Google Slides Into Social Media

Blog | Web + Social

Charlie | Monday 9th, 2010, 12:00am BST

Google Inc. confirmed it has bought social widget maker Slide Inc., a deal that gives the Internet search leader a team of developers with extensive social networking experience. A person familiar with the situation said the deal was valued at about $180 million, similar to the price tag reported by technology blog TechCrunch on Wednesday. In announcing the takeover Friday, Google engineering director David Glazer said the company would be “investing even more to make Google services socially aware” and expand the social-networking capabilities further across the Web, according to a post on the company’s official blog. '); //

On Slide’s own site, founder and Chief Executive Max Levchin called the combination a great opportunity “to come together to change the way people socialize on the Web,” given the two firms’ shared vision and values. Slide develops applications for Facebook, MySpace and other social-networking sites, but the person familiar with the situation said Google was primarily motivated by the opportunity to add a team of about 100 developers who have years of experience in the social networking arena. You can read the full article at Total Telecom