Facebook has acquired San Francisco-based startup Divvyshot. This seems to be a part of what can be seen as the social network’s company buying spree which includes the cross-platform service Parakey, the Malaysian online contact importer Octazen and the popular social network feed aggregator FriendFeed earlier this year.
Fresh out of their private beta stage, the YCombinator-funded Divvyshot is a group photo sharing service which allows multiple users to edit uploaded albums which have been organized and tagged based on various events and places. The terms of the acquisition have yet to be disclosed though Divvyshot, on an announcement on their Web site, calls the acquisition “an offer we can’t refuse.”
“We’re thrilled to work with some of the most talented engineers in the world in a dynamic and fun environment.” the announcement stated further. “The choice was easy. Facebook is well known as a company where engineers are given the resources and freedom to build cool stuff and, as a result, the only place where we felt that we would fit in.”
As part of the acquisition, Facebook will be welcoming onboard some of Divvyshot’s employees, including founder Sam Odio. They will be joining the team behind Facebook Photos, strengthening the social network’s already popular photo sharing service which, according to Facebook, sees more than three billion photos uploaded each month.
Like Octazen and Parakey, Divvyshot will immediately begin winding down operations and will eventually bid farewell within six weeks’ time. As of writing, it will no longer accept new subscribers though its existing 40,000 users, on the other hand, can still access their services within the next two weeks. This allows them time to download their photos in their original resolution as a way to easily transition off their service.
“While this means Divvyshot as you know it will cease to exist, it’s important to realize that our unique approach to photos will live on.” the announcement states in closing. “This is an opportunity to touch hundreds of millions of users with the best parts of our product. That’s something we hope you can get behind.”
Tags: community, Facebook, Marketing, Social Media, Strategy
