IT giants acquire social media companies

Not long after acquiring social marketing vendor Vitrue, Oracle have recently announced plans to buy social marketing startup Involver.

This is nothing new. Large, international IT hardware & software companies all have aspirations to take the lead in social media. Today, analysis of social media traffic is an in-demand, niche area in the real-time analytics market. According to Research firm IDC, demand for enterprise social software will grow strongly in the coming years, as more organizations implement the products to improve collaboration and communication primarily among employees, but also with customers.

Here are some companies who have recently added social media companies to their businesses:

Salesforce.com + Goinstant

This cloud-computing giant said recently that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Canadian shared-browsing technology startup, GoInstant. Goinstant provides co-browsing and social experience for enterprise customers and consumers.

Marcel LeBrun, Senior VP at Salesforce, recently said that there is a tremendous potential for social enterprises to benefit from what the GoInstant has built, particularly when combined with Salesforce.com’s industry-leading social, mobile, and open apps and technology.

Microsoft + Yammer

Microsoft announced its definitive agreement to acquire Yammer, a leading provider of enterprise social networks, for $1.2 billion in cash.

Launched in 2008, Yammer now reportedly has more than 5 million corporate users, including employees at 85 percent of the Fortune 500. Yammer’s service will allow employees to join a secure, private social network for free and then makes it easy for companies to convert a grassroots movement into company-wide strategic initiative.

IBM + Coremetrics

IBM also recently announced the acquisition of Coremetrics, a leader in web analytics.

The Coremetrics acquisition, according to the IBM website, will enhance IBM’s ability to help businesses rapidly gain intelligence into social networks and online media sources through a cloud-based delivery model, and use this insight to create smarter, more effective marketing campaigns.

EMC + Pivotal Labs

EMC in March combined the big data analytics and social networking domains with the acquisition of Pivotal Labs, a provider of software development services and tools.

According to media reports, EMC, a traditional IT hardware and services company, will be creating new relationships with new-generation web service providers like Twitter, Best Buy, Groupon, Salesforce.com, EMI, Urban Dictionary, Linden Lab, Task Rabbit, The Annie E. Casey Foundation and about 200 others all thanks to the acquisition.

HP + Autonomy

Hewlett-Packard, according to media reports, is enrolling its R&D establishment to build on the social media force the company developed last year with its $11-billion acquisition of Autonomy. Technology from both Autonomy and HP is being used in a new CRM offering through HP Social Enterprise Services that targets departments wanting to institute a social media CRM program, according to media sources.

Source: PC Advisor