AddThis explained

Commercial:No (defunct as of May 31, 2023)
Type:Online advertising
Owner:Oracle Corporation
Launch Date:October 2006[1]

AddThis was a free social bookmarking service that could be integrated into a website with the use of a web widget. Once the widget was added, visitors of a website using the service could bookmark or share an item using a variety of services, such as Facebook, MySpace, Pinterest, and Twitter. AddThis collected users' behavioural data, even if they do not share anything.[2] The site reached 1.9 billion unique visitors monthly and was used by more than 15 million web publishers.[3] The service operated under companies including AddThis, Inc., AddThis, LLC, and Clearspring Technologies, Inc. until the company's acquisition by Oracle Corporation on January 5, 2016.[4] AddThis would continue to run until all services were terminated on May 31, 2023.[5]

History

AddThis, LLC was founded in 2004 by Hooman Radfar, Austin Fath, and Dominique Vonarburg.[6] By 2007, AddThis had served more than 100 million widgets to websites, with website growth at 100 percent per month and some two million views a day.[7] [8]

In 2008, Clearspring Technologies, Inc. acquired AddThis, LLC, with the intent of creating a single content sharing platform for publishers under one brand: AddThis. The combined platform per Comscore was 254 million unique users.[9] Clearspring upgraded AddThis with widget-sharing capabilities from LaunchPad, then discontinued the LaunchPad offering, reaching 600 million unique users by the end of 2009.[10]

In 2010, the company launched the Clearspring Audience Platform, a service for brand marketers to deliver interest-based display advertising across the web, which topped 1 billion unique users and was used by over 8 million unique domains.[11] Clearspring acquired data science company XGraph in 2011.[12] In September, the company hired a new CEO, Ramsey McGrory, formerly of RightMedia and Yahoo!, with co-founder Radfar becoming executive chairman.

On May 10, 2012, Clearspring changed its name to AddThis, its most widely used product. The company launched three sharing and analytics tools: Trending Content Box, Follow Tools, and Welcome Bar,[13] [14] as well as supporting content sharing for Pinterest and Web Intents.[15] [16] [17] In August, the company began offering social login.[18] In September, CFO Richard Harris took over as CEO.[19]

In March 2014, the company was named number one on the Top 30 Syndicated Ad Focus Entities by comScore.[20]

On January 5, 2016, AddThis was purchased by Oracle Corporation for almost $200 million. Before being acquired, AddThis had raised roughly $73 million to date.[4]

On April 1, 2023, Oracle announced that it would terminate AddThis services as of May 31st of that year.[21]

Like button lawsuit

The company was the subject of a lawsuit by Rembrandt Social Media, which also sued Facebook, for the use of patents that were first implemented in Surfbook and belonging to deceased Dutch programmer Joannes Jozef Everardus van Der Meer that involve the "Like" button.[22]

Canvas fingerprint tracking

In July 2014, ProPublica exposed AddThis for uniquely identifying and tracking users using a controversial technique called canvas fingerprinting.[23] With a storage and user identification method that is harder to block than cookie-based tracking, AddThis was able to more pervasively identify and track users' online browsing history on websites such as WhiteHouse.gov and YouPorn.com. YouPorn removed AddThis after the ProPublica article was published, citing that they were "completely unaware that AddThis contained a tracking software that had the potential to jeopardize the privacy of our users."

AddThis allows users to opt-out of their tracking tools via their corporate website; the opt-out process requires the user to provide name, country of residence and physical address.[24]

