KickApps , the leading on demand social media platform, today announced that it has partnered with AOL subsidiary, Userplane, the world’s premier communication platform for online communities, to integrate live chat, instant messaging (IM) and presence functionality to the KickApps Platform. Members of KickApps powered sites can now engage in live text and audio/video conversations with each other.

“Chat and IM are great ways for members of online communities to grow their relationships with people that share similar interests,” said Alex Blum, CEO of KickApps. “Many of our publishing partners have seen tremendous growth as a result of implementing social media features like blogging, commenting and photo & video sharing, and adding Userplane will give them the ability to offer immediate communication between their members. We expect these types of integrations of external applications from 3rd party developers to drive even greater levels of engagement that fuel their websites’ growth.”

Under this agreement, KickApps has integrated Userplane Webchat and Userplane Webmessenger as core features of the KickApps Platform, available on a self-service basis. KickApps customers, known as affiliates, can activate the chat and IM functionality by simply selecting an option in the KickApps Affiliate Center, the web-based console for managing KickApps-powered communities. When chat and IM are activated, a “Chat” tab will appear in the default top navigation of a KickApps-powered site and a “Send an instant message” link will appear on all member profile pages if the member is logged into the community. As with all KickApps applications, affiliates are able to customize how chat is deployed by altering their site’s HTML and CSS code, or by using JavaScript.

“IM and chat are some of the earliest building blocks of social networking,” said Michael Jones, CEO of Userplane. “The integration of Userplane into the KickApps’ Platform will create new opportunities for growth and revenue for KickApps’ customers, KickApps and Userplane. Working with KicKApps we look forward to helping web publishers of all sizes get the most out of their social media sites.”

The chat and IM features are available at no additional cost with the placement of non-intrusive, relevant advertising on the chat and IM clients by Userplane. KickApps affiliates that wish to control or remove the advertising positions in the chat and IM experiences can do so through an advertising buyout directly with Userplane.