Little Kids Rock campaign contribution tag: We’ve rolled out a number of tags that allow users to purchase different items, but this is the first that allows them to contribute to charities. Little Kids Rock, which brings free musical instruments and music instruction to public school children, embedded the donation tag in cards sent out by board members and on its website to solicit contributions.

Tweet tag: You can now link to any tweet, not just a Twitter user — for instance, if you want to embed a specific comment that’s relevant to an image. Previously, an artist could only embed a tag to direct users to follow them on Twitter; now they are able to embed a tweet about, say, a new album, in an image of the album cover.

Create a tweet tag by clicking on Details or the tweet date on a tweet on Twitter and copy the unique URL. Paste the URL in ThingLink’s editor. It’s as easy as that!

Google Maps tag: This works great for event invites — embed a map to the event right in the image and make it even easier for attendees to find their way. Or use in a new story — add a map to show viewers exactly where something happened and let them get a sense of the location in context.

Next to every map and street view on Google Maps, there is a link box. Copy the URL and paste it in ThingLink’s editor.

QwipBacks™ and Chirbit: Now you have two more options in addition to SoundCloud for recording sound in images — the QwipBacks™ and Chirbit tags. Users can record their own comments on an image and also encourage others to do the same — it’s a real time conversation embedded right in a photo.

Just copy the recording’s unique URL and paste it in the editor’s link field.

Why not create an interactive wish list so cool-looking and captivating that people who see it won’t even realize you’re hitting them up for goodies.ThingLinked wish lists are easy to make, fun to share, and you’ll get your money back if no one shells out for those cool presents*. Just sign up for ThingLink (or sign in if you already have an account) then upload your image and tag away.

Here are a few examples:

(disclaimer: the celebrity examples were created by us and not the celebs themselves. Please don’t sue us. And if you are a celeb and want to use us for your wishlist, feel free to do so. Also, the ThingLink staff wishlist was created by us and we do actually want those things, so feel free to buy them for us).

*See, making the wish lists is free, so you don’t put any money in, so you wouldn’t get any back.

Lady Gaga

Newt Gingrich

Justin Bieber

Kim Kardashian

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For all you squares out there, here is our official release:

ThingLink Launches Voice Recordable Holiday Cards and Wish Lists

Record A Voice Message into Your Holiday Photos

San Francisco, CA – [14 December 2011] – Just in time for the most wonderful time of the year, image engagement tools provider,ThingLink is celebrating the holiday season with the launch of its Interactive Holiday Cards and Wish Lists Maker. The free to use web service allows users to record and embed personal audio messages into holiday greeting cards to give their loved ones something to remember, or to make favourite gift ideas on wish lists come to life, empowered with content from around the web.

“For many younger people, traditional holiday cards are boring and standardized eCard greetings are still somewhat impersonal. At ThingLink, we’ve developed an easy and novel way to share heartfelt, personalized greetings inside digital holiday cards and wish lists,” said ThingLink CEO Ulla Engeström. “Our single image upload service eliminates the need for a separate publishing platform, meaning that anyone can post, tag and share interactive images directly from our homepage at ThingLink.com.”

Visit ThingLink.com and upload your favourite holiday photo, either by dragging the image anywhere atop the ThingLink.com home page or by clicking the ‘upload’ button and selecting one from your computer. Video and music players such as YouTube can be added, along with Flickr photos of family members and personal audio messages can be brought into the mix by using the record feature, powered by leading social sound platform, SoundCloud, to make your greeting card a tailored, interactive experience.

Favourite holiday songs and videos, links to relevant websites (or gift ideas) are all embeddable, and if all you want for Christmas is more followers, rich media tags linking to Twitter or Facebook can be added too. Friends and family can be encouraged to upload their own images and create their own greetings at the ThingLink site via sharing on social network platforms such as Twitter and Facebook. Cards are then ready to email, to avoid taking chances with the Christmas postal service.

It’s the most wonderful time of the year — time to send out holiday greetings to your friends and family! Er, maybe not. But at least this year they can be a little more fun and interactive with ThingLink.

With ThingLink holiday cards, you’ll be able to include tons of content, record messages, and send without standing in line at the post office. Simply go to ThingLink.com, sign in or sign up, and upload a great holiday photo (can’t go wrong with the one of your cat wearing antlers and glaring hatefully).  Just like you can use a ThingLinked image to embed and share a video or a song, you can use it to send a recorded message (just use the SoundCloud record feature, or add a YouTube video message). You can also link embed favorite holiday songs and videos, links to sites you love (or gift ideas) and if all you want to Christmas is more followers, you can add a rich media tag to Twitter or Facebook, too.

