Palo Alto-based Gigya, which started out as widget company, has become a "social optimization" solution for media companies seeking to connect their content into several social networks.

Late last month at the paidContent Mobile conference, we spoke with Ben Pashman who heads business development at Gigya.

The company is providing services to ABC, ESPN, Time and Turner, and others, according to report this week up on Portfolio.com.   The company also has non-media customers.

The power of social networks as part of the media ecosystem was dramatically illustrated today with the news that advertising on Facebook has jumped by 10X this year.

Andy Plesser