Parable in Newton, MA, an Internet
multimedia company, rolled out ThingSearch, a new form of Internet content
distribution, and signed an agreement with Lycos effectively making Lycos the first host of syndicated multimedia content.
ThingSearch is a new service that allows for the syndication of Parable’s
ThingWorld database at other Web sites, communities and portals.
The company’s “Things” are dynamic forms of multimedia that can be created,
shared, collected and protected on the Internet. ThingWorld, Parable’s multimedia
marketplace and distribution hub, acts as the focal point of this network.
As part of its agreement with Lycos, Parable will provide Lycos with a Lycos-
branded searchable database of over 500 general and branded Things.
In a revenue-sharing arrangement that highlights this distribution model,
Lycos will sell advertising in the form of banner ads targeted to individual
content areas of the Thing database. Things found in the database include
interactive and collectible characters, experiences and games from Parable
content partners such as Comedy Central, Hasbro, Houghton Mifflin Interactive
(HMI), Jones Soda, the New England Patriots, the New England Revolution, the OChannel, Web Review and WGBH.
Things can be taken from the database and republished on personal home pages
or collected and used offline with Parable’s new ThingCollector and
ThingScreenSaver.
“As the exclusive search and navigation service providing ThingSearch, we
provide a new level of entertainment content to the Web,” said Mark Simmer,
vice president of Online Media at Lycos.
With Things, sports, entertainment and brand organizations can harness the
power of Web distribution by inviting fans to freely take, collect and re-purpose branded content, Parable said.
A URL can be embedded in a Thing and can thus drive traffic back to the
specified destination. In addition, Things can also carry a creator’s
copyright information which allows for appropriate attribution regardless of
where a Thing resides on the Web.
