This is a community for developers who use KickApps

You can do the following things, here:

• Access documentation related to configuring and managing your KickApps site.
• Share Knowledge about the KickApps platform on the Message Board.
• Share your players & widgets within the WidgetXchange.
• Stay up to date on the latest platform upgrades and enhancements.
• Network with other KickApps publishers, developers & partners.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is KickApps?

KickApps is a software company. We created a white-label social media publishing system that is used by over 100,000 customers to power social media functionality at their web sites (or, to power their entire web sites). Click here for a more in-depth overview of our company.

How does the KickApps Social Media Publishing System work?

We host all of the software and data on our servers, and you configure our applications to look and function how you want, on your domain! We currently offer a dozen or so applications that are typically deployed in combination with each other to create a branded "community" web site or an internal "collaboration" site.

Our apps can also be deployed "a la carte" to provide specific social functionality (like a message board or support ticketing system, for instance) on your site. Click here for a full overview of the KickApps Social Media Publishing System.

What kinds of skills are required to use KickApps?

You don’t have to write any code or design anything to create an enterprise-class, social media site with our platform. All you need is an idea and the passion to make things happen. We have already created the database, written the code and designed the pages of your site. All you have to do is decide which functionality you want enable, pick a theme and your site is launched in less than a minute.

Of course, more experienced designers and developers can use our advanced tools for complete control over the design and functionality of your site. Click here for a complete guide to configuring and customizing your site on the KickApps platform.

Who uses KickApps?

To date our platform is powering more than 100,000 sites, and have helped our customers:

• Grow and Energize Their Audience (U2.com, Madonna, The Biggest Loser)
• Support Their Customers (GNC, H&R Block, KickDeveloper)
• Create a Community Around Their Content (Budget Travel, NBC New York)
• Socialize Their Brands (Guinness Book of World Records)
• Extend The Fan Experience (Phoenix Suns, New York Rangers)
• Syndicate Video (Bonnaroo) & Content (National Geographic)
• Collect High Value User Generated Content (WMUR New Hampshire)
• Create Niche Communities of Like-Minded People (Fearnet, Turner Classic Movies)
• Collaborate On Internal Projects and Programs (multiple private sites)

Although the list above contains a bunch of well-known brands, our goal is to provide the same level of power and flexibility to all our customers, no matter how big or small. So we created tools to make the process of setting up and managing a social media-powered web site or collaboration space as easy as possible, even for (especially for!) people with little or no technical skills. Click here for a complete list of KickApps publishers.

How much does it cost?

It all starts with a 30-day free trial. From there we offer different subscription options, starting at $39.95/month for our basic small business package, and going up from there (depending on the features you need and the amount of usage that your site generates). Click here to review the different pricing options and the features associated with each.

How do I customize the look and feel of my site?

There are several options for customizing the look and feel of your KickApps-hosted pages. You can choose from dozens of pre-designed themes, which can be modified to your heart’s content using our Site Styler (without writing any code!). Or you can use the Site Styler to create your own theme from scratch (again, without writing any code!).

More advanced customers can use the Global Page Template to define their own CSS rules and completely define the look and feel of each KickApps-hosted page. Enterprise customers have access to the KickApps API, which allows you to build any type of custom front end on top of the content and data that is stored in our system.

• Click here for more information about customizing the look and feel of your site with the Site Styler.
• Click here for more information about customizing the look and feel of your site by inserting your own CSS rules into the Global Page Template.
• Click here for more information about the KickApps API.

Can I pay KickApps to customize my site?

Yes. We have a Professional Services team who can assist with your custom project. This team consists of project managers, designers and software/QA engineers who can work with you to define your needs and work out a schedule and cost estimate. Send an email to info@kickapps.com if you are interested in a quote.

What about iPhones and other mobile devices?

KickApps-powered sites work great on the iPhone and other mobile devices. Your site members can submit photos, videos and blog posts right from their phones. By default, any videos uploaded into our system are converted into the .h264 Quicktime format, resulting in an .MP4 file that plays back in the native iPhone video player.

