Those who say they’re influencers, probably aren't. Which is why Infoition and OhMyGov have joined forces to form SYNOPTOS. The Reston, Va., company will offer data analytics software to track online communication around complicated multi-sided issues and identify the real influencers in the debate. Another piece of the business will consult organizations on what they should be doing to get more support for their side. Synoptos product development VP Mark Malseed, CEO Jeff Trexel, and president Andrew Einhorn count congressional committees, the White House, NIH, HHS, and Fortune 500 companies among their customers.

The 42-person team says influencers aren’t always weighing in on debates online, so it made sense to merge OhMyGov’s technology with Infoition’s consulting practice, which can ID the harder-to-find influencers and offer guidance on how to work with them. The software scours 60,000 news sources and social media for keywords and its profile-centric system allows the software to be more targeted in its listening. Partially funded by NSF, the system can also track how stories become viral. (In our view, just put #SochiProblems next to anything, and people will click.)