Walt Disney Studios is using social media platform thisMoment to bring "Step Up 3D" movie content from Facebook, MySpace and YouTube into one over-arching application.

ThisMoment is available for download in the Apple App Store and compatible with the iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. The platform integrates with several mobile and Web platforms to provide brand promotions with a consistent cross-platform experience.

?The Step Up franchise has a really active, engaged online audience that happens to be in a lot of different places on internet, said Vince Broady, CEO of thisMoment, San Francisco. ?Traditionally you would do something specific in each environment.

?Disney realizes the power of online when you get a critical mass doing something and connecting,? he said. ?They wanted a way to connect those audiences, bring them together.

?This platform allowed them to do that,? he said.

Disney is a worldwide leader in entertainment, producing content ranging from films and television to paid applications in the mobile space (see story).

ThisMoment uses its mobile platform to help connect consumers with brands across channels. Its Distributed Engagement Channel (DEC) manages and synchronizes branded, user-generated and Web content across different social platforms such as Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, bringing it all to the iPhone.

The thisMoment platform consolidates branded content posted across several different third-party social media platforms.

?Basically, we create a channel that is designed in conjunction with the brand,? Mr. Broady said. ?The channel can incorporate our functionality with third parties, and when a channel is where we want it to be, the brand designates the environment they want it to appear in.

 ?So in this case, [Step Up 3D content appears in] Facebook, YouTube and MySpace,? he said.

Here is a screen grab of the Step Up 3D thisMoment channel on the iPhone:

The platform works within the frameworks of the different channels, integrating their unique functionalities into its branded campaigns.

?We have a full integration with registration systems, with media hosting systems ? Facebook photos, YouTube videos, etcetera ? and with the sharing mechanisms of each particular site,? Mr. Broady said. ?The content conforms to the layout of that particular site, so visually it makes sense.

?Disney focuses on creative execution,? he said. ?We make what Disney does into an actual experience, integrating it into these different environments.?

Activities that take place in any one environment are visible in all the other integrated environments.

For example, user videos submitted to YouTube as part of a Step Up 3D contest will appear throughout all of the involved platforms.

Here is a screen grab of user video submissions for the contest:

?We like to say that creates one connected community around the brand,? Mr. Broady said.

The platform provides Disney with several benefits, per thisMoment, namely consistency of experience, the ability to easily manage across multiple platforms and apples-to-apples campaign analytics.

?They can look at apples-to-apples data and traffic information,? Mr. Broady said. ?Currently they would have to look at different analytics for each system.

?Our system levels the playing field, and reports based on one set of rules,? he said.

However, the biggest benefit to Disney is the sense of community the platform creates, according to thisMoment.

?Building the direct connection with consumers is every brand?s number one goal,? Mr. Broady said. ?To get that connection you have to have the community to draw consumers in.

?You used to have ten people in four different rooms,? he said. ?Now you have forty people in one room with four windows, if you will.?

Final Take
Peter Finocchiaro, editorial assistant at Mobile Marketer, New York.