Since it’s the season to help others, feel free to add a link to support an organization you care about in your message. You can also encourage friends and family to upload their own images and create their own greetings at the ThingLink site.

Here are a few examples we’re created to show you how to spread the holiday spirit:

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Digital PR photos can be enhanced to include links and other content through an expanding service called ThingLink.

Neil Vineberg, the veteran PR pro who is chief marketing officer of Finland-based ThingLink and heads its North American operations, sees the service as a “generational shift” in how users interact with images.

“The job of photo editor becomes more interesting and puts publishers or PR professionals in a position to keep people on their own content,” he said.

With the service, users can embed website links, video content and pop-up info within images, without learning complicated Flash or programming. The “ThingLinked” images are then embeddable by fans, users and journalists within standard web publishing software, creating a trackable PR image unit.

“Instead of emailing a publicity photo to journalists, you can tell them to ‘take my embed code,’” said Veinberg.

Updates made to the images by ThingLink users are distributed to the embedded content so, for example, if a reporter embeds an ThingLinked image in a story, the creator of the image can update the image’s content.

While adopted early as a publicity vehicle in the music industry, use of the service is spreading to publishing and beyond as infographics and other news illustrations are given interactive and tracking capabilities with the service. The popular rock group Evanescence, for example, used ThingLink for its album release Oct. 11 to include embedded links in an image of the album cover to the band’s Twitter and facebook feeds, iTunes and YouTube, among others.

Mashable recently used the service for an infographic on the iPhone (below) while Canada’s National Post created a powerful graphic of the twin towers embedded with links to the windows where victims of 9/11 worked.

Vineberg believes ThingLink has vast potential for the PR sector because of its measurability, ease of use and ability to include information directly from a client (captions, links to websites) within an image.

“It’s a generational shift in how we interact with images,” he said.

(Roll your mouse icon over the image below to see its embedded content)

1. Make a web page

The first thing is to create a web page you want to display on your Facebook Page. You can do this using normal HTML, CSS and JavaScript techniques you would otherwise use in the web. The HTML code of the web page is where you embed your ThingLink image.

This page will then be embedded inside Facebook as an iframe. Maximum width for a tab on a Facebook Page is 520 pixels. You should take this into account in your design.

You web page needs to be then hosted at a public URL, for example at a web hosting provider, your company’s server, or a service like Google Sites.

Notice that starting on October 1, 2011, Facebook requires that the web pages shown inside Facebook Pages as apps are secured with an SSL certificate (HTTPS). Earlier the users using SSL elsewhere in Facebook got only a notification to switch to unprotected browsing when using an app without a secure version. Check your hosting service’s website for information about their support for SSL and possible pricing.

(If you can’t host the web page yourself, there are alternatives like popular 3rd party Facebook App called “Static HTML: iframe tabs”). With the app you can actually skip rest of this tutorial, but you don’t necessarily get as good control over your content.)

2. Make it an app

When you finally have a place to host your web page, it’s time to head over to Facebook. There we will create an application (which doesn’t really contain any code) for Facebook that shows the web page you created.

Log in to Facebook and install the the Facebook Developer Application. This requires your authentication if you haven’t done this before.

Click Allow to continue. (Facebook also seems to require also that your own account has been verified with mobile phone or credit card. You might get notification and a link to correct this during the process.)

To start, click Create New App from the upper corner of the page.

Fill App Name, e.g. “Business X Welcome Page”, and Locale and Approve Facebook Terms to continue. And in the next screen type in the Captcha words.

Now, you have your application:

Fill in the basic info like Category and the icon. The small 16×16 pixel version is the one showing as the tab icon. Then under “Select how your app integrates with Facebook”, choose Page Tab.

In Page Tab section, fill in the tab name (e.g. “Welcome”) and the normal and SSL-secured URLs for the web page you want to show as the Page tab. Finally click Save Changes.

3. Add it to your page

Your app is now saved in Facebooks database. (You can find and edit your own apps later at https://developers.facebook.com/apps.)

To get the app to your Page as a tab, follow the View App Profile Page link on the left sidebar of the edit page. This takes you to the public-facing info section of the application.

On the app profile page, in the left sidebar, you can find link Add to My Page. Then click Add to Page button next to the Page to which you want to add the tab. Close the Add window by clicking Close button.

Now, when you head to the Facebook Page you chose, you’ll see the tab on the left. Clicking it takes you to your custom contents.

