Social Code Taps Bilotta To Head Product Design

To modify its social advertising and analytics services for an increasingly mobile world, SocialCode has hired Jenna Bilotta as head of product design.

Following product design and leadership roles at Google units from YouTube and Google Reader, Bilotta co-founded the mobile app maker Avocado Software. The company’s flagship product is Avocado -- a mobile app designed to help couples manage their relationships.

Launched in the summer of 2012, Avocado set itself apart from similar services by closely mirroring the way couples interact with one another.

Bilotta’s hiring is part of a broader expansion of SocialCode’s product design and development team.

SocialCode CEO Laura O’Shaughnessy said three key trends are driving the company’s design strategy. “First, business users now demand enterprise software that is as delightful and easy to use as any consumer app,” O’Shaughnessy said on Wednesday. “Second, the firehose of customer data needs to transform into insights, and pipe right into the heart of brands so they can make smarter decisions about their products and companies.”

“Third, mobile software application usage is dominating not just with consumers, but with businesspeople, from the CEO down,” O’Shaughnessy explained. “We believe software should be insightful, powerful and easy to use, and that starts with design.” 

Per the hire, SocialCode has also entered into a licensing partnership with Avocado Software, which is expected to help the social ad firm build better apps.

The mission is to “bring simple, elegant design to advertising tools that often don't get that kind of attention,” Bilotta stated.

Social and mobile advertising are now inextricably linked. Indeed, among U.S. consumers, mobile devices now account for 60% of digital media time spent, according to comScore.

With Bilotta in tow, SocialCode’s new mobile team is currently developing a social content analytics prototype. The first resulting app is expected to bring SocialCode’s MessageOptics content analytics software to mobile screens.

A product of The Washington Post Company -- which has since been renamed Graham Holdings Company -- SocialCode was not included in the sale of its flagship newspaper to Jeff Bezos’ holding company last year.

O’Shaughnessy is the daughter of Donald Graham, longtime WaPo publisher and presently chairman and CEO of Graham Holdings Co.

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