Image via Complex Original
Intro
Facebook, like many other corporations, solves a lot of its problems with its checkbook. If there's a weakness or hole in its operations, it can simply find a company that does that thing well and buy its technology and staff. Simple. Yesterday, it was reported that Facebook purchased a Q&A service called Friend.ly that, like Formspring, lets users post questions. And since whenever a larger company buys a much smaller company, it's usually done with a crystal clear intention in mind, many wondered what Facebook will do with its latest acquisition. We have no clue. But we're sure it'll be put to good use like these nine other companies that Facebook acquired over the years.
Parakey
Parakey
Date acquired: 6/19/2007
Price: N/A
Why it’s important: One of Facebook’s first purchases saw the Palo Alto, Calif. company snatching up a start-up founded by Blake Ross, the kid that spearheaded Mozilla’s Firefox browser. Parakay, according to Ross, was a Web-based operating system that would turn a users system into a server and allow them to update their files even when off-line. It’s easy to see how Facebook could use that expertise when building their own apps, but the real get for Zuckerberg was the tech wunderkind, Ross, who is now the director of product at Facebook.
FriendFeed
FriendFeed
Date Acquired: 8/10/2009
Price: $47.5 million
Why it’s important: Before acquiring FriendFeed, a social network that allowed users to easily share news, images, and updates with friends, Facebook already “borrowed” a number of its features including the “Like” button and its real-time news updates. Seeing the constant news feed as a large part of its future, Facebook decided to buy the company outright, brining with it a bevy of ex-Google employees like Paul Buchheit, the man who created Gmail and coined the “Don’t Be Evil” mantra.
Octazen
Octazen
Date acquired: 2/9/2010
Price: N/A
Why it’s important: Larry Yu, director of corporate communications for Facebook, said in a statement that 30% of users rely on an e-mail service other than Hotmail, Yahoo!, and Gmail to authenticate their accounts and to find friends on the network. Facebook picked up Octazen, a company that focused on contact importing and migration, to bolster its FriendFinder feature so those not using one of the mainstream e-mail services would be able to have the same functionality as those using one of the big three.
Divvyshot
Divvyshot
Date acquired: 3/2/2010
Price: N/A
Why it’s important: Did you know Facebook Photos is the largest photo-sharing service in the world? Well, now you know. In an attempt to make it the best photo-sharing service in the world, Facebook snatched up a small group-sharing photo site that tied photos to places, events, and people—exactly what Facebook Photo aims to do.
ShareGrove
ShareGrove
Date acquired: 5/26/2010
Price: N/A
Why it’s important: ShareGrove billed itself as the service that made social networking personal. That Facebook picked it up right as it was embroiled in of its many privacy disputes was merely a funny coincidence. Many thought the ShareGrove team would help Facebook ramp up its anemic chat client, but it wound up helping the social network create Facebook Groups—those invite-only mini networks that allow people with similar interests to congregate and discuss and share things relating to the subject of the group.
Hot Potato
Hot Potato
Date acquired: 8/10/2010
Price: $10 million
Why it’s important: Facebook Places, though now defunct, was supposed to usurp Foursquare as the number on check-in service. There was only problem: it sucked. To change that, Zuckerberg & Co. scooped up a little New York-based start-up that specialized in helping people “socialize around live events and share what they’re doing with friends.” Even though Facebook conceded defeat, you would be super dense to believe it’s not going to regroup and try its hand at the check-in game once more.
Beluga
Beluga
Date acquired: 3/1/2011
Price: N/A/
Why it’s important: Created by a team of three ex-Google employees, Beluga is a group-messaging client that allows groups of friends to all stay in contact with each other. Rich, simple, and well designed, it gained many fans upon its launch in 2010, some of which worked at Facebook. The company was purchased but, in a rare move for the social network, allowed to remain operational. When the deal closed, Facebook announced that the Beluga team would be working closely with the Messaging and Groups teams. Expect to see major changes to both in the coming months.
Snaptu
Snaptu
Date acquired: 3/20/2011
Price: $65 million
Why it’s important: Until recently, the gulf between Facebook’s website and its mobile offerings was miles wide. The complaints by Android and iPhone users began to ramp up. People wondered why there was no iPad app, why the mobile web app was so slow, and why it was so slow to update. To get ahead of it, Facebook picked up Snaptu, a company that has worked to make the web enjoyable regardless of the mobile phone they’re using. Facebook previously worked with Snaptu to build out some of its mobile offerings, so bringing the company into the fold was a no-brainer. With the mobile web considered the digital next frontier, Snaptu gives Facebook solid footing.
Sofa
Sofa
Date acquired: 6/9/2011
Price: N/A
Why it’s important: It’s simple, really: No matter how good your product is, no one will use it if it’s aesthetically shitty. Facebook understands this. To ensure its products always look as good as they perform it bought the Amsterdam-based company known mainly for its Mac applications for which it designed all the icons, art, and interfaces. Sofa, which says it makes “friendly, useful products”, also touched up interfaces for other companies like, Mozilla, Nike, and Tom Tom.