IZEA Press Releases

2007 Blogger’s Choice Award Winners Announced

Over 300,000 Voters Select Their Favorites in World’s Largest Fan-Based Blog Competition; Winners in 37 Categories Revealed at Las Vegas Ceremony

ORLANDO, FL - (November 28, 2007) - The Blogger’s Choice Awards, the world’s largest fan-determined blog competition, has announced the winners of its inaugural awards contest. Winning blog sites were recognized during a gala awards ceremony held November 10, 2007 at the PostieCon 2007 bloggers convention in Las Vegas.

The 2007 Blogger’s Choice Awards was a landmark for the blogging community, attracting more than 14,000 blog nominations splitting more than 300,000 votes. Blogs under consideration in the Blogger’s Choice Awards were nominated by the fans themselves; readers were able to vote for as many blogs as they wished, in multiple categories, as long as they adhered to the competition’s rules and regulations. The competition spawned a number of global grassroots promotional efforts, as readers campaigned for their favorite blogs.

Online Advertising Leaps Forward : IZEA™ Unveils SocialSpark™

Disruptive New Social Marketing Network Connects Advertisers and Bloggers in New Ways; Community, Transparency, Openness and Measurability Drive Development

ORLANDO, FL - (November 12, 2007) - Social media pioneer IZEA, Inc. today announced SocialSpark™, a new property within its social media centric portfolio that revolutionizes the way advertisers can engage with bloggers and their social graph. SocialSpark represents the world's first Social Marketing Network, combining the attributes of a modern social network with a next generation online advertising platform, targeted at a community of bloggers and other content creators.

"SocialSpark is a quantum leap forward for IZEA and the over 85,000 bloggers and 11,000 advertisers we already serve," said Ted Murphy, CEO of IZEA. "We have taken our highly successful PayPerPost model and flipped it inside out, creating a completely new model for social media advertising that extends beyond sponsored posts and opens up a wealth of new opportunities. In many ways we are disrupting our own disruptor."

PayPerPost, Inc. Changes Corporate Name To IZEA™ To Support Expanding Suite of Social Media Marketing Solutions

ORLANDO, FL - (November 1, 2007) - Social media marketing pioneer PayPerPost, Inc. today announced it is changing its corporate name to organize the multiple properties its has developed within the fast-changing world of social media. Effective immediately, the company will operate under the parent name of IZEA™ Inc., incorporating consumer generated advertising network PayPerPost.com and other Web sites currently operating under the PayPerPost, Inc. umbrella.

Founded in June 2006, IZEA has raised over $10 million in venture capital from top venture firms including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Village Ventures and Inflexion Partners. The company initially launched flagship service PayPerPost.com and has since developed a diverse portfolio of online properties that enable content creators and advertisers to mutually benefit from social media.