4. Tips

Scroll bars

By default your tab’s content will fill the window vertically up to 800 pixels and horizontally 520 pixels, and if the contents is longer or wider, there will be scrollbars inside the tab (in addition to the ones bordering the browser’s main window).

If you find this irritating, you can make Facebook ask your page with JavaScript how long it wants to be (horizontally you can’t make the iframe any wider). There is a tutorial about hiding scrollbars and making Facebook Canvas pages vertically scalable at HyperArts blog.

HyperArts blog post’s contents is otherwise accurate, but Facebook has upgraded its layout and the place where you control Canvas’ height nowadays in is the Advanced section of the application’s edit page (see the screenshot below).

Once you have set up the site with your tagged image content, which the app mirrors, the only thing you need to do is replace the content to feature something else on your Facebook page. There is no need to set it up again, it’s as easy as that.

This is how NME magazine does it:

ThingLink inspired a number of hacks that weekend, including rich media tags for Rdio and Polldaddy (see below).

Another developer, who wound up taking the prize for the best use of ThingLink, created a tag where you can record a video. He also created a tag through which you can call to a cell phone (see below).

The ThingLink team also chatted with guys from Spotify, Topspin, RootMusic, SoundCloud and other cool startups like Mashery, Rdio, Rovi, MOG and Tracks.by, getting some new ideas and sharing feedback.

As always, the hack day had plenty of coffee, Red Bull, programming, and even a little controversy (was the Adobe team really presenting a hack or a corporate reel? The world may never know). We’re definitely looking forward to our next hack day and continuing to build great things.

Until now, users and image owners were required to approach ThingLink for a customized app solution to service their needs. By launching the app development environment, ThingLink is inviting developers to create fun and interesting applications that make interactive images more engaging and relevant.

Here are some of our existing Rich Media Tags and you can now make your own.

“We’re looking to empower developers with tools that engage audiences around images,” commented ThingLink CMO Neil Vineberg. “We also invite corporations and small businesses to build a presence on the ThingLink Image Network by creating branded applications and promotional content for their services.”

Prospective developers should visit www.thinglink.com/developer, where after a simple sign-in and approval process, ThingLink will provide instructions and access to sample code from a custom built app, including performance suggestions and compatibility and design tips.

First announced in June this year, ThingLink has brought a new dimension to images on the web via Rich Media Tags, transforming static images into navigational platforms. From hand-drawn artwork to professional photography, Rich Media Tags can be applied to any image, enabling the embedding of links from some of the world’s leading social content platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, Wikipedia, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook and many more.

For more information on creating Rich Media Tags or to learn more about opportunities to integrate with ThingLink, visit: www.thinglink.com.

On first hearing about ThingLink (a Finnish based tech start up) I have to confess I was less than enthusiastic. Admittedly it was not the best introduction, it was over a meal with no demonstration. Just a good friend leaning forward and eagerly telling me rich media image tagging was going to be the next big thing.

It was one of those awkward moments where you know the person will be disappointed if you don’t respond with equal to or greater than the level of enthusiasm at which the information is being conveyed.

My initial thoughts were “What is rich media tagging?” and, “Why would you want to tag photos anyway?” (If you haven’t guessed I’m one of the 5 remaining people on earth who aren’t active on Facebook.)

I didn’t hear anymore about ThingLink from this fellow for about 2 weeks – he was obviously not fooled by my feigned interest. But, as with all evangalists, he couldn’t resist and sent me a link to the image below.
 

I was fascinated by this apparently quite a famous photo of the original Microsoft staff and all the extra information it contained thanks to ThingLink. I clicked on every single link and got a small sense of how each one of these people went on to live their lives – a little like a school graduation book. The next step for me, as it is for all ThingLink adopters, was to make my first ThingLink(ed) image. So I made one about the World Harmony Run – an event I organize and love.

It was very simple and great of fun. I could easily combine elements that would normally be beyond my reach or take hours of fiddling with html and ThingLink did it in a cleaner more functional and engaging way. (OK I’m not a web developer but neither are 99% of us).

I have since gone on to make quite a few ThingLink (ed) images and info-graphics and am even consulting for ThingLink. You can find many of these images at ThingLink and Learn. Here’s one below I’m quite proud of.

I continue to be surprised at how remarkably well ThingLink works – many times it does things that exceed my expectations. Just check out how well this Ipad info-graphic meshes with the Itunes rich media tags – I didn’t see that coming.

ThingLink is an idea whose time has come. It brings together many engaging elements of the web, combining them in a way where the whole is so much greater than the sum of its parts.

