In recent months we’ve seen several interesting moves within the social media monitoring/social CRM space.
| Company | Acquired by | Date |
| Techrigy | Alterian | July 2009 |
| Filtrbox | Jive Software | January 2010 |
| Buzzgain | Meltwater | February 2010 |
| Biz360 | Attensity | April 2010 |
| DNA13 | CNW Group | April 2010 |
| Scout Labs | Lithium Technologies | May 2010 |
(Note: CNW Group is a 76design client. Thanks to William Johnson for the DNA13 pointer and Steve Dodd for the Buzzgain tip.)
Now we’re seeing another significant player in a similar move, as Toronto-based Sysomos is acquired by news wire service Marketwire.
First reported by the Startup North blog, the news was later confirmed by Sysomos, although their blog comment and tweet have both since been deleted. So, while this is still – for now – a rumour, given that these confirmations were initially posted by the company (I saw the blog comment before its removal), I’m inclined to believe the reports and that a formal announcement is imminent.
Update: Sysomos has confirmed the acquisition. CEO Nick Koudas said in an email to me today:
“We are excited and we are looking forward to continue our innovation and enhance our creative product line.”
Sysomos
Sysomos offers three core services:
- Sysomos MAP – a web-based, enterprise-level social media monitoring tool
- Heartbeat – a web-based social media monitoring and engagement dashboard (see my review of Sysomos MAP and Heartbeat)
- Audience – a sales- and marketing-focused tool to help measure ROI and optimize marketing and community engagement
Sysomos has been noticeable in recent months with a series of smart awareness-driving tactics. In fact, they were featured in the New York Times just a day before this news. They’ve also made some interesting moves towards drawing a line between social media activity and business results with the introduction of their Audience product. It’ll be interesting to see whether/how Marketwire plans to factor this into its product lineup.
Implications
The recent spate of acquisitions isn’t surprising to anyone watching the space. Indeed, analysts like Altimeter’s Jeremiah Owyang have been commenting on the consolidation trend for a while. As Ray Wang suggests, expect to see more of this kind of activity in the coming months with other companies such as Alterian, BuzzGain, Cymfony, Radian6, Viralheat and Visible Technologies .
This particular acquisition is particularly interesting, as the acquisition is by a company on the “traditional media” side of the fence. This should help Marketwire to more effectively compete with wire services such as PR Newswire (in the US) and CNW Group (in Canada), which already feature monitoring solutions:
- Strengthens existing monitoring services
While PR Newswire already offers a social media monitoring service, Marketwire’s monitoring offerings are currently more limited. With social media monitoring being a common “toe in the water” for many companies as they experiment with social media, this service is becoming a must-have for traditional monitoring companies. - Strong analytics
Monitoring solutions by themselves are useful, but the “clippings-style” approach to social media monitoring is really just the beginning. By acquiring a solution that allows users to do a deep dive on online conversations, Marketwire is adding a useful tool to its arsenal, and one that it doesn’t just need to white-label from other providers. - User-friendly interface
Sysomos offers one of the most user-friendly web interfaces of the monitoring providers – a big bonus for less tech-savvy clients.
I’m looking forward to more information on this move soon, and to monitoring further activity in this space over coming months.
In the meantime, what do you think of this move?
Another one to add: DNA13 acquired by CNW Group
Good point – thanks!
First off, congratulations to everyone at Sysomos! A great product of what I’ve seen and heard of.
We all stress how important social media monitoring/engaging/measuring is in today’s world for any business in any industry…but still not enough that it is an integrated part of every company’s core business plan. As more of these stand-alone platforms become integrated into largely adopted community/marketing/measuring platforms the closer we come to having social media monitoring a core principal and standard in all businesses and in all industries.
This is a win for the social media monitoring industry.
Congrats again Sysomos!
Mike Fraietta I Social Media Manager I Jive Software I @MikeFraietta I 215.596.9009
Indeed. It would appear that congratulations are very much in order.
