THIRD-PARTY-SITE INTEROPERABILITY USING PUBLICATION AND INTERACTIVE DISCUSSION ENGINE

1 . A system comprising a machine, useful in serving web pages, that provides a publication engine which allows building of dynamic, interactive topic pages on a Brand's site, and further allows the Brand to publish dynamic, interactive topic pages on third-party sites, the system comprising:

(a) a data store containing data for populating a front end interface;

(b) a computer system comprising at least one server having a physical data processor operatively coupled to the data store, the computer system programmed to:

i) receive data representing a topic via a computer network from a Brand user, the topic having been selected by the Brand user and relating a product or service of the Brand;

ii) receive across the network an identification from the Brand user of multiple forms of interactive content that pertains to the topic;

iii) build one or more web-accessible topic pages having dynamic content that is relevant to the topic along with interactive means for provoking participation of multiple users regarding the topic and the content;

iv) transmit said one or more web-accessible topic pages across the network to the user's computer for display;

v) receive from a third party an identification of a web site of the third party into which at least a portion of the one or more web-accessible topic pages are to be integrated; and,

vi) in response to a content request from a server running the third party web site, the request being sent in response to a request for a page from an end user of the third party web site, send to the server of the third party web site content of the at least a portion of the one or more web-accessible topic pages for integration into the page requested by the end user.

2 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the computer system is further programmed to:

vii) receive directly or indirectly from the server running the third party web site engagements posted to the server running the third party web site by the end-user of the third party web site; and,

viii) incorporate the engagements posted to the server into the one or more web-accessible topic pages.

3 . The system according to claim 2 , wherein the engagement posted to the server comprises a comment.

4 . The system according to claim 2 , wherein the engagement posted to the server comprises a poll response.

5 . The system according to claim 2 , wherein the computer system is further programmed to moderate the engagement posted to the third party server before updating the one or more web-accessible topic pages with the engagement posted to the third party server.

6 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the third party is a media partner of the Brand.

7 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the third party is a retailer of the Brand.

8 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the computer system is further programmed to function as a central node on a network for the one or more web-accessible topic pages and to create sub-nodes on the network for at least a portion of the one or more web-accessible topic pages on each of a plurality of other web sites.

9 . The system according to claim 7 , wherein the computer system is further programmed such that posts or other engagements to a content component on one node of the network are shared automatically throughout a plurality of other nodes on the network wherever the content component is embedded.

10 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein the computer system is further programmed to perform machine learning as to at least one of: how users engage with content, how users engage with the community, and which products users engage with.

11 . The system according to claim 1 , wherein a master set of engagements is stored on the computer system, and the computer system is associated with the Brand.