Facebook Application - Wizzard Announces Facebook Integration For Its Mobile Podcast Apps

By - Eastern Daylight Time
Category - Facebook Application
Source - http://www.businesswire.com

Facebook Application

PITTSBURGH--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Wizzard Media (NYSE Amex: WZE), the world’s leading podcast network, today announced Facebook (NASDAQ: FB) support for its popular Apple iOS and Google Android Podcast Apps in conjunction with this week’s App Center announcement by Facebook. The Wizzard Media Network reached over 23 million monthly unique audience members in the first quarter and currently has nearly 2,500 mobile podcast apps. Leveraging Facebook’s dominance and aggressive expansion with the Facebook App Center further accelerates opportunities for Wizzard to substantially grow its unique audience and offer paid Facebook Apps. 

Wizzard’s ‘Social’ Podcast Apps take advantage of the social dynamics of Facebook where information and content become viral and spreads through Friend networks. Currently, Facebook has over 425 million mobile users. 

Wizzard’s ‘Social’ Podcast Apps allow mobile users to share podcasts via posts to their Facebook Timeline and to their friends’ News Feeds the same way the previously released Podcast App for Facebook Timeline does. Additionally, Facebook’s Single Sign-on lets users log into Wizzard’s mobile Podcast Apps via their Facebook identity and will automatically do so if they are already signed into the Facebook app on their device. 

The Facebook App Center, launching in the next few weeks, will include Facebook Apps like the Libsyn Podcast App for Facebook Timeline at launch. CBS News states, “the planned applications hub may take a chunk out of Apple and Google’s mobile market share,” but adds that the biggest change is the move to mobile. The Facebook App Center will also include ‘Social’ Apple iOS and Android Apps that have implemented Facebook’s Single Sign-on, redirecting users to buy and download to mobile devices. Another major change is that Facebook will now let developers offer paid apps - meaning, users will pay to install certain apps. 

"In just under a month, we have seen double the engagement and greater viral reach within Facebook around the Libsyn Podcast App for Timeline than with our other social media efforts around podcast hosting. Now the same features will be launching in our mobile Apps. The strength of viral discovery and the ease of consumption becomes a powerful promotional vehicle. A new episode can spread virally through the Facebook social network without downloading media or synching your device. You can see what others are playing, stream podcasts, and share your own," said Laurie Sims, President, Wizzard Media “This is the next phase in our tiered Facebook integration plan and provides a comprehensive distribution network through Facebook and the App Center which allows for unique engagement that is not available anywhere else.”

Wizzard’s Management believes the promotion of streamed content and the ability to offer paid apps via the Facebook App Center creates greater monetization opportunities for our producers via advertising and premium content offerings. Zynga (NASDAQ: ZNGA) FarmVille is a prime example of how app developers have been able to monetize Facebook apps. 

Source - http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20120522005486/en/Wizzard-Announces-Facebook-Integration-Mobile-Podcast-Apps