Commenting Startup Livefyre Acquires Realtidbits For Its Move Into Analytics

Commenting platform Livefyre is announcing today that it has acquired a company called Realtidbits. Apparently Realtidbits makes a number of social applications (we covered its real-time forum product, for example), but Livefyre founder and CEO Jordan Kretchmer told me he’s particularly interested in the company’s analytics experience and technology.

The acquisition of self-funded Realtidbits comes just a couple of months after Livefyre purchased social curation startup Storify. That was Livefyre’s first acquisition, making this deal its second — it probably helps that the company raised a $15 million round earlier this year.

“We’re in a pretty acquisitive place right now,” Kretchmer said. “We want to expand our product reach, and we’re actively exploring anyting delivering on our premise of social everywhere.”

Although Livefyre is best-known for its commenting system (a system that’s used by TechCrunch), it offers other social products and features like the ability to integrate content from social media and run ads. (It has also said it plans to continue operating Storify as a standalone brand and product.) However, it hasn’t done much in analytics — Kretchmer said the entire five-person Realtidbits team will become the core of Livefyre’s analytics team, and of a new San Diego office.

Kretchmer noted that there are a number of other analytics companies out there, and he said he was impressed by co-founder and CEO Kelly Abbott’s background in journalism and his connections with publishers. (Judging from his LinkedIn profile, Abbott wasn’t a journalist himself, but worked on product development at several media organizations.) Livefyre says Realtidbits racks real-time engagement on Realtidbits products, third-party plugins, Backplane-enabled products, and JavaScript-enabled web pages, and that it integrates with Adobe Omniture, Google Analytics and Mixpanel.

When Kretchmer discussed the product, he seemed particularly interested in tracking video engagement and second-screen engagement driven by TV shows.

The financial terms of the deal are not being disclosed. The company says users of Realtidbits Comments, Forums, Gallery and Pinboard will be transitioned to the corresponding Livefyre products.