by Michelle Lentz

Everyone’s favorite online shoe shoppe, Zappos.com, has partnered with social video site Magnify.net for a “Box Break” campaign, accessible from Zappos.tv.  Zappos wants its consumers (hey, that’s me!) to engage by creating a video community around their brand. They are encouraging consumers to film the experience of opening a Zappos box upon arrival, and then upload the video to the Magnify.net channel. Customers can then interact by voting for the best video. The most popular video each month wins a $100 gift certificate to Zappos.

Magnify.net offers social features on each of its video channels, including integration with other video sites, Flickr, and Twitter. Users can create their own profiles, friend other people with similar interests, and subscribe to the feeds of their friends.

Considering the sheer number of unboxing videos on the net, I see no reason why shoes should be any different.

According to TechCrunch, Zappos and Magnify.net are officially launching “Box Break” at a SXSW party on Friday (although the site is already live). The party features a variety of the biggest names on the web, including Guy Kawasaki, Kevin Rose, Chris Brogan, and more – all of whom will have their own Box Break videos. I hope they get some good shoes.

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by Michelle Lentz

Magnify.net is a service that allows you to create your own video channel, showcasing videos from across the Web, as well as your own Webcam captures. Magnify offers a free version and a more in-depth Pro version for content enthusiasts, online communities, and small businesses. Additionally, Magnify offers an Enterprise version for larger corporations.

For most of us though, Free is all we need. The free version allows you to build your channel, capture videos from your webcam, find videos from the more popular video sharing sites, and social networking integration. There is also an ad inventory share of 50/50, which is nice. With the free version, you retain control over your site name, URL, and design (including CSS) and can upload twenty 50-MB files per week.

The startup has raised about $750,000 in Series A1 financing, in addition to $1 million raised earlier this year. According to the Silicon Valley Insider,

Innovation Ventures led the round, and all major investors returned, including RoseTech Ventures, NextStage Capital, Ogden Capital, and individual angel investors. Magnify also took on some debt issued by Vencore.

Magnify’s clients include Taste of Home Magazine, which uses Magnify to power its Web video site. All told, almost 47,000 sites use Magnify, which is on track for 30 million video impressions this month.

Magnify.net has around 10 employees and is based in New York City.

More at CenterNetworks.

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Contact Michelle with your news, apps, and events via email at michelle[at]writetech.net, Twitter, Pownce, or FriendFeed. Visit Michelle at Wine-Girl.net and Write Technology.