Facebook announced today that it will acquire FriendFeed for an undisclosed sum. Most are viewing Facebook's move as an attempt to equip itself for a "real-time" Web war against Twitter. All 12 of FriendFeed's employees will join Facebook, with FriendFeed's founders holding senior roles on Facebook's engineering and product teams.
I wouldn't be surprised if you are unfamiliar with FriendFeed, as it never really took off in the mainstream. In short, it is a service designed by former Google employees who were involved with projects including Gmail and Google Maps. The service consolidates updates from the social media in real-time and is considered to be an innovative product.
The crew behind FriendFeed is enthusiastic about teaming up with the minds behind Facebook. FriendFeed will continue to operate normally for now, until a long-term plan is established.
