Social Media Monitoring software is a commodity

You may recall that I took time earlier this year to deliver the customary predictions for 2010. With the acquisition of Sysomos by Marketwire it makes sense to review one of those predictions:

“2010 is also going to be a year of consolidation. There are simply too many companies, some running with too much debt, some with too few customers, which are reaching the end of their lifetime. I would expect to see at least a half dozen Social Media Monitoring and Social CRM companies disappear in 2010. There are already a small number that are in trouble, or nearing trouble, and others will have challenges as they seek to differentiate themselves from the competition. The news, however, is not all bad. We are also entering an era where you will see many partnerships and acquisitions taking place. Jive Software made a good move when they bought Filtrbox, adding Social Monitoring/Listening capabilities, the other major players will need to do something as well.”

Some of the key acquisitions to date include:

Jive Software purchasing Filtrbox
Attensity purchasing Biz360
Lithium Technologies purchasing Scout Labs
MarketWire purchasing Sysomos

Social Media Monitoring capabilities are a must have for today’s social solutions. No longer a differentiator as much as an expected part of these solutions, expect to see many more companies absorbed into larger product offerings. These are some of the companies that I expect to see acquired this year: