• February 6, 2013

Bluefin Labs, a so-called social TV analytics firm, which analyzes the audiences of television programs based on the sentiment expressed by users in social media feeds, has been acquired by Twitter. Terms were not disclosed, but Twitter's blog stated that the acquisition "reflects our commitment to the social TV market, and builds on our exclusive partnership with Nielsen announced in December to develop the Nielsen Twitter TV Rating, the centerpiece of social TV measurement based on Nielsen’s SocialGuide platform. We intend to honor existing Bluefin customer contracts, but we will not continue to sell Bluefin’s product suite beyond the existing contracts. We plan to collaborate closely with Nielsen and SocialGuide on product development and research to help brands, agencies, and networks fully understand the combined value of Twitter and TV."

Bluefin, which primarily utilizes Twitter feeds as the basis of its analytics, was perhaps the leader in a nascent but fast-growing category that also includes Trendrr and General Sentiment.