StormPost, Social Networks, and the Resurrection of Email

For most of us, email was the first “social networking application” we used. Email forwarding, mailing lists, mail groups - I miss the ease and simplicity that was email before spam. The death of email has been proclaimed many times (and one of my favorite blogs is “Death By Email.”)

I’ve been not only watching - but talking to a few folks that use StormPost from Datran Media. They made a tiny little splash recently by announcing social media integration with their newest release. Perhaps the splash should have been bigger, because this tool is impressive. Of course, while their technology is great, they do have a ways to go before they understand social media marketing themselves. Datran purchased SKYLIST - who created StormPost, and with their work on analytics and CoreMetrics I think they are onto something. Lycos, while no longer the player they once was, is certainly betting this solution will pay off.

Datran is growing, hiring, and pushing hard into the social media space. If they go with a light touch, they will make an impressive player in the next generation of social media utilization companies. Remember, the guys who make money in gold rushes are the ones that sell the pans.