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ClearView Social raises $400,000 for social media software, advisory services [The Buffalo News, N.Y. :: ](Buffalo News (NY) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Feb. 20--The newest tenant in the Z80 Labs high-technology business incubator in downtown Buffalo has raised $400,000 in seed capital to finance a new software and consulting business designed to help law firms and other professional services firms promote the use of social media while tracking its effectiveness. Adrian Dayton is launching ClearView Social to sell software and advisory services to firms that want to do a better job of engaging clients through email as well as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn or other social media tools. Dayton, a University at Buffalo Law School graduate and former mergers and acquisitions attorney at Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel LLP in Buffalo, has been working as a Buffalo-based social media consultant to the legal industry nationally and even globally since being laid off from the law firm during the recession. He said he's been interested in the power of social media to recruit new business, after using Twitter to bring in a client at Jaeckle, and has been teaching the skill to other lawyers at more than 20 large firms. He has also published two books on the use of social media at law firms. Dayton's new software would enable firms that produce original content for legal blogs to automatically send out promotional emails both to their clients and their own lawyers, track how well the emails and content are shared by each attorney with contacts, and evaluate how much the ultimate content is actually read. The result is a "leader board" of the best "sharers" and the articles that generate the most interest. The company has one full-time and two part-time employees, but Dayton projects eight to 10 employees within two years. So far, he has funded his work by himself, but he said he needed the Z80 funds to take the next step. He's said he's hoping to sell "a few hundred thousand dollars of software" before pursing a second round of funding of "a few million dollars." Founded by technology entrepreneurs Jordan Levy and Ron Schreiber, Z80 Labs provides funding, office space, mentoring and other services to startup software and technology firms. It is based on the first floor of the Buffalo News building in downtown Buffalo. email: [email protected] ___ (c)2014 The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.) Visit The Buffalo News (Buffalo, N.Y.) at www.buffalonews.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |