Salesforce.com Acquires Facebook Filter Radian6

Salesforce.com March 30 agreed to purchase Radian6 for $276 million in cash and $50 million in stock, giving the enterprise application provider a credible social media management tool.

Radian6 analysis widgets and reporting tools help businesses monitor and filter social media conversations generated on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs and other social media Websites.

The idea is that marketers and sales teams can get a handle on what consumers are saying about not only their brands, products and services, but those of their market competitors.

Such information is important to influence how marketers shape their brands in an age where the real-time status update has become a chief medium used by consumers to describe their experiences with companies.

Salesforce.com believes Radian, which is already building an add-on application for Salesforce.com’s Service Cloud 3, can help its customers boost their sales and marketing efforts.

"With Radian6, Salesforce.com is gaining the technology and market leader in social media monitoring," said Salesforce.com Chairman and CEO Marc Benioff. "We see this as a huge opportunity. Not only will this acquisition accelerate our growth, it will extend the value of all of our offerings."

Salesforce.com will use Radian6 software to provide social media clarity across Sales Cloud, Service Cloud, as well as the aforementioned integration with the Force.com application platform.

But the product will perhaps best be used to build a bridge between the conversations happening on Facebook and Twitter and Salesforce.com’s Chatter social network for businesses.

For more, read the eWEEK article: Salesforce.com Buys Facebook Filter Radian6 for $326M.