IRVINE, Calif. & NEW YORK, Jul 24, 2007 -- Autobytel Inc. (Nasdaq:ABTL) is welcoming consumer participation in the new online auto community available at http://community.MyRide.com. Featuring original editorial and user-generated content such as video, audio podcasts, photos, blogging and message boards, this new community is designed to give consumers unique opportunities to express their opinions on -- and love for -- all things automotive. The MyRide.com Auto Community is part of MyRide.com, the world's first fully-integrated automotive vertical search experience.
In the MyRide.com Auto Community, consumers are already building and joining communities around the automotive topics they are most passionate about - from Hot Rods and Classics to Driving Green - thus enabling user-generated content to play a key role in the evolution and growth of MyRide.com. By also giving consumers the opportunity to participate via surveys, polls, reviews and ratings, the community can help inform future car buying and ownership decisions for the millions of people who are expected to use MyRide.com.
"The MyRide.com Auto Community is not just for those who are knowledgeable about cars," said Jim Riesenbach, president and CEO, Autobytel. "It is an interactive destination for people who simply love their cars to swap stories, whether through sharing photos and videos or by blogging about their experiences. We expect it to evolve to become the best meeting place online for consumers to express their opinions about anything and everything automotive."
The MyRide.com Auto Community is powered by KickApps' social media platform. This Auto Community marks a bold step by one of the largest automotive marketplaces to integrate social media functionality deeply into its user experiences. Ultimately, the plan for the platform is to span beyond the company's core sites, powering localized rich-media communities for the thousands of car dealers, prospective buyers and auto enthusiasts that comprise Autobytel's expanded network.
"Our collaboration with Autobytel demonstrates the ease with which social media can be deployed and the breadth and robustness of the KickApps Platform," said Alex Blum, CEO of KickApps Corporation. "As seen with MyRide.com, social media is an extremely powerful tool for online brands and publishers of all sizes to grow and engage their audiences."
Visitors to the MyRide.com Auto Community can upload photos, watch full screen videos, blog, listen to audio podcasts, as well as post messages on various discussion boards. Community members can create their own personal MyRide.com page profiles that can be embedded on other sites such as MySpace.com and Blogger.com. In addition, members can take advantage of an array of widgets to take their favorite MyRide.com content and place it on other websites or message boards.
These capabilities are expected to quickly evolve into even more interactive options, whereby visitors can send messages to each other in real time or opt for messages to be forwarded to their emails. In the months to come, consumers will be able to create private groups for any and all auto related interests and passions, as well as build their own polls and surveys that they can post on their personal page or share with others. Also coming up are calendars of automotive and car club events; exclusive downloadable automotive ring tones of favorite vehicles, such as the roar of a hemi engine accelerating, or the purr of a BMW M3, as well as the MyRide.com Auto Community classifieds, which will allow visitors to place ads to sell, buy or trade anything car related online.
Calling all car lovers: Take this opportunity to join the MyRide.com community at http://community.myride.com.
MyRide.com is currently available to the public in its Beta Edition, and is planned to officially launch in the near future following the Beta phase. MyRide.com is an Internet first, providing one easy-to-navigate destination for everything automotive with time saving search capability that reaches across the automotive Internet to return relevant auto results.
About Autobytel Inc.
Since launching the first car-buying website in 1995, Autobytel Inc.'s (Nasdaq:ABTL) mission has been to empower automotive consumers with the tools and information they need to make smart, well-informed vehicle purchasing and ownership decisions. The company has helped millions of car shoppers and generated billions of dollars in car sales for dealers. Today, the company's innovative, consumer-driven flagship site, MyRide.com, currently available in a public Beta Edition, expands the company's mission across the automotive purchase and ownership life cycle to meet the wide-ranging auto-related needs and interests of today's Internet-savvy automotive community. As the first vertical search experience for the automotive marketplace, MyRide.com delivers relevant, well-organized search results from across the web, integrated with entertaining multi-media and user-generated content on topics ranging from purchasing and aftermarket, to ownership and enthusiasm.
By providing a convenient and comprehensive automotive consumer experience across the purchase and ownership lifecycle, Autobytel provides new value and touch-points for automotive marketers. Through MyRide.com and Autobytel's marketing network, the company connects dealerships with a steady, diverse stream of exceptionally motivated, serious shoppers, while providing both dealers and manufacturers with precision-targeted brand and product marketing opportunities. The company's advanced web-based advertising and marketing programs also help dealers and manufacturers build relationships with customers, as well as help them to efficiently manage and convert online business.
About KickApps Corporation
KickApps provides a broad range of applications that enable social media functionality on any Web site, dramatically increasing audience growth, fostering deep consumer relationships and creating new revenue opportunities. The company's platform combines the scalability and flexibility required by major brands with the ease of implementation necessary for smaller, independent properties. Formed in 2005 and headquartered in New York, NY, thousands of companies rely on KickApps, including Scripps Networks Interactive, BET, Kraft Foods, and the Arena Football League. KickApps is backed by Spark Capital and Prism VentureWorks, and its Board members include former Liberty Digital and E! Entertainment CEO Jarl Mohn and former MTV and NFL President Sara Levinson. For more information, visit www.kickapps.com.