Bluefin Labs Debuts Social Media Monitoring Technology
A Massachusetts startup has unveiled technology that analyzes – in real time – what social media users are saying about TV ads and shows.
Bluefin Labs, based in Cambridge, Mass., has picked up $6 million in venture capital from Redpoint Ventures and other investors to help propel the technology.
Bluefin’s technology – whose results are shown on a computer console – has been tested by close to a dozen companies, advertising firms, marketing agencies and media outfits. The console displays social chatter from Facebook, Twitter, blogs and other social media platforms, creating a sort of virtual focus group.
“A chasm is growing between mass media, where brands spend hundreds of billions each year to reach large audiences, and social media, where audiences share response and shape public opinion at lightning speeds,” said Deb Roy, founder and CEO of Bluefin.
“Unless companies learn how to integrate social media response tightly with their mass media marketing, they risk losing control of their brands.”
The company, founded in 2008, is built on 15 years of research at MIT’s Media Lab.
“We’re seeing people talk increasingly through social media about what they see on television,” Shiv Singh, head of digital at PepsiCo Beverages America, said in a Bluefin news release.
“Bluefin’s ability to directly connect these conversations back to their source on TV could be a game-changer for brands looking for new ways to discover and engage key audiences in real-time.”
The news release didn’t say whether PepsiCo has been part of Bluefin’s pilot phase.
Bluefin was started by Roy and fellow researcher Michael Fleischman. Roy, a tenured professor at MIT, has taken a leave of absence from the school to lead Bluefin. Fleischman is the startup’s president and chief technology officer.
Among the private investors in Bluefin are Jim Pallotta, co-owner of the Boston Celtics; Jonathan Kraft, president of the New England Patriots; Dan Gilbert, founder of Quicken Loans and majority owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers; and Kenneth Lerer, co-founder of The Huffington Post.
In all, Bluefin has gathered $8.35 million in venture capital.
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