As the HTML 5 versus Flash debate rages on, the yeoman's Web work being done by many media companies still relies on Flash-powered video.
That's why New York-based social Web software company KickApps recently partnered with Adobe to introduce the Open Source Media Framework Studio, which lets brands and media companies create drag-and-drop Flash experience for their sites and videos. We recently caught up with KickApps' CEO Alex Blum who shared details on the partnership as well as updates on the work KickApps has done for companies such as NBC and Food Network.
"This has made it easy for non-technical people to integrate into their custom players," he said of the Adobe-KickApps deal. That includes NBC Universal, a KickApps partner that has used the software to power community development and to integrate with social tools such as blogs, video and audio. The Adobe partnership should let NBCU employees, as an example, focus more on the experiences they are creating for the Web and less on the technical integration, Blum said.
In the hyper competitive world of social and video technology providers, such ease of use and customer service efforts are becoming important differentiators among the many players. Plus, the company's software seems to be driving results. Food Network, for instance, has used the KickApps tools to drive traffic to its video- and social-centric site Food2.com.
The new initiative with Adobe was announced in early May
Daisy Whitney, Senior Producer
