Social networking is one of the big three themes of 2011, along with Cloud Computing and Mobility.

Salesforce.com has been pushing its Chatter social networking platform for the corporate class with the new public service, Chatter.com, promoted with two ads during the Super Bowl halftime show.

Today, Constant Contact made a move to keep pace with the social networking expectations of its customers by acquiring Bantam Live, a contact management and social CRM provider for $15 million. This acquisition follows Constant Contact’s purchase of NutshellMail last May which enabled the email marketing company to link its messages to Twitter and Facebook.

The Bantam Live acquisitoin goes beyond simply giving Constant Contact subscribers a Facebook-like user interface and experience. It also includes contact/CRM, task management, calendaring, deal tracking, and project management, among other capabilities.

By adding these functionalities onto its email marketing platform, Constant Contact is pushing to dramatically expand its role within its customer … Read More »