Last Friday we launched a new feature for our ‘I Have Kids’ Facebook application…..Message Boards! We’re excited about this new feature as it allows our users to interact with each other. We are using standard Facebook message boards, so there is no learning curve and it’s fully integrated with Facebook (notifications, newsfeed, etc.).

So, if there are any topics you’d like to discuss with the ‘I Have Kids’ community, click on the “Community” link in the nav menu up top and start posting your messages! Screenshots below…

-Dave

Today is an historic day in the life of the company, as we’ve embarked on a brand new initiative that we hope will have a positive impact on the world around us. This morning we launched the CoreBlox Penny Campaign within our I Have Kids Facebook application. Here’s a quick look at the changes that were made to I Have Kids:

1. CoreBlox will donate one penny to a children’s charity when a user installs I Have Kids:

2. CoreBlox will donate one penny to a children’s charity when a user registers a new child:

3. CoreBlox will donate a penny to a children’s charity when a user invites a friend who installs I Have Kids:

4. Users can monitor the charitable donations they’ve prompted on their I Have Kids settings page:

The Penny Campaign was something that everyone in the company contributed to launching, and we feel very strongly that it’s important for us to give something back to thank the many users who have supported us. But this is only the beginning…

As we began researching this Penny Campaign and contacting charities to gauge their levels of interest in it, the common feedback we heard is that no one has quite figured out how to fit Facebook into their awareness campaigns. Charities know the audience is huge and people are willing to evangelize the causes that are important to them, but unfortunately this doesn’t often translate into the monetary contributions they need to do their work.

Consider our concept as-is: you sign up for I Have Kids on Facebook, use it and invite others who end up installing it, and we’ll donate money to a selected kids’ charity on your behalf. The more users we add and the more they use our app, the more we give. We’ve capped our potential donation total at $50,000 for 2008, and we’d love nothing better than to reach that goal.

Sounds pretty simple, right? Easy to participate for free, and there’s a lot of good that could be done with $50,000. But consider the potential social impact if the Penny Campaign were to grow beyond just I Have Kids. Facebook is a network of over 62 million people spanning the globe, and that number is growing daily at an incredible rate. Currently there are almost 15,000 applications built on the Facebook platform, some with millions of active users. What if we were able to enlist the help of other developers to put a similar charitable incentive into their Facebook applications? How much money could be raised, and how many lives could be touched? The opportunities to do good are truly limitless.

We’re confident that utilizing the collective strength of the Facebook user base begins with the development community, and that’s why we’re encouraging other developers to join the CoreBlox Penny Campaign by adding charitable components to their own applications. We’ve established a Facebook group where we’ll report back on the the success of our campaign, and we’d love to hear from any developers who want to join us in this effort. Feel free to e-mail us at info@coreblox.com to discuss how you can help. And remember, every penny counts!

-Chad

CoreBlox Announces I Have Kids Application on Facebook® and $50,000 Charity Campaign

CoreBlox™ starts the Penny Campaign to benefit children’s charities.

FRAMINGHAM, MA – January 30, 2008 – A new version of the I Have Kids application from CoreBlox, Inc. allows Facebook users to tell family and friends what’s going on in their kids’ lives, while triggering a charitable donation from CoreBlox. CoreBlox is also announcing today that it will donate up to $50,000 to children’s charities through their newly launched CoreBlox Penny Campaign. CoreBlox will give 1 cent to selected children’s charities each time a new user installs I Have Kids on Facebook, and when a current user adds a child or invites a friend who installs the application. Over 2000 users have installed I Have Kids since it was released two months ago.

The first charity to participate will be Children International, a nonprofit humanitarian organization dedicated to bettering the lives of impoverished children, their families and communities. Additional children’s charities will soon be added, and users will be able to select one to receive a CoreBlox donation.

“Our Penny Campaign is an effort to reach out to over 62 million active users in the Facebook community to fund and promote charitable causes,” says Todd Clayton, CoreBlox CEO. “While each user is doing something small, together we can make a big impact to create change for the better.”

“Children International is excited to participate in the CoreBlox Penny Campaign as a way to connect with Facebook users who want to help children living in dire poverty,” states Carole Spencer, Director of Sponsorship Marketing at Children International.

“I love using I Have Kids. It enables me to write mini-blogs from my child’s perspective, to put the latest milestones that they’ve reached and to chart their progress. Not only is this great to send to friends and family but it’s a reminder of what my child was doing when I look back on it. I think it’s a great tool for Facebook,” says Maria, a mother with 2 children in Kent, UK. I Have Kids allows Facebook users to create children’s mini-profiles, track milestones, maintain mini-blogs and growth charts, and be reminded of friends’ kids’ birthdays. Privacy settings give users complete control to determine who can share their kids’ lives.

To install I Have Kids and select a charity to receive a CoreBlox donation, users can go to http://apps.facebook.com/ihavekids?src=ww. Facebook users can also visit the CoreBlox Penny Campaign group page to get campaign updates at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=8943012221. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about the Penny Campaign can be viewed here.

About CoreBlox

CoreBlox creates innovative solutions that enable people to easily locate and exchange information. The company’s applications for Facebook include I Have Kids and Locate Friends. CoreBlox also provides products and consulting services which help businesses and their channel partners improve their support processes to reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction and increase sales. CoreBlox is headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. For more information please visit http://www.coreblox.com, or call 877-879-2569. CoreBlox is a trademark of CoreBlox, Inc. Facebook is a registered trademark of Facebook, Inc.

Media Contact:

Luiza Aguiar

CoreBlox, Inc.

pr@coreblox.com

877-879-2569

http://www.coreblox.com/

Here are some screenshots from the updates we made on the 10th of January to our “I Have Kids” Facebook app.

The Upcoming Birthdays section now only displays friends’ kids and you can send the parent a birthday message.

We added a “See All” page for your friends’ kids’ birthdays.

We added two sections to the I Have Kids News Feed page: Recent and Upcoming (Activities)

We now display when a child profile was last updated and the most recent blog entry on both the parent’s profile page and the Friends’ Kids’ page.

-Dave

I’d like to update everyone on some changes we recently made to our “I Have Kids” Facebook app. Here are the more noticeable changes for end-users:

Create your own milestone

One of the most common requests from our users was that they wanted the ability to create their own milestones. If you child is under the age of 1yr, we will now suggest some milestones (based on how many months old the baby is), but you will also be able to add your own. For children over 1yr, you can add your own milestones.

Easily share your child’s profile with your Facebook friends

We added several ways for parents to share their child’s information with their Facebook friends. One way was the addition of an Invite Friends action link:

Privacy Setting: Hide your children from the “I Have Kids” News Feed

You can now prevent your children from appearing in the “I Have Kids” News Feed which all users can view.

Growth chart entries now support international units

Users outside the U.S. had asked us for the ability to change the units used for growth chart entries. Now it is configurable, on the Settings page.

Please keep the feedback coming by emailing support@coreblox.com

Thanks,

-Dave