Today Facebook announced it had acquired FriendFeed. This is exciting, interesting news for a number of reasons. First, I think FriendFeed is a fantastic platform. Facebook is about to get a whole lot better thanks to the engineers behind FriendFeed (this is very much a talent acquisition). Second, I think this will cause Twitter, Google, and everyone else in the real-time space to pick up the pace. We’re going to see a whole ton of innovation in the months ahead. That’s good news for all of us.
Here’s the TechCrunch story on the deal, which is where I first read it. Here’s the official Facebook press release, and here’s the official FriendFeed post.
Here are some other relevant posts I’ve found interesting:
- Inside Facebook cites the WSJ and says Facebook paid about $47.5 million in cash and stock for FriendFeed. That’s a nice payday for FriendFeed’s founders, on top of high level gigs at Facebook.
- MG at TechCrunch says that Facebook acquired FriendFeed to take on Twitter. Adam at Mashable agrees.
- Scoble, who has one of the most thoughtful posts on the deal, says this is Facebook firing a shot at Google, not at Twitter.
- Caroline McCarthy wonders if this is a big deal. She says “this is not as ridiculously huge of a deal as the Silicon Valley hype machine is going to have you believe.”
Also today: Facebook launched improved search for everyone.
I haven’t used FriendFeed much lately, and I’m not incredibly active on Facebook either. Still, I’m stoked about this deal. In addition to making Facebook a whole heck of a lot better, I think it’s going to have that “a rising tide lifts all boats” kind of effect. At least I hope so (I’m looking at you Twitter).
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