Google’s crusade into social search appears to have taken another step as it acquires Aardvark for a reported $50 million.
Aardvark was established in 2007 by the Mechanical Zoo based in San Francisco and allowed users to ask questions in which other members would answer. Users could do this through either email or using an instant messenger and users would get a direct answer to their questions from other members who have an interest in the questions category.
On top of this the service allows users to create their own profile as well as browse other questions and answers that have been given over the time.
Google have paid a reported $50 million pound to acquire Aardvark
This acquisition comes only days after Google announced Google Buzz as they begin to step up their intent on establishing themselves as big players in the social networking sphere.
This is a good move from Google as Aardvark is a platform with a lot of market potential and the success of other Q&A sites namely Yahoo Answers is enough evidence on the need for such sites. On top of this Q&A sites have the potential for longevity which other social platforms perhaps do not have.
On a side note Google have already experienced problems with Google Buzz with many complaining abut privacy issues. According to a report on Brand Republic the complaints have arisen due to the way that Google automatically builds social networks on Buzz through the Gmail users email contacts. On top of this many have complained that Google have made it difficult to change privacy settings in regards to the users they are following. Of course these are all teething problems and all the big social networking sites have gone through the same thing so it’s not likely to have that much of an impact on initial usage.
Google have said that over nine million Google Buzz posts and comments have been made and over 200 posts per minute from mobile phones around the world since Tuesday’s introduction.