Social TV: Twitter buys Trenderr

(from James Martin/CNET) Twitter has acquired Trendrr, a social media analytics company that focuses on television and serves big brands like ABC, MTV, Telemundo, and Univision.

Trendrr posted the announcement on its blog Wednesday, saying that it's joining Twitter because of its emphasis on real-time data. The 5-year-old company, which helps media companies understand how people use social media while watching TV, said it will honor its existing contracts, but won't be renewing them in the future.

"Having sat at this intersection of TV and social media for years, we've analyzed data from lots of platforms," Trendrr CEO Mark Ghuneim wrote in the blog post. "What makes Twitter uniquely compelling among these platforms is its connection to the live moment -- people sharing what's happening, when it's happening, to the world. We think we can help amplify even stronger the power of that connection to the moment inside of Twitter."

In addition to its TV analytics tool that tracks TV trends across several social networks, Trendrr has a Twitter-specific, and Twitter-certified, product called Curatorr.

This isn't Twitter's first purchase in this space. The company bought TV analytics company Bluefin Labs in February. Television has become increasingly important to Twitter as its real-time data starts to turn into real advertising and marketing dollars from media companies. The company recently hired a former Google executive to lead its efforts on getting TV and movie marketers to advertise on the social network.