Google has acquired technology startup SocialDeck, a social games developer that specialises in creating games that users can play together using mobile devices or through Facebook on a computer.
With SocialDeck’s games, such as Shake & Spell, a user can open the game on Facebook and then engage with friends playing the game as a BlackBerry or iPhone application. SocialDeck’s creation also incorporates other social features, such as the ability to see which of your other friends is playing the game, post comments in a stream and view statistics and rankings.
SocialDeck will join Palo Alto-based Ångströ, which announced that it had been acquired by Google on Friday. Ångströ is known for Noteworthy News, a product that delivers news to users about people and companies specific to their professional or social network.
The search giants’s acquisition is the fifth in the past month and has further fueled rumours that Google may be launching a social network to compete with Facebook.
Other recent acquisitions include Jambool, a company that builds social media applications involving virtual goods and currency, as well as Slide, another social applications developer.
Back in February Google invested $100 million into the world’s largest social games maker, Zynga. Google CEO Eric Schmidt has confirmed that a partnership between Google and Zynga will be forthcoming but has still been unwilling to confirm talk about a Facebook competitor.
Social networking has become the foremost means of collecting user data and allowing more targeted online advertising. Google’s previous attempts – Orkut and Buzz – have largely been seen as failures. The company’s recent acquisitions, however, point to Google’s next venture into social media being a big one.