See also

Notes and References

  1. Web site: AddThis announces public beta . 2018-07-25 . 2018-07-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180726061909/http://www.addthis.com/blog/2006/09/25/add-me-unveils-addthis-button-announces-public-beta/ . live .
  2. Web site: Who are these tracking companies? Meet AddThis. . Simmonds . Will . Abine - Online Privacy . 2 September 2012 . 21 January 2022 . 21 January 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220121135317/https://www.abine.com/blog/2012/addthis/ . live .
  3. Web site: AddThis is the largest social infrastructure and data platform. Company About page. AddThis. April 15, 2019. April 12, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190412034908/https://www.addthis.com/about/. live.
  4. Web site: DCInno . DCInno . 2016-01-06 . 2016-01-29 . https://web.archive.org/web/20160129130351/http://dcinno.streetwise.co/2016/01/05/oracle-addthis-acquisition-price-is-175m-big-win-for-dc-vc/ . dead .
  5. Web site: Get more likes, shares and follows with smart website tools . 2023-06-19 . AddThis.
  6. Web site: O'Reilly . Lara . Oracle is acquiring web tracking company AddThis for around $200 million . 2022-03-03 . Business Insider . en-US . 2022-03-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220303093044/https://www.businessinsider.com/oracle-to-acquire-addthis-2016-1 . live .
  7. Web site: 2010-02-07 . Article: AddThis.com Reaches 100 Million Widgets Served - Social Bookmarking. . PRNewsWire . 2007-03-05 .
  8. Web site: 2010-02-04 . Facilitating Social Media Optimization (SMO) . WebProNews . 2006-10-11 . Valentine, Mike Banks . https://web.archive.org/web/20100209063326/http://www.webpronews.com/expertarticles/2006/10/11/facilitating-social-media-optimization-smo . 9 February 2010 . dead . dmy-all .
  9. News: Clearspring acquires AddThis - Washington Business Journal . Washington.bizjournals.com . 2008-09-30 . 2010-02-15 . Darlene . Darcy . 2009-06-12 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090612233553/http://washington.bizjournals.com/washington/stories/2008/09/29/daily24.html . live .
  10. Web site: Press Release: Web Widgets meet mobile video as Clearspring and Transpera Join Forces . Clearspring.com . 2012-05-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120107020007/http://www.clearspring.com/about/press/learspring-and-transpera-join-forces#.T6Al9MRYuEw . 2012-01-07 . dead .
  11. Web site: Press Release: Clearspring, Largest Sharing Platform on the Web, Launches Audience Platform for Advertisers and Publishers . Clearspring.com . 2012-05-01 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120105140756/http://www.clearspring.com/about/press/clearspring-launches-audience-platform-for-advertisers-and-publishers#.T6Amq8RYuEw . 2012-01-05 . dead .
  12. Web site: Clearspring CEO McGrory on the acquisition of Xgraph . 4 November 2011 . AdExchanger . 2012-05-01 . 2012-04-15 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120415151334/http://www.adexchanger.com/data-exchanges/clearspring-xgraph-acquisition/ . live .
  13. Web site: Clearspring Rebrands as AddThis, Reaches 1.3B Users . Siliconangle . 2012-05-10 . 2012-05-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120513134047/http://siliconangle.com/blog/2012/05/10/clearspring-rebrands-as-addthis/ . live .
  14. Web site: Extending the Platform with New Traffic and Engagement Tools . AddThis.com/blog . 2012-05-10 . 2022-08-18 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220818172903/https://www.addthis.com/blog/2012/05/10/extending-the-platform-with-new-traffic-and-engagement-tools/#.T6vfbp9YuEw . live .
  15. Web site: AddThis Blog: Pinterest Available in the AddThis Services Menu and Some Fun Facts . 2012-05-03 . 2012-05-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120503235334/http://www.addthis.com/blog/2012/04/27/pinterest-available-in-the-addthis-services-menu-and-some-fun-facts/#.T6KVuZ9YuEx . live .
  16. Web site: Pinterest grew 52% to 17.8M unique visitors in February VentureBeat . 2017-08-29 . 2018-07-25 . https://web.archive.org/web/20180725033742/https://venturebeat.com/2012/03/21/pinterest-uniques/ . live .
  17. Web site: AddThis blog: A Step for Open Sharing: AddThis Integrates Web Intents . 2012-05-01 . 2012-05-03 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120503235134/http://www.addthis.com/blog/2012/05/01/a-step-for-open-sharing-addthis-integrates-web-intents/ . live .
  18. Web site: Digital content tracking platform AddThis adds social sign-in feature to its suite of plug-ins. The Next Web. August 21, 2012. August 22, 2012. August 21, 2012. https://web.archive.org/web/20120821144641/http://thenextweb.com/apps/2012/08/21/addthis-adds-social-sign-in-feature-suite-plug-ins/. live.
  19. News: Overly. Steven. The Download: Data analytics firm AddThis moves its financial officer into the CEO role. 30 September 2013. The Washington Post. September 29, 2013. 30 September 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130930122826/http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/capitalbusiness/the-download-data-analytics-firm-addthis-moves-its-financial-officer-into-the-ceo-role/2013/09/27/1e21c1d8-2602-11e3-b75d-5b7f66349852_story.html. live.
  20. Web site: comScore Media Metrix Ranks Top 50 U.S. Desktop Web Properties. 2014-07-08. 2014-09-06. https://web.archive.org/web/20140906132437/https://www.comscore.com/Insights/Press-Releases/2014/4/comScore-Media-Metrix-R-Ranks-Top-50-US-Desktop-Web-Properties-for-March-2014. live.
  21. Web site: Notice of Termination of AddThis Services . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230401000202/https://www.addthis.com/ . 2023-04-01 . 2023-05-14 . AddThis.
  22. Web site: Facebook sued over 'like' button. BBC. February 11, 2013. February 11, 2013. February 11, 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130211151523/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-21411622. live.
  23. Web site: Meet the Online Tracking Device That is Virtually Impossible to Block — ProPublica. 2014-07-21. ProPublica. en-us. Julia Angwin. Julia Angwin. 2018-10-08. 2022-08-18. https://web.archive.org/web/20220818172904/https://www.propublica.org/article/meet-the-online-tracking-device-that-is-virtually-impossible-to-block. live.
  24. Web site: Oracale Data OptOut. April 15, 2019. April 15, 2019. April 18, 2019. https://web.archive.org/web/20190418013720/https://datacloudoptout.oracle.com/. live.

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