Oracle Acquires Additional Social Marketing Technology
Oracle, Salesforce.com, and Microsoft have been making significant moves in the industry this year, with a series of acquisitions that point towards a broader trend. These tech giants are acquiring social media technology providers, indicating that social functionality is becoming the standard interface for software.
The latest acquisition by Oracle is Involver, a Facebook application development platform provider. Involver allows businesses to build branded experiences on Facebook and analyse user interactions. This acquisition follows Oracle's purchase of social media analytics company Collective Intelligence last month and social relationship management provider Virtue in May.
Collective Intelligence, on the other hand, enables users to understand consumer trends and gain insights faster. Virtue, meanwhile, automates and analyses social media for marketing and customer service.
Oracle's CRM rival, Salesforce.com, is also pursuing a similar strategy, having recently acquired Buddy Media. Buddy Media's Facebook content creation technology is comparable to Involver's platform.
This trend of enterprise software companies acquiring social media technology providers suggests that social functionality is becoming the norm for digital customer interaction. The increasing spending of marketing departments on technology is driving this strategy for companies like Oracle.
Microsoft, another business software giant, recently joined the fray with its acquisition of enterprise micro-blogging provider Yammer for $1.2 billion.
These acquisitions may either provide a lifeline for these companies' legacy products or potentially cannibalize them. However, the common goal is clear: to provide comprehensive social media marketing technology solutions.
Oracle aims to provide a comprehensive social media marketing technology solution through its acquisitions. The company's social platform is currently a collection of various platforms due to its acquisition strategy.
This development is contributing to the evolution of the industry, with social media technology becoming an integral part of enterprise software. Companies are recognising the importance of social media in customer engagement and are responding accordingly.
In July 2011, Facebook also jumped on the bandwagon with its acquisition of content creation technology platform Buddy Media. The acquisitions by Oracle, Salesforce.com, Microsoft, and Facebook indicate that they view 'social' as something they need to own.
Involver's customers include Best Buy, MTV, and Toys R Us, demonstrating the growing acceptance of social media technology by large businesses. As more companies adopt social media, the demand for comprehensive solutions is likely to increase, making these acquisitions strategic moves for the future.
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