Socialtext

Socialtext Incorporated was a company based in Palo Alto, California, that produced enterprise social software for companies. It offered an integrated suite of wiki tools and social software applications, including microblogging, user profiles, directories and other collaboration tools. They also maintained mobile apps for individual tools.

Not to be confused with the cultural studies journal Social Text.
Socialtext
TypePrivate
FoundedDecember 2002
Headquarters
Palo Alto, California
,
USA
Key people
  • Ross Mayfield (Founder)
  • Eugene Lee (CEO) until 2012
Websitewww.socialtext.com

The company was founded by Ross Mayfield and Peter Kaminsky in 2002. Its investors included the Omidyar Network, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Sapphire Ventures, and Bedford Funding. Their wiki and suite of tools, also called Socialtext, was open-sourced in 2006. As of 2019, a version of the suite was still available as a service of the Learning Technologies Group.[1]

Development

Socialtext's software stack was initially based on Brian Ingerson's perl library Kwiki. As of 2006, it was available as a hosted service, or as a standalone hardware appliance.

Starting in 2005, the company began releasing its wiki tools under an open source license, starting with its wikiwyg editor.[2] In 2006, it partnered with Dan Bricklin to distribute his wiki spreadsheet tool, wikicalc.[3][4] Audrey Tang consulted with them on their interaction design.[5] The company also supported an ecosystem of open-source wiki developers, and ran a monthly Wiki Wednesdays salon for many years.[6]

In 2010, Socialtext 4.0 offered LDAP and Active Directory integration, Single Sign-On, REST API, and connectors to Salesforce.com and SharePoint.[7] The last major release was Socialtext 6.0, in 2014.[8]

Acquisition and aftermath

In 2012, Socialtext was acquired by Bedford Funding, a private equity firm that also owned other enterprise social tools, including PeopleFluent, a tool for enterprise talent development.[9] Socialtext became a subsidiary of PeopleFluent, and continued operating under its own name within the larger organization.[10] In 2019, PeopleFluent was acquired by Learning Technologies Group.[1]

See also

References
  1. Larsen, Michael. "Who You Gonna' Call? #30DaysOfTesting Testability". Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  2. Martens, China (2005-10-05). "Socialtext to open-source bulk of its software". Computerworld. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  3. Walling, Steven; ReadWriteWeb. "30 Years After VisiCalc, Socialtext Unveils SocialCalc and Freemium Pricing - NYTimes.com". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  4. "wikiCalc Partnership with SocialText". danbricklin.com. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  5. "Audrey Tang". World Economic Forum. Retrieved 2022-05-31.
  6. "Socialtext "Wiki Wednesday" Hackathon Results". Christine. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  7. GigaOm, SIMON MACKIE of. "Socialtext 4.0 Adds Groups, Channels - NYTimes.com". archive.nytimes.com. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  8. "KMWorld Trend-Setting Products of 2014". www.kmworld.com. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  9. "Bedford Funding -- Socialtext". www.bedfordfunding.com. Retrieved 2022-05-29.
  10. "SocialText Merges With PeopleFluent After Sale". CMSWire.com. Retrieved 2022-05-28.


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