Social Commerce Hub - July Update

Every Affino release sees further and deeper integration between Affino sites and the wider web, the upcoming 5.5.17 release is no exception. What is exceptional is just how many new platforms we’re integrating with and the depth of the integration.

We’ll be integrating with:

• Two of the key product promotion platforms - Google Base / Google Webmaster Tools
• One of the leading etailers - eBay
• One of the most advanced online video platforms - Ooyala
• The leading social audio platform - SoundCloud
• The most cost effective streaming video platform - Wowza on Amazon EC2

We’ll also be deepening the integration between Affino and:

• The leading payment gateway platform
• The most-used analytics suite - Google Analytics
• And the single most important SEO resource - Google Webmaster Tools

The bottom line is that Affino users will be able to promote and sell their products more effectively, engage better with their audience, and develop innovative new business models.

New Integration Partners

eBay v1

The single biggest project (currently under way) is the integration with eBay. In the initial phase Affino will sync it’s product catalogue directly with eBay, both with the main eBay sites and with own stores running on eBay.

This is a real-time integration so that any products created / updated in Affino are instantly updated on eBay.

Google Base / Google Merchant Center v1

The ability to have your products listed right at the top of Google searches so that people can see the product, price and more link will be realised with the real-time integration between Affino and Google Base / Merchant Center.

Affino will real-time sync product catalogues with Google Base as products and their pricing and availability change.

Ooyala v1

Ooyala is a premium video platform with excellent video management, analytics, distribution, advertising and monetisation capabilities. Affino will work seamlessly with embedded Ooyala videos in what is the first phase of many.

The Ooyala integration will open up a number of new video monetisation options to Affino sites.

SoundCloud v1

SoundCloud is a great new Audio platform which allows users to upload and share their MP3s. What sets it apart from the competition is the fantastic API which means that SoudCloud can be brilliantly integrated into almost any site.

The initial integration is to allow SoundCloud Embedded Audio to ba handled seamlessly by the Affino Media Library. A key element will be the social sharing of embedded Audio files.

Wowza / Amazon EC2 v1

Wowza has always been a great option for streaming Flash video. Running the Wowza service on the Amazon EC2 platform really takes the price / performance of video delivery (including live streaming) to another level.

It is possible to set up and shut down broadcast streams and video libraries with ease on a pay for use basis, making this a great option for one-off or periodic events.

Deeper Integration

PayPal v3

The integration between Affino and PayPal has been greatly improved in this release with on-site payments, meaning that the entire checkout and payment process is now handled on the single-page checkout. This guarantees maximum conversions.

Google Webmaster Tools v3

Google Sitemaps have been extensively re-written to cope with much larger sites and for more Affino content. This should mean more rapid and comprehensive indexing of sites.

Google Analytics v2

We’ve included a number of refinements to the Google analytics integration, the most important of which is excluding team / QA transactions from the Google Analytics stats.

Next Steps

The big one we will be working on for Affino 5.5.18 is going to be Amazon store integration, but there will be a lot of deeper integration with Facebook, Twitter and eBay as well as the leading social media platforms.