Also, the KickApps API is designed to be “front-end agnostic,” which means that the underlying content and data powering your site can be accessed via any application that is capable of sending and receiving HTTP requests, like an iPhone or Android phone. Click here to learn more about KickApps solutions for mobile devices. And click here to learn more about the KickApps API.

Can I customize the “system text” of my site’s pages, emails and RSS feeds?

Yes. You can customize ALL of the default text throughout your site’s pages, emails and RSS feeds, using a very easy to use browser-based “Language Editor” tool. For bulk changes (like, if you wanted to translate your entire site into “piratese”) you can also download a spreadsheet file and make the changes on your local computer, then upload the modified file back into your site. Click here to learn more about using our Language Editor tool.

Can I customize the URLs of my site? (Can I use my own domain name?)

Yes. By default, the URLs for all KickApps-hosted pages start with http://affiliate.kickapps.com/. You can customize the URL’s of all your KickApps-hosted pages so that they use any domain or sub-domain that you control. Click here to learn more about customizing the URLs of your KickApps-hosted site.

Can I insert custom HTML into my site?

Yes, you can insert custom HTML into the templated pages that we host. Typically, KickApps publishers put a customized header, advertisements and global navigation strip at the top of all their KickApps-hosted pages to maintain continuity with the rest of their site. They also include additional hyperlinks and tracking code in the footer of all their pages.

In addition to inserting code into the header and footer all your sites pages, each KickApps template also has a bunch of “ad slots” in them, which can be populated with any HTML code you like. Click here to learn more about inserting custom HTML code into your KickApps-hosted pages via the Global Page Template. And click here to learn more about inserting custom HTML code into your ad slots.

Can I put advertising on my site?

Yes. Many KickApps publishers make money by serving ads on their KickApps-hosted pages and videos. You are free to put as many ads as you want on your site. As mentioned above, the two most popular methods for putting ads on your site are inserting your ad code in the header or footer of your site, or inserting your ad code in one of the many “ad slots” on your templated pages.

In addition, you can also include advertisements in your KickApps-hosted videos (pre-roll, post-roll or in-stream). Click here to learn more about inserting custom HTML code into your ad slots. And click here to learn more about inserting ads into your KickApps-hosted videos.

Is my site optimized for search engines (SEO)?

Yes. We take great pains to ensure that pages hosted in our system are easy for search engines to discover and understand. From the way that our URL’s are constructed, to the way our pages are coded, we follow best-practices as outlined by Google on their “Webmaster Central” web site. Click here for a deeper inspection of our specific SEO techniques.

Does my site have RSS feeds?

Yes. RSS is an extremely powerful (and simple!) way of syndicating content from your site. As such, we have built a sophisticated real-time search application that sits on top off all the activity and data related to the members, photos, videos, blog posts, comments, etc. in your site. We even built a really simple (and powerful!) FeedBuilder application that allows non-technical people to construct RSS feeds out of this data.

Throughout the pages of your site you will notice many links to RSS feeds, prominently located so that your site visitors can easily grab your content and spread it around the web. Click here to learn more about the KickApps FeedBuilder application. And click here to learn more about constructing your own RSS feeds “on the fly” by passing URL variables to the KickApps RSS API.

Can I make my site private, so that only members can see it?

Yes. We have several options when it comes to your site’s privacy. You can make your entire site private, so that only approved members can access your pages. You can also configure your site so that members can make their profiles private, or their media uploads. Private profiles and private media can only be seen by the “friends” of the contributor. Click here to learn more about making your site private.

Can I export my user data and content from the KickApps system?

Yes. All of the data stored in our system belongs to our customers, and there are several options for exporting your data. You can export all of your member data as one large CSV file. You can export all media data via our RSS API, mentioned above. For larger customers with very large quantities of data, we can arrange other methods for getting you your data.

Does KickApps have an API so that I can create my own "front end"?

