MarketingVOX: WPP Group has invested in a social media tracking firm - a month after another deal related to consumer-generated media (CGM).

WPP has invested an undisclosed sum, with an option to later increase its stake, in Visible Technologies - a 32-person, Seattle-based, three-year-old company - which monitors brand reputations in blogs and social networking sites, reports AdWeek.

Visible started out as a search optimization firm. Its TruView service monitors brand reputations based on search results, and its soon-to-be-launched TruCast monitors brand-related conversations in CGM, including social networks and blogs.

WPP a month earlier formed a joint venture with LiveWorld to build message boards, blogs and social networks for WPP clients and agencies. Similarly, Visible Technologies services would be used by WPP PR agencies, include Burson-Marsteller and Hill & Knowlton.

Recent WPP coverage:

- JWT, Spot Runner Partner for Local Ads

- Carat EVP Smith Now Neo@Ogilvy COO

- WPP in Venture with Social-Networking Service LiveWorld

- WPP's Sorrell: Online Advertising Boom Ahead

- WPP's Wunderman Buys ZAAZ