BuddyMedia

Twitter adds age verification for following 'adult' brands

To give worried marketers peace of mind, Buddy Media has rolled out an age verification process for Twitter in partnership with the microblogging service.The idea is to reduce the liability of booze marketers and their ilk, though the process itself appears to be fairly porous.

Buddy started offering the free service to adult brands such as liquor companies, but said it could be used for other industries with age requirements.

The new service probably won't make parents feel any better, since it merely asks Twitter users to enter their birthdates -- which, of course, means users can take … Read more

Buddy Media CEO's beautiful way of celebrating sale to Salesforce

I have no idea if Buddy Media CEO Michael Lazerow is a nice man or not.

For all I know, he calls his employees donkeys and makes them pay for their own vacations.

However, unlike so many CEOs who seem to celebrate making huge amounts of money by accessing their inner fist-pumping Tiger Woods, Lazerow took a different -- and very moving -- course.

He made a video in which he describes, without speaking, what it feels like to die (which, he explains, he almost did).

He accesses some of life's sad absurdities and expresses them with grace.

He … Read more

Salesforce.com scoops up Buddy Media for $689 million

Salesforce.com has officially entered into an agreement to acquire Buddy Media, the companies announced today.

According to enterprise cloud-computing firm Salesforce.com, it will pay $689 million in cash and equity to acquire the social media marketing company, confirming earlier reports that the firms were nearing a deal. The companies expect the deal to close during Salesforce's fiscal third quarter ended October 31.

For Salesforce, the synergy between the companies made the deal. Salesforce currently offers a "social media listening platform" called Radian 6 that the company says, will be vastly improved by Buddy Media's … Read more

Salesforce.com reportedly to acquire Buddy Media

Salesforce.com is close to aquiring Buddy Media, a company that helps brands manage a presence on social media sites, for more than $800 million, All Things D reports.

Salesforce boasts more than 100,000 customers that utilize its cloud computing services. Adding a social media element, could help bolster its core business management services. Buddy Media is best known for helping big brands navigate Facebook. Recently, it has expanded to other social media platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn and Google+.

The two companies have agreed to terms, but the transaction hasn't closed yet, according to All Things D's … Read more

SocialMedia, BuddyMedia team up on social ads

Here's a deal that never could've happened in the absence of the developer platform craze: SocialMedia, a media network that focuses on the fledgling niche of "engagement ads," is set to announce a partnership with BuddyMedia, which creates branded applications for clients.

More specifically, SocialMedia clients will have access to BuddyMedia's new analytics and research product, which it calls "BuddyBrain" and formally launched last week. BuddyMedia licenses BuddyBrain as part of a program that it calls "App-vertising Resellers," and the two companies have already teamed up on ad campaigns for clients … Read more

BuddyMedia launches social ad analytics software

BuddyMedia, a New York-based start-up that develops social-network games as well as branded applications for clients, has launched a new product that tackles one of the challenges of social advertising: that it's just plain difficult to tell how successful it is.

The company calls the creation "BuddyBrain," and is gearing it toward clients who turn to BuddyMedia for "appvertising," or branded apps designed specifically for product marketing. The data provided to clients--yes, arranged in the shape of a brain--provides statistics on installs, usage, and time spent per user; a feed of news and blog reports … Read more

Buddy Media raises $6.5 million, launches ad network

Buddy Media, a New York-based company that operates a number of social-media developer platform applications including Pirates vs. Ninjas, Zombies vs. Werewolves, Pub Darts, and a Sudoku game, announced Tuesday that it has raised $6.5 million in Series B funding in a round led by Softbank Capital.

A number of big-name investors like Ron Conway, Greycroft Partners, and the European Founders Fund (which has reportedly put cash behind Facebook) also contributed to the round along with 14 of the company's Series A investors.

Buddy Media uses a loyalty program called AceBucks across all its gaming applications, in which … Read more