Yes. KickApps offers a few different API’s, which makes it really easy for our advanced customers to get data into and out of our system, via a variety of interfaces. Our RSS API allows non-authenticated users to make “read only” calls into our system. This API is generally used to search for and display public information about members and media stored in our system. Click here to learn more about our RSS API.

Our REST API is typically used for writing data into our system, and for accessing non-public data about members and media. Click here to learn more about our REST API.

Our Single Sign-on (“SSO”) API is used for registering and logging users into our system. Click here to learn more about our Single Sign-on (SSO) API.

How do I moderate site members and the media that they contribute to the site?

KickApps publishers have complete control over the people who join and participate in their sites. We have sophisticated Member and Media Management applications which make it very easy for you to moderate the day-to-day operations of your thriving social media destination or collaboration space.

For instance you can pre-moderate all content before it goes live, or you can allow your site members to police each other by flagging other contributions as “inappropriate.” Click here to learn more about managing your site members and their contributions to your site.

Can I integrate my KickApps site's authentication wth an existing site's authentication (Single Sign On)?

Yes. Our Single Sign-on (“SSO”) API allows you to control the entire registration and login process for your site members. Click here to learn more about our Single Sign-on (SSO) API.

How do I create a widget, audio or video player?

In addition to customizing the look and feel of your KickApps-hosted pages, you can use our App Studio application to customize the look and feel of the widgets and media players that come pre-installed on those pages. You can also create widgets and video players that can be embedded on any web page, including Facebook and MySpace profiles! Click here for an in-depth tutorial on using our App Studio to create and customize widgets and media players.

How does KickApps integrate with Facebook, Twitter and other social networks?

We understand the value that large social networks like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, play in the social media ecosystem. For one, they are extremely valuable for driving traffic to your site. As such, we have developed a few methods which allow content and activity from your site to be pushed out to those networks, in order to drive more traffic back to your site. For instance, in places where your site visitors are able to contribute content to your site, they can check a box to “publish this activity to my Facebook profile.” Click here to learn more about syndicating your site activity to Facebook.

You can also configure your site so that users can log in with their Facebook, AOL, Yahoo!, Google, Twitter, etc. ID’s. Click here to learn more about using JanRain’s “RPX” application to allow logins from third party registration systems.

In addition to the above examples, we have also made it easy for KickApps publishers and their site members to integrate external content by adding RSS feeds to their profiles. Click here to learn more about integrating RSS feeds into your KickApps-hosted site.

Can I change my username?

At this time, it is not possible to change your username. Sorry!

How do I limit spam on my site?

Spam is a problem on the internet in general, and on social media sites in particular. When you encourage your site visitors to interact with your content, or submit their own content, you are also making it easy for spammers to pollute your site with irrelevant and in some cases, inappropriate content. We have designed our platform to be as unaccommodating to spammers as possible. In addition, we have built tools which allow us to automatically identify and block spammers who attack sites that we power.

Finally, we have built controls into the KickApps platform which make it easy for KickApps publishers to block spammers who make it through our automated defenses, and clean up any mess that they left behind. Click here for more information on configuring your site to prevent attacks from spammers.

How does KickApps handle upgrades to the platform?

One of the greatest benefits of running your site on the KickApps platform is that you don’t have to worry about upgrades. We handle them for you in an automated process that usually occurs once a quarter (for large modifications to the platform), or once a week for bug fixes and smaller enhancements.

In either case, all KickApps customers are notified in advance of any scheduled upgrades, and all new features are described in detailed “Release Notes” available on KickDeveloper.com.

What happens to my site after the free trial period ends, or when my subscription runs out?

At the end of your free trial or subscription period, your site will go into “Pending Activation Mode” until your pay for a subscription. This means that your site and all of the data stored in our system will not be accessible to anyone who tries to access it, until you activate it. Once your site is activated it will function as normal and all of your data will be restored.

What is your cancellation and refund policy?

Unless defined otherwise in an enterprise-level agreement, KickApps publishers can cancel at any time and will not be billed the following month. We do not offer refunds on partially used monthly subscription packages.