RockYou Extends Position as the Leading Developer and Distributor of Social Applications, Leads the Pack on hi5 with OpenSocial

San Mateo, CA (PRWEB) April 15, 2008

RockYou, the leading creator and publisher of social applications, today announced that it is among the most successful application developers on hi5, a leading international social network with over 80 million registered members worldwide. Within the first week of hi5's new developer platform, RockYou rapidly deployed 20 applications on hi5 and had already achieved over one million installs for its SuperFive! Social application, which was modeled after hi5's popular "Fives" feature.

This marks yet another significant milestone for the company. Throughout its two-year existence, RockYou has seen nothing but explosive growth, from its early days as a widget developer for MySpace -- where it still attracts over 130 million widget views a day -- to Facebook -- where it has become that network's most prolific and popular developer of social applications. With its early success on hi5 and through OpenSocial, RockYou's reach now extends to millions of users across every major social network, and the company shows no signs of slowing down. According to hi5 data, RockYou's new applications have quickly become favorites among hi5 users. For instance, the SuperFive application has grown from 1.4 million user installs as of April 7 (seven days post-launch), to over two million installs today. Other current top ten applications include SuperComments, Drinks, Graffiti, Likeness, and Gifts, placing RockYou squarely at the top of the popularity heap.

To quickly develop and spread its applications on hi5, RockYou utilized OpenSocial, the community-governed specification for building applications across the social Web, as well as hi5's numerous user distribution channels (such as notifications, invites, messages, and friend updates). Using OpenSocial paves the way for RockYou to easily expand the success of its hi5 applications to other social networks and websites participating in the OpenSocial initiative.

"Open Social rocks! Many sites, one API," said Lance Tokuda, CEO and co-founder of RockYou, "We commend hi5 for creating the fastest growing social application platform we've ever seen. RockYou is committed to enriching the already engaging experience that hi5 provides to its growing base of users."

The opportunity for brand marketers is significant. Using RockYou's ad network, a company can deliver highly targeted messages to over 60 million users, spread across multiple social networks. Major media companies using RockYou's network have seen positive results in excess of their expectations, and as RockYou spreads its reach across hi5 and other major social networks, the speed and relevance of such marketing campaigns will only grow. RockYou's embrace of OpenSocial will greatly support it deploying its applications to other participating networks, like MySpace, at a high speed and low cost.

"RockYou has done an impressive job leveraging our platform's capabilities, and delivering applications of interest to our diverse user base," said Ramu Yalamanchi, hi5's Founder and CEO. "We congratulate them on their early success on the new hi5 Platform."

About RockYou:
RockYou is the leading innovator, creator and distributor of widgets and applications on the social web. The company offers customized branding and advertising opportunities on Facebook and can deploy applications across any social network, including hi5, MySpace, Bebo and Friendster. RockYou's advertising platform is the largest Ad Network on Facebook and the most dynamic way for brands and advertisers to reach application users. Headquartered in San Mateo, California, RockYou is funded by Sequoia Capital, Partech International and Lightspeed Venture Partners. For more information, please visit http://rockyou.com/corp/about.php.

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