Google Takes Social Networking Seriously, Acquires Aardvark

Google is taking social networking quite seriously. Within two days of launching Buzz, the company has announced the acquisition of Aardvark for a reported $50 million. Aardvark has defined a new kind of social search: sometimes you want a person, not a web page, to answer your question.
 
Aardvark is social search: ask any question and Aardvark will discover the perfect person in your network to answer in minutes. Aardvark launched a private beta in March, 2009, and has been growing rapidly since.

"Today people use Aardvark via vark.com, the Aardvark iPhone App, IM and email. Over the past few months Aardvark has had amazing reception by the industry and press, appearing in the New York Times, Time’s 50 Best Websites of 2009, TechCrunch, and winning runner-up as the Best New Product or Startup of 2009 at the Crunchies awards," says Aardvard website.
 
This is something Google is interested in -- its dominance in the search market clubbed with 'answers' from people in your own social network. It is a very good combination of search + social networking.
 
This is what Google blog says about the acquisition:
 
When you need an answer to a very specific question, sometimes the information just isn't online in one simple place. For example, let's say you want to know if there's snow on Skyline Boulevard on a given day or the best time of year to plant beans in the Bay Area. You might find weather reports and planting guides on many different sites, but for these kinds of questions, a person with the right expertise can be a lot more useful than a webpage.
 
That's why we're excited to announce that we've acquired Aardvark, a unique technology company that lets you quickly and easily tap into the knowledge and experience of your friends and extended network of contacts. Aardvark analyzes questions to determine what they're about and then matches each question to people with relevant knowledge and interests to give you an answer quickly.
 
We're very impressed with the Aardvark team and the technology they've worked hard to build, and we're looking forward to collaborating to see where we can take it. You can learn more about Aardvark's underlying technology and premise by reading this paper recently co-authored by founder Damon Horowitz.
 
In the meantime, Aardvark is available today in Google Labs, so give it try! Aardvark will remain fully operational and completely free, providing quick, helpful answers to all of your questions.