SocialFlow is a

social media optimization Social media optimization (SMO) is the use of a number of outlets and communities to generate publicity to increase the awareness of a product, service brand or event. Types of social media involved include RSS feeds, social news, bookmarking si ...

platform for leading brands and publishers. The company uses the

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

firehose, click data derived from its proprietary link proxy, along with proprietary algorithms, to optimize the delivery of messages on social networks. The company believes that understanding and utilizing key metrics of engagement, such as clicks per tweet and clicks per follower, is central to growing a large and active social media following. Their analysis and data visualization of the way news filtered out around the

death of Osama bin Laden On May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden, the founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was shot several times and killed at his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, by United States Navy SEALs of the U.S. Nava ...

via Twitter received international news coverage and led to questions about the role of

in journalism. SocialFlow is associated with

Betaworks Betaworks is an American startup studio and seed stage venture capital company based in New York City that invests in network-focused, consumer-facing media businesses. Its hybrid investor/builder model has led to both investments in fast-growi ...

, a New York-based startup studio, incubator, and venture capital company that promotes real-time information flow on the internet. It is currently headquartered in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. On February 10, 2022, it was announced that SocialFlow had been acquired by digital experience platform Piano Software Inc.

History

Early history

SocialFlow was founded in early 2009 by Frank Speiser and Mike Perrone, who sought to apply a scientific approach to the task of building and sustaining engaged social media audiences at scale. In 2013, SocialFlow was targeted by the

Syrian Electronic Army The Syrian Electronic Army (SEA; ar, الجيش السوري الإلكتروني) is a group of computer hackers which first surfaced online in 2011 to support the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Using spamming, website deface ...

, a hacking and cyber-criminal group organized in 2011 to support Syrian President

Bashar al-Assad Bashar Hafez al-Assad, ', Levantine pronunciation: ; (, born 11 September 1965) is a Syrian politician who is the 19th president of Syria, since 17 July 2000. In addition, he is the commander-in-chief of the Syrian Armed Forces and the ...

during the Syrian civil war. The group gained access to SocialFlow’s social media accounts after sending a phishing email to the company’s employees. The attack resulted in the brief takedown of SocialFlow’s website and publishing platform that lasted about 20 minutes. To promote internet security and account protection, SocialFlow published a detailed account of the hack and their security response in a blog post.

Investors

SocialFlow announced April 7, 2011, that they had raised $7 million in Series A funding. The Series A round was led by Softbank, with Softbank NY,

RRE Ventures RRE Ventures is an American Venture capital, Venture Capital firm based in New York City. The firm primarily invests in Seed money, seed, Series A round, series A and series B rounds and focuses on companies operating in the software, internet, c ...

, betaworks, Highline Venture Partners, AOL Venture Partners, SV Angel and a group of high profile angel investors participating. On April 16, 2013, SocialFlow announced they raised $10 million round in Series B funding. Fairhaven Capital led the round and was joined by existing investors SoftBank Capital, RRE Ventures, AOL Ventures and

, as well as new investors kbs+ Ventures and Rand Capital Corporation.

Acquisition

On February 10, 2022, it was announced that SocialFlow had been acquired by digital experience platform Piano Software Inc. for an undisclosed amount. The transaction is a cash purchase, with funding provided by Updata Partners, Rittenhouse Ventures and

Sixth Street Partners Sixth Street (formerly known as TSSP) is a global investment firm with $60 billion in assets under management. The firm operates nine investment platforms across its growth investing, adjacencies, direct lending, fundamental public strategies, i ...

, and results in Piano acquiring 100% of the shares of SocialFlow.

Corporate affairs

The company announced June 7, 2011, that Peter Hershberg joined the company as President.

Research

SocialFlow gained considerable media attention when it published "Breaking Bin Laden: Visualizing the Power of a Single Tweet". The study demonstrated how Twitter had evolved into a primary news source, as the death of Osama bin Laden broke on

. Their next study "Engaging News-Hungry Audiences Tweet by Tweet" looked at the Twitter audiences of

Al-Jazeera English Al Jazeera English (AJE; ar, الجزيرة‎, translit=al-jazīrah, , literally "The Peninsula", referring to the Qatar Peninsula) is an international 24-hour English-language news channel owned by the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is own ...

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

CNN CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by the M ...

The Economist ''The Economist'' is a British weekly newspaper printed in demitab format and published digitally. It focuses on current affairs, international business, politics, technology, and culture. Based in London, the newspaper is owned by The Econo ...

Fox News The Fox News Channel, abbreviated FNC, commonly known as Fox News, and stylized in all caps, is an American multinational conservative cable news television channel based in New York City. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is owne ...

and

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

and revealed the similarities and differences between each respective organization's audience, while simultaneously demonstrating the true value of audience engagement. Another notable study created by SocialFlow looked at the launch of the

KONY 2012 ''Kony 2012'' is a 2012 American short documentary film produced by ''Invisible Children'' creators Invisible Children, Inc. The film's purpose was to make Ugandan cult leader, war criminal, and ICC fugitive Joseph Kony globally known so as to ...

video through social media. As noted by

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

writer Anthony Kosner, a study by the SocialFlow research group showed that, rather than emerging from big liberal enclaves on the American coasts, the initial wave of social media traffic that launched the KONY 2012 video originated in mid-sized, relatively conservative cities in middle America.

References

External links

* {{official website, http://www.socialflow.com/ Search engine optimization Digital marketing Software companies based in New York (state) Web analytics Marketing companies established in 2009 Marketing companies of the United States Software companies of the United States 2009 establishments in New York City