SAN FRANCISCO—Cloud computing leader Salesforce.com has agreed to buy Radian6, a leader in social media monitoring. Radian6 is used by companies such as Dell, GE, Kodak, Molson Coors, Pepsico, and UPS, and by many leading public relations firms—including Edelman, GolinHarris, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide, and Weber Shandwick—to monitor, analyze and engage in social media conversations.

Founded in 2006, Radian6 technology captures hundreds of millions of conversations every day across Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, blogs and online communities, and provides actionable insights in real-time. Products include a monitoring platform designed to help companies track and analyze their social media efforts, as well as an engagement platform to help companies connect with individuals and communities online.

Salesforce.com will pay $276 million in cash and $50 million in stock, net of cash acquired. The transaction is expected to be completed in salesforce.com’s fiscal second quarter ending July 31, 2011, subject to customary closing conditions.

“With Radian6, salesforce.com is gaining the technology and market leader in social media monitoring,” said Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO, salesforce.com. “We see this as a huge opportunity. Not only will this acquisition accelerate our growth, it will extend the value of all of our offerings.”

Benioff says the combination of Salesforce and Radian6 will enable companies to bring the heart of the public social web into salesforce.com’s applications and platform.

Marcel LeBrun, CEO of Radian6, says “Social media has made every business recognize the value of paying attention to the voice of the customer. Radian6’s technology is built for the new norm of customer engagement—real time, two way conversations that includes social channels. Joining the salesforce.com team will allow Radian6 to grow faster to meet the demands of our rapidly expanding customer base.”