Frequently Asked Questions
Getting Started
- What is CloudSponge.com?
- How does CloudSponge.com work?
- Which contact sources does CloudSponge.com support?
- Which data formats does CloudSponge.com support?
Using CloudSponge.com
- How do I request my users contacts?
- How do I receive my users contacts?
- How often can I pull data from CloudSponge.com
Security & Privacy
- Does my information stay private?
- Does my users information stay private?
- Why does CloudSponge.com ask my users for their user ID and password to my site?
Getting Started
What is CloudSponge.com?
Perhaps you are building a refer-a-friend invite to your web site, but struggle with how to gather address book contacts from all the different sources. Each address book source has their own set of protocols and proprietary APIs. Plus, it can be difficult for users to upload offline address books from a desktop application. CloudSponge.com is a service that helps you pull in contact data from many different sources.
CloudSponge.com offers you a simple, easy way to retrieve address book contacts. You tell CloudSponge.com which address book to pull (i.e. Gmail, Outlook), CloudSponge.com pulls the contacts and delivers the contacts to you. You use the contact data as you see fit.
How does CloudSponge.com work?
The CloudSponge.com service is built around two components: the CloudSponge.com Desktop Agent and the CloudSponge.com application hosted on our web servers.
The CloudSponge.com Desktop Agent is a small software program your user downloads to their computer. On installation, the user is prompted to enter their user ID and password for your site, plus the user ID and password for the respective contact source(s). When run, the program authenticates the user as one of yours, detects which contact sources to pull, and retrieves the user ID and password for the corresponding contact source. Our CloudSponge.com application takes care of the rest.
Which contact sources does CloudSponge.com support?
CloudSponge.com supports all major desktop address books and webmail clients.
Desktop Address Books
- Mac Address Book
- Microsoft Outlook
Webmail Clients
- Yahoo
- Windows Live including Hotmail and MSN
- Gmail
- AOL
- Plaxo
We continue to add support for more contact sources. If you would like to be notified when we have added support for a particular contact source, please send us feedback.
Which data formats does CloudSponge.com support?
CloudSponge.com currently outputs contact data in the following formats:
- vCard
- CSV
- XML
The data format is determined by the method you have used to integrate CloudSponge.com with your web site.
Using CloudSponge.com
How do I request my users contacts?
You can request to pull your users' contacts through our CloudSponge.com API. You will need to configure your web site to call the API and pass the required API parameters.
The API method is an asynchronous operation involving 3 stages:
- Initiate Import
- Retrieve Evnets (optional if updating user on import status)
- Retrieve Contacts
Refer to the CloudSponge.com API Integration Guide for more details on how to configure your web site with the CloudSponge.com API.
How do I receive my users contacts?
On a successful contact import, CloudSponge.com will deliver the contacts to the Postback URL you have specified within your account. You will need to setup an API call to retrieve the contacts. Refer to the CloudSponge.com API Integration Guide for more details.
How often can I pull data from CloudSponge.com
You can request CloudSponge.com to pull contacts as often as you require, within reason. If we find abnormal transaction activity within your account, we will contact you to discuss your transactions.
Stay tuned for our Cloud Cache service, which will pull contacts on a scheduled basis.
Security & Privacy
Does my information stay private?
Yes. Your information is only used for the CloudSponge.com services that you request. For example, we use your credit card information to bill you for the CloudSponge.com services you use.
Full details on what information is collected and how this information is used is available under "How and Why We Collect Personal Information" in our Privacy Policy
If you have any questions regarding the Privacy Policy or how your information is used, please email us.
Does my users information stay private?
Yes. Your users' information is only used for the CloudSponge.com services that you request on their behalf and will be automatically deleted after each use. For example, we collect a user ID and password from your users to log into their webmail account to retrieve their contact list. Once the contacts have been collected and delivered to you, we delete any record of the user ID and password from our servers
Full details on what information is collected and how this information is used is available under "How and Why We Collect Personal Information" in our Privacy Policy
If you have any questions regarding the Privacy Policy or how your information is used, please email us.
Why does CloudSponge.com ask my users for their user ID and password to my site?
We require your users' the enter their user ID and password to your site for security purposes. This ensures only persons authorized to access your account can collect their personal contacts. Once we have validated a users' user ID and password against your records, we can proceed with any CloudSponge.com services you request.