In late 2006, I decided it would be interesting to find every company in the world that offered social media listening tools or services. I thought I'd find a few dozen companies. Five years on, I've found hundreds of companies, and I'm still finding more. Today, I'm sharing the database that I've been using to track them: Companies in Social Media Analysis.
The directory is a bit more than a list. Each company gets its own page, which includes:
- A link to the company's main website
- A link to their Twitter account
- The location of the company's main office
- A description of the company and its social media analysis products and services, provided by the company itself
- Links to recent news items on Social Media Analysis that mention the company
- A Twitter widget showing the company's most recent tweets
You could browse the list of companies, but it would take you a while—the directory is launching with 292 entries. Instead, I recommend the search function, which has a few tricks up its sleeve. In addition to searching the company descriptions, it can find keywords that don't show up on the company pages, such as states and provinces (spelled out), names that have changed, and companies that have been acquired.
But wait, there's more
Building the directory gave me the push I needed to redesign SMA. It still has the industry news it's always had, and I've made it easier to find the acquisitions scorecard, where I keep track of M&A activity, and the roundup of third-party product reviews. There's a new roundup of investments in social media analysis, and I've added a job board (yes, it accepts international listings). Finally, I added the social network icons that are a required part of social media web sites in 2011.
I always intended for SMA to be a sort of online trade journal, the best source of information about what's going on in the market. The new sections are a step in that direction, and I hope you like them.
The full database just passed 400 companies, which includes many that are no longer active in the market. Listening companies, are you on the wrong list?
