LiveBar

Today LiveWorld introduced LiveBar, a portable social networking community, blog and instant messaging system for publishers and brands.

LiveBar is a product of LiveWorld, which provides online community services for a broad roster of clients, from eBay and HBO, to Kraft Foods and Neutrogena.

The idea behind it is to save website publishers from having to create, deploy, and maintain community-oriented websites, but still allow them to capitalize on "bare bones" social networking features to get viewers more involved in their content.

"In many cases this could make the difference between activating a social marketing campaign or skipping it completely," remarked Rich LaFauci, US Managing Director of Technology, Digitas — adding that it "totally changes the social network marketing opportunity."

LiveBar is a translucent black bar that rests on the bottom of a web page. When a user clicks on it, a translucent overlay rises over the page and displays real-time discussions, comments and other social applications.

Static websites become almost instantly interactive, encouraging users to linger longer. Over time, the publication can shill the extended time-spent to premium advertisers.

Better yet, users don't have to leave the content page in order to participate. And they don't have to dig through discussions to locate what they want to discuss, because LiveBar knows what page it is on and displays only conversations relevant to the context of that page.

"LiveBar drops the barriers between a site's content and community sections by making them one [and] the same," said Peter Friedman, Chairman and CEO.

This week Tulane University will add LiveBar to its online daily newspaper.
And LiveBar's first major entertainment client, A&E's Bio.com, plans to deploy the service this fall.

As an example of how A&E will use it, take the "Mothers & Daughters in Hollywood Special," which airs on A&E's Biography Channel at 9am and 3pm EST. Immediately after watching the show, a person can visit the site and write a "soap-box," or blog-style critique. S/he can also discuss Joan & Melissa Rivers with other viewers, or shoot Twitter-like comments back and forth about the ladies' fashion choices. A&E can add proprietary content alongside the discussions, like interviews with actors, or promotions for upcoming shows.

Anyone who visits the site will see the bar and its contents, but users must sign up/sign in to participate.

LiveBar also adds real estate to a website. On the overlay, the space to the right of the conversation may be used for ad executions of any size.

Less than two years ago, WPP formed a joint venture with LiveWorld to offer online community and social networking services to brands worldwide via WPP's global networks. It invested directly in the company one month (then again, two months) later.