ThingLink has made me understand what mashup really is – and it is done really elegantly, after all what would you expect from those Finns.

Salil Wilson is Executive Director of the World Harmony Run – a global torch relay dedicated to World Peace. When he’s not running around the world with a torch he consults for ThingLink.

Visit the ThingLink team at the American Association of School Librarians 15th National Conference and Exhibition – Booth #330 – on October 27-30 in Minneapolis, MN.

ThingLink is pleased to announce the availability of mailing list sign-ups from inside digital images. Now fans can sign up for your MailChimp mailing list when you place the new ThingLink/MailChimp Subscription Tag inside published images. This feature removes seams, bringing companies and individuals closer to their followers. Published images with the ThingLink/MailChimp tag can boost subscription rates, expanding the reach of email campaigns and continuing conversations beyond the website.

Here is a 10-step tutorial on how to sign up for ThingLink and MailChimp in order to start creating and using your own ThingLink/MailChimp SubscriptionTag.

1. Sign up for ThingLink’s image tagging service. We’ll come back to this.

2. Sign up for the free email newsletter service MailChimp.

3. Head to Lists on MailChimp’s site and click “Create list” or “Create your first list” if you are a new user. Fill out the form. Click “Done for now” after you are done and then click “View list”

4. Click on “For your website” and then on “Signup Form Link Code”. You should now see a URL link that looks something like this: http://eepurl.com/gut75. This is the code that you will use to create the in-image email subscription tag.

5. Head back to ThingLink’s site where you have the option of enabling all the images on your site or blog with ThingLink or single tagging one image at a time.

6. In this case we choose to single tag an image and click “Import with Image URL”. Copy and paste any image you would like to tag into the image URL field. This will bring up the tag editor.

7. Copy the URL link on MailChimp’s page and paste it into ThingLink’s editor’s link field.

8. The editor will say that this will become a MailChimp tag. Save the tag and click Done in the top right corner of the editor.

9. Voila!

10. Watch the subscriptions roll in. Remember that ThingLink also offers many more Rich Media Tags such as YouTube, Flickr, Soundcloud and Wikipedia.

Today at Wired 2011 in London we announced the launch of ThingLink Labs; a dedicated environment from which to incubate and productize innovations in the field of image interaction. The launch project for ThingLink Labs is Rich Media Notes, a printable version of ThingLink images with Near Field Communications (NFC)-enabled Rich Media Tags that are readable by enabled smartphones and devices.

ThingLink will showcase Rich Media Notes for the first time at Wired 2011 in London on 13th & 14th October in collaboration with famous London-based designer Klaus Haapaniemi, whose installation at the event will showcase NFC-enabled interaction with images and physical objects. Delegates attending Wired 2011 will be given customised Rich Media Notes which, when read by an NFC enabled device, will link through to a purpose-built ThingLink profile image or their page on personal web profile service, About.me. “When images and everyday objects become access points to web content,  the consumption and distribution of online media will change from laptop to mobile devices,” commented Ulla Engeström, CEO of ThingLink. “With Rich Media Notes, we are creating demand for new kinds of enhanced, printable products such as posters, flyers and handouts that carry rich media web content, discoverable through NFC.”

Rich Media Notes will be make it possible to print ThingLink content-embedded images as posters, photos or physical goods – harnessing the best content the web has to offer and encouraging deeper engagement from consumers. A printed image can now contain a song, a video, a blogpost or a link to an online community. Until now NFC has been used primarily in the field of payments, but Rich Media Notes will enable users for the first time to create unique, creative opportunities in the fields of marketing, publishing, advertising, entertainment and education.

“About.me is about bringing together users’ online identities into one place as well as offering a single home for their social media outreach,” said Tony Conrad, co-founder of about.me. “Our collaboration with ThingLink’s Rich Media Notes offers a glimpse into the future of how people will tell and share their own stories through pioneering tech such as NFC.”

First announced in June this year, ThingLink has brought a new dimension to images on the web via Rich Media Tags, transforming static images into navigational platforms. From hand-drawn artwork to professional photography, Rich Media Tags can be applied to any image and already allow the in-image embedding of links from some of the world’s leading social content platforms such as YouTube, iTunes, Spotify, Wikipedia, Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, Amazon, Etsy and many more.

For the Wired 2011 launch, Rich Media Notes have been created in collaboration with UPM RFID, providers of NFC tags, and TagAge, providers of NFC printing solutions. For more information on Rich Media Notes head over to http://rmn.thinglink.com/