Social Media Daily News – March 31, 2011

Good morning. The search engine giant Google is getting social with the addition of the +1 button on search results. The +1 is similar to the “Like” button on Facebook, as it allows users to recommend the site to friends. The +1 campaign comes after Google’s attempt at building a social networking site that failed. Clearly Google isn’t letting the flop of Google Buzz stop their efforts to socialize the web. Salesforce grabbed up Radian 6 in a play to diversify their enterprise offerings to customers. Radian6, a social monitoring tool has a good reputation in the social world and Salesforce probably saw this as an easy way to get into the ever popular social game. Biz Stone spoke to Howard Stern yesterday about the day he and co-founder Evan Williams of Twitter met with Mark Zuckerberg about the possible sale to Facebook in 2008. The conversation sounded interesting enough to share. Enjoy.

I. Google Wants Search to Be More Social, wsj.com, March 31, 2011
II. Salesforce.com Snaps Up Radian6 for $326 Million, adage.com March 30, 2011
III. Twitter’s Biz Stone Talks About Awkward Acquisition Meeting With Zuck On Howard Stern, techcrunch.com March 30, 2011
_________________________

I. Google Wants Search to Be More Social, wsj.com, March 31, 2011
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703806304576232771273306208.html?KEYWORDS=google
Google Inc. is offering to add a twist to Web searches, in a bold offensive to prevent Facebook Inc. and other social-networking companies from gaining an upper hand on Web innovation and potential advertising dollars.
The Internet search giant said it would allow users to recommend useful search results to friends and potentially reorder the way sites are ranked based on what they and their friends like or find useful.
The “social search” effort, dubbed “+1” or “plus one,” could change the way that some people use Google’s search engine.

II. Salesforce.com Snaps Up Radian6 for $326 Million, adage.com March 30, 2011
http://adage.com/article/digital/salesforce-snaps-radian6-326-million/149634/
The social-media-monitoring space just got a little hotter. Cloud computing giant Salesforce.com snapped up Radian6, the leading social-media-monitoring firm, for $325 million in cash and stock, a sign of how important monitoring the social web has become to corporate America. Founded in 2006, Radian6’s technology monitors conversations across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs and online communities and is used by marketers including General Electric, PepsiCo, Dell, and more than half of the Fortune 100, according to the company.

III. Twitter’s Biz Stone Talks About Awkward Acquisition Meeting With Zuck On Howard Stern, techcrunch.com March 30, 2011
http://techcrunch.com/2011/03/30/biz-stone-talks-about-awkward-acquisition-meeting-with-zuck-on-howard-stern/
After talking to Conan a few weeks ago, and CNN’s Piers Morgan last night, Biz Stone made an appearance on another mainstream media show today: Howard Stern. You can access the interview here.