Social Networking, Salesforce.com | featured news

Salesforce.com agreed to acquire Buddy Media in a deal worth as much as $745 million, continuing its rapid expansion into social-media marketing. Salesforce Chief Executive Marc Benioff said the deal will help the company keep up with demand as the online marketing business matures. Chief marketing officers are expected to outpace chief information officers in directing technology spending within the next five years, according to a recent report by industry researcher Gartner.

Salesforce.com launched a social enterprise application here at Dreamforce today that will allow companies to create their own private, social networks and integrate with Twitter, Facebook and other social applications.

Dubbed Salesforce Chatter, the application serves as a secure enterprise collaboration application and social development platform.