Out of a marriage of social content and targeted analytics comes Social.com, Salesforce's new cloud-based ad platform that allows for real-time buying for social ad campaigns. 

The site, which was trademarked by Salesforce, caters to the burgeoning social ad market, helping brands feed consumers targeted information based on their mobile device, age, location, cultural backgrounds and social profiles. With industry analyst BIA Kelsey estimating social ad spending to more than double to $11 billion by 2017, Social.com has appeared on the scene just in time. 

Salesforce CEO and founder Marc Benioff credited the recent aquisitions of Radian6 and Buddy Media for building the groundwork for the new site. Salesforce touts Social.com as the first platform integrating social ads with CRM and social media monitoring, connecting social advertising to real-time conversations across social networks. "It's always been known that marketing is all about the moment," Adam Bain, president of Global Revenue at Twitter, told the audience at the launch event. "Twitter is a series of 'now' moments. Marketing on Twitter is about winning the moment."Continue reading...

A storm is gathering in the clouds, not just with #Sandy moving towards the northeast US, but with rumbling within the Salesforce Marketing Cloud. This week, it emerged that Salesforce.com's biggest acquisition, social media campaign manager Buddy Media, is losing more than $40 million a year, while Salesforce's social media markeing firm, Radian6, is reorganizing and shedding jobs.

Salesforce spokesperson Jane Hynes’ statement in part: “With the integration of Radian6 and Buddy Media, the Salesforce Marketing Cloud is rebalancing its resources to support its growth, including moving from a hub to a distributed model for certain customer-facing roles, consolidating marketing, and dramatically increasing investments in R&D. Fewer than 100 people globally have been impacted.”

Salesforce acquired Buddy Media in August for $745 million, a time it was churning through more than $42 million a year, while Radian6, Salesforce’s previous marquee acquisition was cash-flow positive at the time of its $325 million acquisition in March of 2010.Continue reading...

Bank of America slapped with U.S. lawsuit over billion-dollar "hustle" of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.

Elizabeth Taylor is Forbes' new Top-Earning Dead Celeb thanks to Christie's auction.

Apple's iPad mini already has a Chinese knock-off, while US judge says Samsung infringed four Apple patents.

Facebook wins back Wall Street, affirms social dominance and shares soar as looks to rebuild confidence.

AT&T beats estimates in latest quarterly earnings report.

BlackBerry loses grip as go-to phone for US federal government.

Buzzfeed taps Rdio for "social music advertising."

Cisco will fund 12,000 meals for World Food Program via Facebook app.

Tom Cruise sues gossip magazines for defamation of character.Continue reading...

A recent McKinsey Global Institute study, “The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies,” concludes that social technologies could contribute $900 billion to $1.3 trillion in annual value to business.

"Two-thirds of this potential value lies in improving collaboration and communication within and across enterprises," with improved consumer focus and better-functioning teams as additional benefits. 

The current crop of social media acquisitions, including Microsoft's acquisition of Yammer and Salesforce.com's purchase of Radian6, underscore large companies’ increasingly expensive quest for internalized productivity tools to better help them manage customers. 

The most effective social technologies include wikis, instant messaging, content searches and user forums, and apply to several levels of employees from managers to sales representatives to engineers. The largest impediment to overcome, both organizationally and individually, is the embrace of a nonhierarchical ethos where acumen and information are shared rather than hoarded. Continue reading...

Today, at 2pm Eastern, the White House makes history with its first Twitter Town Hall, featuring President Obama answering users’ questions.

Topic A: the economy and jobs, with Obama fielding questions that were asked in advance and in real-time. Twitter notes in a blog post about the event that it has partnered with Mass Relevance to “curate, visualize and integrate conversations for the event,” and Radian6, the Canadian social marketing firm recently acquired by Salesforce.com.

Tweet your questions with the hashtag #AskObama, and track the event live at askobama.twitter.com or by following tweets via @townhall. Twitter cofounder and executive chairman Jack Dorsey will moderate the Q&A, which must — of course — fit Twitter’s 140-character limit.Continue reading...

Google imitates Facebook "like" function with "+1" introduction, while Flickr adds sharing feature. Google also settled FTC privacy charges over Buzz and announced Kansas City (not Topeka) in Kansas as the site of its fiber network.

GoDaddy head Bob Parsons under fire for elephant hunting in Africa.

Microsoft top marketer Mich Mathews steps down.

News Corp. promotes James Murdoch to New York role.

Salesforce boosts social media chops with Radian6 acquisition.

Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz admits he doesn't drink his own Frappucinos.Continue reading...

This was the year that social media and traditional media came together on the Super Bowl field and scored a touchdown.

Campaigns were more integrated this year, with buzz building on Facebook and the web building anticipation for the multimillion dollar on-air campaigns, with an unprecedented number of sneak peeks and teaser campaigns (if not whole spots) posted online before the big game.

Major brand advertisers not only invested in gorgeously produced on-air spots — in the case of Coca-Cola, a Coke Cheers Facebook app and website whetted fans' appetites for the big game (and, naturally, the beverage) with a pro-social initiative that let fans pick their Super Bowl fave, with Coke donating $1 per vote (and then $5 per vote on the eve of the game) to charity — the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.Continue reading...