October 31, 2011 : Comments (4)
Google+ Updates Android App, Adds New Design And Other Features
Business
Social Search Engine Blekko Raises $30M In Funding, Partners With Internet Company Yandex
Social search engine Blekko has received $30 million in a round of funding from European Internet company Yandex, MLC Private Equity and existing investors U.S. Venture Partners, CMEA Capital and PivotNorth Capital. Blekko was founded in 2007 and launched to the public in November of 2010. It offers search results that are curated by users so content is more... Read more » Renren Acquires Video Sharing Service 56.com For $80M
Chinese social networking site Renren has entered an agreement to acquire 56.com, a video-sharing service in China, for $80 million in cash. The acquisition is expected to be complete by the fourth quarter of 2011. Similar to YouTube, 56.com allows users to upload, view and share videos. The service, which was founded in 2005, features performing artists, amateur... Read more » HootSuite Acquires Twitter Trending Topic Dictionary, What The Trend
HootSuite has acquired the Web service “What the Trend” which identifies trending topics on Twitter and explains why they’re trending with crowd-sourced definitions. The company plans to use this tool in their social media management dashboard. What the Trend is a real-time service that can be accessed from the Web or mobile devices. Editors curate... Read more » Tumblr Raises $85 Million In Latest Funding Round
Tumblr has closed an $85 million funding round. The round was led by Greylock Partners and Insight Venture Partners, with participation from the Chernin Group, Richard Branson, Spark Capital, Union Square Ventures and Sequoia Capital. Prior to this round being closed, Tumblr had raised a total of $40 million. According to The New York Times, Tumblr founder David... Read more » Twitter Set To Open International Office In Ireland, Third Non-US Location
Fresh off its recent push to increase awareness of the brand in the U.K., Twitter is opening an international office in Ireland as it aims to boost its presence throughout the rest of Europe. The news was revealed in a tweet by IDA Ireland, which aims to attract foreign investment in the country. The tweet reads, “Ireland is trending. Twitter to establish... Read more » Zynga Quarterly Profits Drop By 91%, Loses 3M Average Daily Users
The chances of Zynga holding its IPO in the near future have dropped considerably after the company released financial results in which its quarterly profits dropped by more than 90 percent. In an amended IPO filing, the social gaming firm revealed that profits in the three months to June 30 had dropped to $1.4 million from $16.8 million in the previous quarter.... Read more » Twitter Acquires Social Search Technology Firm Julpan
Twitter has acquired Julpan, a company that analyzes how people share information and content on the social Web and surfaces relevant and interesting content for its users. Financial terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed. As a result of the acquisition, Ori Allon, founder and CEO of Julpan, has become Twitter's director of engineering. Julpan helped... Read more » Social Network Tagged Acquires Gaming Discovery Service WeGame
Tagged, the social network for meeting new people, has acquired San Francisco-based startup, WeGame. WeGame, which was founded in 2007, is a social gaming discovery service. Users can instantly download hundreds of games, take screenshots and share via Facebook and Twitter. Tagged, which has a number of social games in its roster, has not revealed how they plan... Read more » Lockerz Acquires Vodpod, Will Let You Create Custom Video Channels And Earn PTZ
Social commerce network Lockerz has acquired video curation service Vodpod and related assets from Vodpod's parent company Remixation. Terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed, but the acquisition does not include social video app ShowYou, which was created by Vodpod and will continue to be run by Remixation. Through this deal, Lockerz users will be able... Read more » Twitter Launches Political Ad Program
Twitter has been working hard to expand their advertising options. In April, they lowered the cost of their ad program and started to require a 3 month commitment. Recently, the company added promoted tweets within users’ timelines to put advertisements even more front and center. In their newest option, which will launch this week, the microblogging service will... Read more » 
