Socialtext
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Enterprise social software |
| Founded | 2002 |
| Founder | Ross Mayfield, Peter Kaminski |
| Fate | Acquired by Bedford Funding in 2012; later part of Learning Technologies Group in 2019 |
| Successor | PeopleFluent (subsidiary), Learning Technologies Group (parent company from 2019) |
| Headquarters | Palo Alto , United States |
Area served | Enterprise customers |
Key people | Ross Mayfield, Peter Kaminski |
| Products | Socialtext (enterprise social software suite) |
| Owner | Learning Technologies Group (from 2019) |
| Parent | PeopleFluent (until 2019), Learning Technologies Group (from 2019) |
Socialtext Incorporated was a company located in Palo Alto, California, that focused on enterprise social software solutions. Its offerings included a comprehensive set of wiki tools and social software applications such as microblogging, user profiles, directories, and collaboration functionalities, complemented by mobile applications dedicated to specific features.
Established in 2002 by Ross Mayfield and Peter Kaminski, Socialtext secured funding from investors including Omidyar Network, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Sapphire Ventures, and Bedford Funding. The company's primary product, also named Socialtext, was released as open source in 2006. By 2019, the software suite continued to be available through the Learning Technologies Group; however, social media communications were discontinued after 2016.
Development
Initially, Socialtext's platform was built upon Brian Ingerson's Perl library Kwiki. By 2006, the product was accessible both as a hosted service and as a standalone hardware appliance.
Starting in 2005, Socialtext began releasing parts of its software as open source, beginning with the wikiwyg editor. In 2006, the company collaborated with Dan Bricklin to distribute wikicalc, a wiki-based spreadsheet tool. Interaction design contributions were made by Audrey Tang. Socialtext fostered an active open-source developer community and organized a longstanding monthly event known as Wiki Wednesdays.
The launch of Socialtext 4.0 in 2010 introduced features such as LDAP and Active Directory integration, Single Sign-On capabilities, a REST API, and connectors for Salesforce.com and SharePoint. The final significant version released was Socialtext 6.0 in 2014.
Acquisition and aftermath
In 2012, Socialtext was acquired by Bedford Funding, a private equity firm with holdings in enterprise social software including PeopleFluent, which specializes in talent management solutions. Following the acquisition, Socialtext operated as a subsidiary under PeopleFluent while retaining its brand identity within the parent company. Later, in 2019, PeopleFluent itself was purchased by Learning Technologies Group.
See also
External links
- as archived in 2013 (via archive.org)