NewsGator Delivers Corporate Social Computing Platform for Universal McCann

BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - June 9, 2008) - Enterprise 2.0 Conference -- NewsGator Technologies, Inc. announced today that Universal McCann, a global media communications agency, is deploying a full-service internal social computing platform based on NewsGator Social Sites and Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007. The project's mission is to take advantage of innovative Enterprise 2.0 technologies to greatly improve communication and the flow of information across Universal McCann's 90 offices in 66 countries. Working jointly with Microsoft and NewsGator, Universal McCann has implemented a secure social networking solution that improves productivity by allowing employees to better communicate and collaborate.

"The fast-changing media environment in which Universal McCann works demands that our employees have a finger on the pulse of what's going on, not just in their respective markets and account groups, but globally across the industry," said Quentin George, worldwide officer for digital strategy & market innovation for Universal McCann. "In order to deliver our clients the 'Next Thing Now' we must share and learn from our collective knowledge and experience. We found NewsGator and Microsoft's social networking tools to be the ideal way to facilitate communication and knowledge sharing across geographic and division boundaries -- leading to improved productivity and increased innovation."

"We considered a variety of social computing solutions, including consumer-based social networking products, but they fell short on business-specific features, internal systems integration, and security capabilities," said Jason Harrison, worldwide chief information officer for Universal McCann. "Microsoft and NewsGator offered us an enterprise-class social computing solution that delivers the social networking features we need today while providing us with a platform that can easily evolve as our needs grow and change. In addition, their solution integrates seamlessly with our technology infrastructure and security protocols, helping to lower our support costs."

The combined Social Sites and Office SharePoint Server 2007 solution provides Universal McCann with an online destination that facilitates collaboration and content sharing across the global Universal McCann network. The social computing platform integrates Web 2.0 concepts such as social networking, communities, RSS, and blogging in an intuitive, easy-to-use interface. With the interface, Universal McCann employees can now quickly browse through the company's intranet and find the latest content headlines, view the most relevant/popular portal content and easily learn about other employees at any office in the world. The social computing platform also enables employees to discover colleagues and subject matter experts, form social networks, and build communities based on areas of interest, rather than geography or project teams. Universal McCann's social computing platform enhances each person's effectiveness with the collective wisdom of the worldwide organization -- driving innovation and improved client service.

"Businesses are experiencing firsthand the value of social computing in the enterprise," said Deb Bannon, senior product manager for Microsoft's SharePoint Server Partner Group. "As Universal McCann shows, SharePoint Server 2007 lets companies turn their portal into a customizable social computing hub that can change the way the company works. The combination of Social Sites and SharePoint is an example of what enterprise social networking is all about -- delivering positive business results with a behind-the-firewall, flexible, and extensible platform."

"More and more companies are looking for ways to connect their employees, using Web 2.0, social networking and information as a bridge," said J.B. Holston, NewsGator CEO. "Social Sites and SharePoint Server 2007 give companies a way to introduce global social networking strategies that offer the ease-of-use of tools like Facebook or MySpace, but with enterprise-strength security and business-specific features. Social Sites allows companies to roll out a dynamic platform that makes information and knowledge a common currency among its employees and collaboration a common companywide practice."

About Social Sites

NewsGator Social Sites provides behind-the-firewall social computing and enterprise RSS capabilities that lower IT support costs, improve productivity, and increase knowledge sharing. Social Sites integrates seamlessly with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 to enable enterprises to build communities and internal social networks while leveraging existing investments and maintaining appropriate security. Social Sites drives portal adoption by keeping content fresh and relevant, enhancing usability, simplifying content and expertise discovery and bringing users back through precision notifications. Social Sites features include tacitly built profiles; social network graphs; communities; advanced tagging and tag clouds; RSS feeds, subscriptions and management; notifications; and colleague tracking capabilities. For more information, please visit: www.newsgator.com/Business/SocialSites/Default.aspx.

About NewsGator Technologies, Inc.

NewsGator Technologies helps enterprises and media companies leverage social computing solutions to deliver real business value. The company's enterprise social networking and widget services are in use by hundreds of the world's most recognized brands, including Bank of America, Biogen Idec, CBS, CNN, Discovery, National Geographic, Procter & Gamble and USA Today. NewsGator Social Sites and Enterprise Server give enterprises better ways to collaborate, share content, expand employee knowledge and improve productivity. NewsGator Widget Services enable media and brand companies to better engage their audiences and extend the value of their brands through viral syndication of content. NewsGator also offers free, award-winning RSS aggregators for the Web, desktop, mobile devices and e-mail clients. For more information, visit www.newsgator.com.

About Universal McCann

Universal McCann (UM) is a global media communications agency providing Next Thing Now solutions for the world's leading marketers and strategic thinkers including Coca-Cola, ExxonMobil, Johnson & Johnson, Mastercard, Microsoft, Sony, Bacardi, L'oreal and UPS. Part of the Interpublic Group of Companies (IPG), UM has 90 offices in 66 countries and over 2,800 employees with headquarters in New York. UM provides a full spectrum of media services including media and communications planning, digital strategy consultation, analytics and economic modeling and research and consumer insight. The company's mission is to deliver marketing innovation through media excellence. For more information, visit www.universalmccann.com.

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Contact Information: Contact Information Laura Farrelly NewsGator 303-552-2046 lauraf(at)newsgator(dot)com Kris Sharbaugh Universal McCann 646-865-5000 Kris.Sharbaugh(at)umww(dot)com Corey Lewis or Jennifer Gazin LaunchSquad 415.625.8555 newsgator(at)launchsquad(dot)com