Viralheat
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Software, Social media management |
| Founded | May 2009 |
| Founder | Raj Kadam, Vishal Sankhla |
| Fate | Acquired by Cision |
| Headquarters | United States |
Key people | Jeff Revoy (CEO from 2013) |
| Products | Social media management platform, analytics tools, Chrome extensions (sentiment analysis toolbar, Flint) |
| Website | viralheat |
Viralheat was a subscription-based software platform designed for social media management, enabling users to track and analyze content generated by consumers. It launched its beta version in May 2009, securing $75,000 in seed funding by December of the same year, followed by a $4.25 million venture capital investment from the Mayfield Fund in 2011.
Features
The platform provided a suite of tools encompassing account administration, monitoring, analytics, and content publishing. It monitored mentions of brands or individuals across various online channels, assessing factors such as influence, sentiment, and language use. Influence on Twitter was evaluated based on metrics like followers, mentions, and retweets, while sentiment analysis categorized content as positive, negative, or neutral. The Human Intent feature identified social media users with a higher likelihood of purchasing related products. Users could filter analytics and monitoring results by geographic location, and export data to formats including PDF, Excel, or public dashboards.
Pricing tiers were determined by the volume of accounts, mentions, and profiles managed. A complimentary plan allowed management of up to seven social media accounts, with developer accounts also available at no cost. By August 2012, Viralheat reported a user base of 6,500 individuals, with approximately one-third subscribing to paid plans.
Additionally, Viralheat provided free application programming interfaces (APIs) and offered two Google Chrome extensions: one that displayed a sentiment analysis toolbar on Twitter.com with sentiment indicators for tweets, and another called "Flint," which facilitated sharing content viewed in the browser across multiple platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.
History
Co-founded by Raj Kadam and Vishal Sankhla, Viralheat introduced its beta software in May 2009. By October that year, it had implemented location-based filtering along with enhancements to its user interface for reporting and alert features. The company raised $75,000 in seed capital by December 2009. In March 2010, Viralheat expanded its capabilities to include Facebook interaction tracking. In June 2011, it secured $4.25 million in Series A funding from the Mayfield Fund.
The Human Intent tool was launched in July 2011, followed by a Chrome extension for Twitter sentiment analysis released in September. Version 2.0 arrived in March 2012, introducing social media publishing functionality. Later that year saw the addition of Pinterest monitoring and the release of the "Flint" browser extension aimed at enhancing engagement and analytics. Early 2013 brought the Smart Stream analytics dashboard featuring an improved user interface and support for multiple accounts. Flint 2.0 extended browser compatibility to Safari and Firefox.
In December 2013, Viralheat rolled out enterprise pricing models along with multi-user capabilities as part of a strategic pivot toward serving enterprise clients; Jeff Revoy was appointed CEO during this period.
In March 2015, Cision—a Chicago-based public relations communications company—acquired Viralheat to broaden its social media product offerings. Following the acquisition, founders Sankhla and Kadam led integration activities while Revoy exited the company. By May 2015, Viralheat’s platform was rebranded as Cision Social Edition (CSE). The original Viralheat website and standalone products were discontinued in January 2017 as part of Cision’s consolidation efforts.
Evaluations
In 2009, Mashable observed that Viralheat provided more functionalities than many free platforms while being priced lower than most premium alternatives. A 2012 review by PRWeek emphasized its advantages in sentiment analysis, user-friendliness, affordability, and customer support, although it pointed out that its filtering capabilities required enhancement.
In March 2013, Network World evaluated eight social media management solutions and determined Viralheat to be the most cost-effective, supporting the broadest array of social networks. Despite this, it lacked collaborative account features essential for large organizations. The assessment commended its intuitive interface and straightforward cross-posting abilities but mentioned the restricted reporting options, such as only offering three date ranges for report generation.
Reported uses
On May 25, 2009, Viralheat's platform tracked approximately 7,000 tweets referencing "Obama," totaling 32,000 mentions throughout that week. In April 2010, it revealed that 70% of comments about Tiger Woods were positive following his return to professional golf after a controversy. A sample from July 2011 indicated that 79% of tweets about President Barack Obama conveyed positive sentiment, compared to 54% for Speaker John Boehner.
Around Thanksgiving in 2012, Viralheat analyzed 150,000 tweets and found that turkey stuffing was mentioned 38,000 times. During the premiere of Bravo's "Start-ups: Silicon Valley," the software tracked 350 Twitter mentions for the character Hermione versus 264 for Sarah. A March 2013 report identified American Airlines as having the highest positive social media sentiment among leading airlines and San Francisco Airport as the most frequently referenced airport.
During the same year's March Madness, Viralheat discovered that the University of Miami team generated the most social media discussions.