Google Buys Social Media Service Jaiku
Jaiku, the social media company based out of Finland, announced today on their website that Google is acquiring the small startup. Jaiku, which has been competing for the past few months with Twitter and Pownce for global attention, is not commenting on the terms of the deal or specific plans. Jaiku posted a vague and bland Q&A about the purchase on their website. I was one of Jaiku’s first beta users and have wrote about them on numerous occasions. I am a little stunned by the purchase since I was never floored by Jaiku’s features or technology. In fact I was hoping that Google would have bought Twitter since I have been a huge fan (and user) for some time. But, hey my stock isn’t in the hundreds so I will trust Google knows what they are doing. ***10.10.2007 update*** Got an email from Jaiku this morning announcing the deal: Wonderful Jaiku users, Exciting news, Jaiku is joining Google! While its too soon to comment on specific plans, we look forward to working with our new friends at Google over the coming months to expand in ways we hope you’ll find interesting and useful. Our engineers are excited to be working together and enthusiastic developers lead to great innovation. We look forward to accomplishing great things together. In order to focus on innovation instead of scaling, we have decided to close new user sign-ups for now. But fear not! All our Jaiku services will stay running the way you are used to and you will continue to be able to invite your friends to Jaiku. We have put together a quick Q&A about the acquisition at http://jaiku.com/help/google Jyri Engestrom and Petteri Koponen, Jaiku Founders
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