USA Network Launches Facebook(R) Social Plugins to Increase User Engagement and Interaction

NEW YORK, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- USA Network today announced that it's one of the first entertainment companies to integrate Facebook's newly launched Social Plugins, such as the Like button, which will give fans the power to drive approval, further engage with the network and interact with likeminded friends. Additionally, utilizing Facebook Connect, USA is announcing a new game challenge feature on its proprietary casual gaming destination, Character Arcade (www.characterarcade.com), which will allow fans to challenge and connect with their Facebook friends within the site.

"USA's goal is to continue to push boundaries, drive innovation and provide our fans the ability to access our content anywhere at any time," said Jesse Redniss, vice president, digital.  "By integrating Facebook's new tools that drive social, personalized experiences, we're offering consumers the kind of interaction, power and connectivity they crave.  We're also driving the way brands interact with these fans – building a more impactful two-way channel of communication that will ultimately change the way we approach other parts of our business."

Powered by the Open Graph, Facebook's new Social Plugins including the Like button, Activity Feed, and Recommendations bring friends, social activity, and relevant interaction to any site off of Facebook.com. The plugins are embeddable social features that can be integrated into a site with a line of HTML. On Facebook.com, people already "Like" their friends' status updates, photos, brands, and links everyday and now those same capabilities will be featured on popular USA sites, like usanetwork.com, characterarcade.com and more.

Beyond the new social plugins, USA is re-launching the Character Arcade game challenge functionality, which utilizes Facebook Connect.  When players select a friend to challenge to a USA Network game, the system determines whether that user is already a member of Character Arcade and sends a personalized invitation via Facebook based on the status.  USA's integration with Facebook has created a social gaming environment, allowing fans unparalleled sharing, player challenging, chatting and the ability to amass rewards for virtual goods, no matter where they're playing USA Games.

USA is currently testing additional Facebook Social Plugins for its various sites and will be rolling out new features in the near future.

USA and Facebook are committed to respecting user privacy and providing people with a trusted experience. As always, people have controls to manage how their information is shared.  

CHARACTER ARCADE is part of the new USA Network Games initiative, which extends the popular USA brand and provides fans and partners a new and engaging USA platform. The standardized platform will ensure USA is able to add new partners in the future and distribute USA content through other networks, seamlessly expanding its casual gaming offering.  The site was developed in conjunction with GlowPlay, a division of Glow Interactive (www.glowinteractive.com).

USA Network Digital

USA Network's digital team is a recognized industry-leader and innovator, delivering compelling online content that supports the network's popular TV series.  The team drives unsurpassed user engagement and interaction through microsites, alternate reality games, streaming, blogs, social web applications, integrated online/offline initiatives, mobile and creative brand programs. To date, USA Network digital has received more than 30 industry awards.

The team oversees casual gaming portal CHARACTER ARCADE (www.characterarcade.com), which supports more than 100 games, usanetwork.com, westminsterkennelclub.com, universalhd.com, and sleuthchannel.com.

USA Network is the #1 network in all of basic cable and is seen in over 98.5 million U.S. homes.  A division of NBC Universal, USA is the cable television leader in original series and home to the best in blockbuster theatrical films, acquired television series and entertainment events. The award-winning USA website is located at www.usanetwork.com. Characters Welcome.

USA Network is a program service of NBC Universal Cable a division of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience.

Facebook® is a registered trademark of Facebook Inc.

SOURCE USA Network