Search High And Low: Twitter Buys Summize
Founded in 2006, Twitter is a service that allows users to "tweet" messages of 140 characters or less. Tweets can be sent via SMS, mobile Web or on Twitter's own Website. The flexibility of the service has made it popular amongst Web power users who use the service to stay in touch, comment on anything happening on the Web and upload short messages about what they're doing. People who use Twitter can find friends and follow them, meaning anything a friend tweets is added to an individual's stream.
The official Twitter blog confirmed the news earlier this week. "We're excited to announce that Twitter has acquired Summize -- an extraordinary search tool and an amazing group of engineers." That group of engineers consists of five of the six man operation -- Jay Verdy, founder of Summize, is not joining the Twitter team, instead moving on to pursue other opportunities.
As Twitter becomes increasingly popular, the company felt finding an efficient way to search through the enormous number of daily tweets was an important service to offer. The goal of adding Summize to the fold is allow users to track trends easily.
"There is an undeniable need to search, filter, and otherwise interact with the volumes of news and information being transmitted to Twitter every second," states the Twitter blog.
Currently Twitter and the Summize engineers who came over in the acquisition are working together to build an API that users will find easy to use. In the meantime, search.twitter.com allows Twitter users to search the service.
No price tag was announced on the acquisition, but the Silicon Valley Insider believes that the Virginia-based Summize went for something in the $15 million range. It is believed that a mix of cash and Twitter stock was used to complete the transaction.