their social network, bookmark site and start page.

By default, all available sharing services are displayed in the Share Menu in alphabetical order and group by Post, Bookmark, Embed or Download.  Using the simple JavaScript configuration API, the Share Menu can be fully customized, from which services to display, to displaying a single service, and more.  In addition, the Share Menu’s appearance can range from a simple button that “pop ups” the default menu to styling the colors of the menu.

Launchpad On-Page provides a way to seed Web content on to social networks, bookmark sites, and start pages.  Once a user grabs the content, via Launchpad On-Page Sharing Menu, it is placed on the site.  However, viewers of the content placed on the posted site do not have a way to subsequently grab the content.  When the desire is for content to virally propagate across sites, Launchpad On-Page should be used in conjunction with viral widgets, such as those using Launchpad In-Widget API.  This increases the probability of a grab on the seeding site while the embedded menu in the widget allows for subsequent grabs away from the initial seeding site.

Launchpad On-Page enables any Web content to be grabbed and shared.

The analytics of content distributed with Launchpad On-Page

As with the other Launchpad products, Launchpad On-Page provides detailed tracking tools to monitor the distribution of widgets. When Launchpad On-Page is loaded the core tracking capabilities are initiated.  This means that the menu will automatically gather information such as views, unique views, and grabs as a user interacts. 

Launchpad On-Page has some analytics limitations because of the power provided by easily allowing any Web content on a page to become distributed.  Analytics such as the virality of the content and interactions are not available. 

As mentioned, Launchpad On-Page is best suited for seeding content to other locations.  The sharing menu does not follow the content, which limits the virality of the content.  However, when used with Launchpad In-Widget or In-Widget API widgets, it maximizes the initial grab.  The widgets in widget-sharing menu provides for further grabs beyond the seed location allowing for a viral widget.

Clearspring Analytics enhances the distribution of Web content by understanding what content is important to the users.

Why use Launchpad On-Page?

How do you know if Launchpad On-Page is right for you?  The following questions should be used. 
Do you:

1. want to enable Web content to be distributed to services such as social networks, bookmarking sites, start pages and more?.
2. have content you would like to syndicate or distribute?
3. want to track how users grab your Web content on the site?
4. have a widget that you want to promote and syndicate?
5. want to enhance the seeding location of a Launchpad In-Widget or In-Widget API widget?

Launchpad On-Page makes Web site content viral in 20 minutes or less.

Questions / Comments / Concerns

We welcome and encourage all feedback.

Please feel free to contact us.