IT, Social Networking, Internet

Appature Labs Experiments with Twitter Search Engine, Chatterfly

Eric Hal Schwartz 7/1/09

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service package for customers. “They’re excited to use it,” he said. Getting comments from non-customers will help the company adapt Chatterfly to appeal to a broader group, and may even garner new clients. Chatterfly is designed for simplicity and usability, which Shahani said are traits Appature customers look for. “We’re getting good responses so far,” he said.

Chatterfly works both for companies that have yet to make a presence for themselves on Twitter as well as those that have been exploring opportunities on the site. Those already using Twitter can use Chatterfly to find out how often those following their brand discuss relevant topics (like heart disease and new medicines), while those just starting out can use it to create related Twitter communities and gather intelligence about which products and services would find the widest customer base. And by archiving tweets, comparisons can be made over a longer period of time, increasing the usefulness of the data.

Appature Labs may only have one product so far, but Shahani foresees a lot of useful applications coming out of it. Researching future ways of marketing might seem impractical for a startup, especially with the fast rate of online application development, but Shahani says the point is for Appature to be ahead of the curve so it can adapt its products quickly. Chatterfly seems to fit well with Appature’s main product and service line, in that it takes advantage of Twitter as a social network to improve Web marketing. But Shahani said it’s too early to tell if Chatterfly will stay free in the future.

Shahani is unsure if Twitter will have staying power as a marketing resource, but Chatterfly’s utility during the current Twitter craze is undeniable. Shahani wouldn’t say what Appature Labs will work on after completing Chatterfly, but expects it to push the state of the art in software as much as possible. “Innovation is critical,” he said.

Eric Hal Schwartz is an intern in Xconomy's Seattle office. He can be reached at eschwartz@xconomy.com.