Rich Media Tags bring social context and content to every image

ThingLink, the provider of in-image interaction tools, today announced the launch of Rich Media Tags, an innovative new product that enables anyone to add the content and functionality of other websites and social platforms directly into their images.

Web publishers, brands and bloggers can make their images more engaging and meaningful than ever before, by allowing viewers to interact with music, video, words, pictures and people, all from within the context of a single image and without ever needing to leave the webpage. Rich Media Tags have so far been developed for some of the world's leading social content platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, Spotify, Vimeo, Wikipedia, SoundCloud and Twitter; each of which can be used to tell the story behind anything from a promotional flyer or memorable photograph, to a branded product or piece of artwork.

Ulla Engestrom, founder and CEO of ThingLink said: "ThingLink is changing how people engage with photos by transforming them from a static image, into a navigational surface for exploring rich, relevant content that enhances the viewer's knowledge and experience. The implications for this are immense.

"We know context creates clicks and anticipate these Rich Media Tags will significantly increase the amount of time people spend interacting with an image and in turn increase plays, follows and engagement with the platforms connected to them."

Examples of how Rich Media Tags are already being used include artists signed to Atlantic Records: Canadian pop punk band, Simple Plan revealed details of their new album 'Get Your Heart On' via the album cover artwork, and Shadows on Stars also announced their new release, Now You're Mine.

Thanh Nguyen, Digital Marketing at Atlantic Records: "It's an innovative way to introduce the album cover to the public and have it be dynamic, not just a static image. To have video and audio accompany the image really helps connect the marketing. And the social tie-in is a big plus."

ThingLink has also been embraced by Berlin's Morning Post when explaining who was in the Situation Room with Barack Obama in May; and by the golf enthusiast blog Love Golf, providing greater depth of information on courses and players.

To use Rich Media Tags, publishers simply connect their website, blog or Flickr account with the ThingLink platform and are provided at no cost, with an embeddable code to make all or individual images taggable. When linked with a URL to one of the rich media enabled sites, a tag then appears revealing the related content. These tags will then be revealed every time a viewer scrolls their mouse over the uploaded image. By using ThingLink, publishers can also include links to other social networks, blogs, news and commerce sites that are yet to have Rich Media Tags created.

For anyone interested in creating Rich Media Tags for their own website or to learn more about opportunities to integrate with ThingLink's API, they should visit: thinglink.com.