Perhaps this has stepped up the B2B social media game. Intel Capital has purchased the social networking platform company Telligent for $20 million according to reports. This deal will not bring us yet-another-social-network, this one is about helping businesses have the right tools at hand to help their brands with customer relations and marketing. In other words Telligent helps those businesses to own their own message online. The platforms software allows two-way interactions between a company and its customers and clients. Telligent manufactures a product called Community Server, which provides clients with blog, forum, wiki, and other collaborative and social software; those clients include the Associated Press, MySpace, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Visa, Honda, Dell, and the NFL.
As more companies embrace radical transparency and open themselves up to two-way communication with their clients and customers we may see more deals of this kind very soon. The space is becoming competitive.