SocialFlow, a US-based social media service provider, has raised $7m in its series A round from a consortium of publishers.
Japan-based internet holding company Softbank led the A round, and the consortium also included SocialFlow’s incubator Betaworks, AOL Ventures, the corporate venturing unit of US media group AOL, and venture capital firms Softbank NY, RRE Ventures, High Line Venture Partners and SV Angel, as well as individual investors.
SocialFlow will use the money to develop its publishing platform, which determines in real time the Twitter topics that people are engaged in and how likely they are to take an action on a Tweet. The platform, which used by The Economist, eMusic and the New York Public Library, then publishes the best Tweet when audiences are most receptive. SocialFlow has also finalized a partnership with Twitter to use Twitter’s firehose data for analytics within the SocialFlow platform.
"The global adoption of Twitter and other social media is driving publishers, brands and retailers to join the conversation," said Jordan Levy, partner at Softbank. "We are thrilled to support SocialFlow’s unique platform, which monitors the collective consumer pulse in real-time and delivers actionable feedback at scale."
In the case of The Economist, clicks per tweet increased by 150% and clicks per follower increased by 50% since SocialFlow launched in June last year.
Dave Humber, manager of audience development at the Economist magazine, said: "SocialFlow is an instrumental part of our efforts to grow an audience on Twitter and drive engagement with our content.
"The logic and science behind SocialFlow’s approach was very appealing from a performance perspective, but also as a way that enables us to scale our operations with a relatively small team."