Facebook buys FriendFeed website

Published on Tuesday 11 August 2009 17:03

FACEBOOK is to buy content-sharing website FriendFeed in a move that could make it even easier for users to keep track of their friends' movements.

The deal was revealed in a blog yesterday by Friendfeed founder Bret Taylor, who stated that the firm "accepts Facebook friend request".

Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but it could see the larger network's 250 million users benefit from its acquisition's ability to share content in real time.

FriendFeed sells itself as a service that makes it easy to share information with friends online.

It works as an instant aggregator of information from other services such as Facebook, Twitter and photo-sharing site Flickr.

Users get a customised feed of updates and contents put on the web from friends.

Announcing the sale to Facebook, Mr Taylor said: "We've always been great admirers of Facebook and our companies share a common vision.

"Now we have the opportunity to bring many of the innovations we've developed at FriendFeed to Facebook's 250 million users."

Chris Cox, vice president of products at Facebook, said that both firms were working to help people better connect with each other.

He said: "I think both companies start with the premise that the most valuable information in the world is the one that comes from the people you care about.

"Building technologies that leverage those relationships everywhere you go is where we're both starting from."