Google acquires social media firm Fridge

Search giant Google continued to beef up its upcoming social network Google+, acquiring Fridge —a startup that facilitates group social experiences.

In a blog post, Fridge said it was closing shop after being acquired by Google, saying its work of developing the product had been “an amazing ride."

“We strongly believe in the group social experience and couldn’t think of a better place to realize our vision of bringing the nuance and richness of real-life sharing to the web as part of the Google+ Project," it said.

Fridge gave its users until August 20 to download their data.

“While you will no longer be able to post anything new to Fridge, you will still be able to download and save your data until Saturday August 20, 2011 at 6pm ET. After that, in accordance with our privacy policy, we will delete all user data," it said.

Fridge had offered “simple personal networks that anyone can instantly create to share photos, messages and events with specific friends and groups."

Meanwhile, Google also hired the team behind real-time celebrity geo-stalking service JustSpotted and real-time search engine Scoopler for Google+.

Tech site TechCrunch said Google hired the team consisting of AJ Asver, Dilan Jayawardane and Benjamin Tauber, the founders of Scoopler, Inc.

“We’re looking forward to AJ, Ben, and Dilan joining Google and we think they’ll be a great addition to our team," it quoted a Google spokesperson as saying.

Scoopler founders Asver, Jayawardane and Tauber said on the JustSpotted website they were shutting down after three years, but only mentioned they are moving on to "new opportunities" (http://www.justspotted.com/).

"We are really proud of what we have achieved so far, but now our team is moving on to tackle new challenges, while still following our passion to organize real-time social information on the web," they said. — TJD, GMA News