Database behemoth Oracle just announced that it’s acquiring Collective Intellect for an undisclosed amount. The firm offers cloud-based social media monitoring software that lets users analyze relevant user interactions on Facebook and Twitter; this insight can eventually be translated into improving marketing campaigns and merchandising overall.

This latest acquisition is a pretty good represention of Oracle’s efforts to expand in not one but multiple areas in which it has been lagging for the past few years – the cloud, analytics and the social enterprise. Collective Intellect’s intelligence software will be integrated into the company’s existing SaaS offerings, and will be a part of what Oracle expects to be “the most advanced and comprehensive social relationship platform.”

“Gaining intelligence from consumer conversations across social media, and knowing customers’ intentions and interests helps organizations create better products and deliver better service,” said Thomas Kurian, executive vice president, Oracle Development. “Collective Intellect’s leading cloud-based applications for social media monitoring, combined with Oracle’s social relationship platform offers a complete social experience to our customers.”

The buyout ties in with another acquisition that Larry Ellison’s firm announced last month: a $300 million deal to take in Virtue, a company that specializes in social media marketing. And in the bigger picture it’s all about being competitive, and mainly against SAP.

News of the Virtue merger crossed the wire at the same time the German BI giant announced that it is acquiring Ariba for over $4 billion in an effort to boost its cloud – and social – portfolio. And that was not the first time that Oracle has decided to adopt its rival’s tactics.

Late last year we’ve learned that SAP shed a few billions for SuccessFactors, and Oracle followed up with a cloud-based HR software buy of its own.