SOURCE: BrightTALK

September 08, 2008 09:00 ET

brighttalk.com Brings Web 2.0 Customer Engagement Tools to Businesses of All Sizes

Connects Business Professionals Live With Experts in Their Fields

SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - September 8, 2008) - BrightTALK™ (www.brighttalk.com) has launched a new way for companies to engage their business customers in a live, online conversation. brighttalk.com reinvents webcasting on Web 2.0 principles, letting any businessperson with something to say share their knowledge with a live online audience and create a community around their content. Live audio webcasts are hosted on brighttalk.com and can also be embedded in the creator's website or blog. Web 2.0 tools let audience members interact with presenters, rate and share content, and subscribe to webcast channels. It takes as little as five minutes to create a channel and start webcasting on brighttalk.com, and the BrightTALK™ Starter Channel is free.

Once a presenter has created a channel, it takes three steps to produce a webcast on brighttalk.com: pick a time, upload a presentation, and invite your audience. Webcasts are recorded automatically and remain available on the creator's website or blog, as well as on brighttalk.com, where new audiences can find them. Channels make it easy for brighttalk.com community members to find the content they are most interested in. They can be used to group webcasts on related topics together or to feature all the webcasts from a particular expert.

"Companies that truly want to engage with their business customers need to offer them the same level of authentic interaction they have come to expect as consumers in a Web 2.0 world. But most Web 2.0 tools were designed with a consumer in mind, rather than a businessperson, and businesses have struggled to use them effectively," said Paul Heald, CEO of BrightTALK. "brighttalk.com was designed for business-to-business engagements."

brighttalk.com helps companies engage with their customers by sharing their best assets, knowledge and expertise, in a community built around shared content. "In my experience, webcast participants are highly engaged because they actively choose to take part," said Heald. "They typically stay engaged for thirty minutes or longer, and one in four ask questions and interact with presenters. Compare that with most corporate blogs, which frequently don't inspire any readers to comment."

Pricing and Availability:

A Starter Channel on brighttalk.com is free and allows one 30-minute webcast per month to an unlimited audience. The BrightTALK™ Premium Channel costs $949 per month and allows an unlimited number of 90-minute webcasts per month.

About BrightTALK

Founded in 2002, BrightTALK™ is one of the early pioneers of business webcasting. BrightTALK was established to help enterprises employ rich media live over the Internet. Its services include video and audio webcasting and online conferences. Its customer base includes financial companies such as American Express, J.P. Morgan, Barclays, and Credit Suisse; technology companies like CA, IBM, Oracle, and Symantec; media companies such as Haymarket, Reed Elsevier and Incisive Media; and influential associations like ISACA, (ISC)2 and ITSMF.