Hi Dave, this is a really interesting viewpoint and I totally agree. You may also want to add to the list two other significant acquisitions (Scoutlabs / Lithium and Buzzgain / Meltwater). It’s going to be really interesting to see who’s next as this exciting marketplace evolves.
Thanks Steve. I had the Scout Labs move but had missed Buzzgain/Meltwater. Good catch!
Great article. The company I work for recently demoed Heartbeat, it’s a really good product.
Dave, in your opinion what is the best tool for measuring social media activity?
Hey Mark – thanks for stopping by! Pinged you via DM with my thoughts on this.
Dave – Great stuff, and always enjoy your coverage on this subject. When I first saw Sysomos I cant say I was very impressed. Considered it just another monitoring solution. But you, Jason Falls and others have talked about how great the Audience tool is/was so perhaps they’ve turned the corner. Like you, I’ll be curious to see how the tool evolves under Marketwire’s umbrella. It certainly can’t hurt them to have an influx of cash. Just wonder which of the monitoring providers will be next.
I’ve always liked the Sysomos interface – it’s much more user-friendly than some other services. The Audience tool was certainly an interesting addition, too – I’ll be curious to see what happens to that in terms of integration with Marketwire.
Hi Dave,
thanks for this analysis. I would also add the recent passage of Buzzmetrics into the Nielsen and McKinsey joint venture NMIncite, not strictly an acquisition but certainly a transaction of note: McKinsey weighing into social media lends legitimacy to social media intelligence as a viable step in any corporate strategy.
As an astrophycist who has converted himself into social media intelligence analysis, I also strongly agree with your point that we are only seeing the beginning of what we can do with social media analytics. Jason falls has recently blogged about the failings of social media monitoring tools we have also commented on the subject:
http://nexalogy.com/sm-analysis/the-difference-between-monitoring-and-analysis/
http://nexalogy.com/sm-analysis/social-network-analysis-from-disillusionment-to-enlightenment/
Thanks Claude. Good point – that’s certainly another noteworthy move in this space. Likewise, I agree there’s a lot of potential here, especially when it comes to integration with other related systems.
Thanks for your thoughts.
Disclosure: I am the SEM and Social Media Specialist @Marketwire.
We are extremely excited about the Sysomos acquisition. As social media becomes an integral part of any business, social media monitoring becomes not just inevitable, but invaluable. As Mike F. said previously, it is a “core principle and standard in all businesses.” I couldn’t have said it better myself. Along with our superior distribution and reach (including SEO), Sysomos’ innovative solutions for the social media landscape let us offer the best to our clients. Marketwire is more than ‘just a newswire’, we’re a communications platform. We help our clients achieve, and exceed, their communication goals and business objectives.
Nick @shinng
http://www.facebook.com/marketwire
http://www.twitter.com/marketwire
http://www.marketwireblog.com
Hi Nick,
Thanks for stopping by. It’s certainly an interesting move – I look forward to seeing how you integrate the Sysomos services into your own service lineup.
Cheers,
Dave
Hi Dave,
Just wanted to let you and your readers know how excited we are about the acquisition.
As Nick said just before me the merger makes just sense. Marketwire does a fantastic job with news and social media releases as well as tracking those impressions. Taking it a step further was just logical. Now they can say here is what happened far beyond media impressions to give greater insight to their customers.
Of course, our customers will have the same level of excellence we strive for here at Sysomos.
Marketwire CEO Michael Nowlan says it best in his blog post about the acquisition; “[O]ur future is bright, and you ain’t seen nothing yet!”
Cheers,
Sheldon, community manager for Sysomos
Hey Sheldon,
Thanks for your comment, and congratulations! Exciting times for you guys. I look forward to seeing how your two companies integrate over time.
Cheers,
Dave
I’m always asked by people “what’s next for social media” and I’ve been saying for months “it’s consolidation.” This is a good chart and I think a trend that will continue in the small to medium company size arena. I’m also interested in metrics (we use Jive) so this was of interest to what we are doing at the exchange. Thanks for the post.
Allan Schoenberg
@allanschoenberg
Do we have any info on the metrics and ratios used to value these deals?