San Francisco-based news discovery software developer Newsle has raised $1.65M in a funding round. The funding came from Advance Publications Inc., Maveron, DFJ,Transmedia Capital, Launny Steffens, and pRockwell Schnabel. Whitney Shaw, pres...

Salesforce.com is sharpening its software development efforts with a new team from social bookmarking startup Clipboard. Clipboard and Salesforce.com announced the acquisition Thursday, in a deal which has pegged at between $10M and $20M. A...

San Francisco-based About.me, an online service which lets users create their own, one-page profile about themselves on the Internet, said Tuesday that it has acquired Wefollow, an online directory of people other users can follow from thei...

San Francisco-based The Hunt, an online, visual, social site focused on finding products, said today that it has scored a second close of seed financing from a suite of Hollywood insiders. The company said the new investment came from Ashto...

Palo Alto-based Sharethis announced today that it has raised $23M in a Series C funding round, and acquired Socialize, a developer of social application software. The new funding came from T-Venture, the venture arm of Deutsche Telekom, and...

San Francisco-based Discoverly, a stealth mode developer of enterprise social networking and data tools, said this week that it has raised $750,000 in a seed funding round. The funding came from Salesforce.com, Bessemer Venture partners, At...

Rabbit, a startup developing video chat applications which lets users watch movies and TV together, share music, and more, said this week that it has raised $3.3M in a funding round. The funding game from Google Ventures, CrunchFund, and ot...

San Francisco-based Playnomics, which develops predictive analytics software for mobile, social, and browser-based games, said last week that it raised $5M in a Series B funding round. The funding was led by VanEdge Capital, and also includ...

San Francisco-based Storenvy, which operates an online social marketplace focused on photos of products from merchants, said this week that it has raised $5M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Intel Capital and Spark Capital,...

San Francisco-based neighborhood social networking site Nextdoor said this morning that it has raised $21.6M in a funding round. The round was led by Greylock Partners, and also included Benchmark Capital, Shasta Ventures, DAG Ventures, All...

Mountain View-based Twitter said Tuesday that it has acquired Bluefin Labs, a developer of social television analytics tools. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed, however, the NY Times reports the price is around $100M. Bluefin La...

San Francisco-based Livefyre, which develops social commenting and real-time chat applications, said today that it has raised $15M in a Series C funding round. The round was led by US Venture Partners, and also included Greycroft Partners, ...

San Francisco-based Extole, a provider of social media and marketing services and software, said today that it has raised an additional $7.6M in a funding round. The round came from current investors Shasta Ventures, Norwest Venture Partne...

San Francisco-based Snip.it, the developer of a social tool for sharing web pages, news, and other information with others, has been acquired by Yahoo. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Snip.it said it would be shutting...

San Francisco-based Optimal announced this morning that it has raised $7M in a Series B funding round. The round came from DoubleRock, The Social Internet Fund, Siemer Ventures, Signal Ventures, John Pappajohn, Warren Adelman (former CEO of...

Palo Alto-based Fanplayr, a developer of software to which helps analyze site and visitor traffic to optimize purchase incentive timing, said today that it has raised $2M in a seed investment round. The round was led by Denali Venture Partn...

San Francisco-based HeyZap has raised $4.3M in a funding round, according to a regulatory filing. The funding came from new investor Qualcomm, along with existing investor Union Square Ventures. HeyZap develops mobile, social gaming apps wh...

Palo Alto-based Mine, a newly launched developer of applications for helping users discover new products and stores, said today that it has raised $600,000 in a seed funding round, and launched its iPhone app. The funding round came from Mi...

TrueLens, a developer of social data and marketing analysis tools, said monday that it has raised $1.2M in a funding round. The funding round was led by Google Ventures, and also included Charles River Ventures, Common Angels, 500 Startups ...

San Francisco-based Socialbakers, a developer of social media analytics software and services, said today that it has raised $6M in a funding round. The round was led by Index Ventures, and also included Earlybird Venture Capital. Socialbak...

San Franscisco-based SocialWire has raised $2M in a seed funding, for its products which help companies engage users on Facebook. The seed funding came from First Round Capital, Dave McClure, Joi Ito, Ariel Poler and Brian Sugar, according ...

San Francisco-based DataSift, a developer of software which helps users join social data with private, internal information about customers, has raised $15M in a Series B round. The firm said the round was led by Scale Venture Partners, and...

Roseville-based Revionics, a provider of merchandise optimization software for e-retailers, said today that it has acquired the assets of SkuLoop, a provider of social commerce and promotions software owned by GIIV, Inc. Financial terms of ...

San Mateo-based Actuate said Tuesday that it has acquired Quinterian S.L., a provider of data mining, social media analytics, and predictive analytics software. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Actuate said that Quiterian's...

San Francisco-based Inigral, a developer of a Facebook app which helps universities better predict the interest of prospective freshmen in their schools, said Thursday that it has raised an additional $3.25M in funding. THe funding came f...

Emeryville-based Lithium, which develops a range of social software, has acquired Social Dynamx, a developer of software for managing customer care and interaction online. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Social Dynamx was bas...

Menlo Park-based GraphDive, which develops software which integrates data from Facebook, Google+, and Twitter to provide in-depth demographic information to websites, has raised $1M in funding. The round came from Correlation Ventures and C...

San Francisco-based Autodesk said this morning that it has acquired the Qontext enterprise social collaboration software from Pramati Technologies. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Autodesk said it has acquired Qontext's techn...

San Mateo-based Jelli said today that it has raised $9M in a new funding. The round was led by new investors Intel Capital and Relay Ventures, and also included prior investors First Round Capital and angel Roger Ames (EMI Music). Jelli ope...

San Francisco-based social software developer Spigit said this morning that it has acquired Crowdcast, a fellow San Francisco develops of social business software. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced by the companies. Crow...

San Bruno-based real estate marketing tools developer Proxio announced this morning that it has acquired SocialKandy, a developer of real estate applications for Facebook. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Proxio said that Soci...

San Francisco-based Social Finance, which operates a student lending program which ties school alumni with new students, said last night that it has raised $77.2M in a Series B funding. The funding was led by Baseline Ventures, and also inc...

San Francisco-based Spreecast, which operates an online service which allows users to broadcast live video and interact with others, said Friday morning that it has raised $7M in a Series A funding round. The round came from Meakem Becker V...

eBay said Thursday that it has acquired Svpply, an online social curation and e-commerce focused visual shopping site based in New York. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Svpply lets users bookmark and curate lists of their fa...

Social media management software firm HootSuite is acquiring San Francisco competitor Seesmic, the two companies announced today, and plans to transition Seesmic's business users to HootSuite's social media management tools. Financial terms...

San Mateo-based Doximity, developer of a mobile app driven, social networking platform for doctors, has raised $17M in funding. The funding was led by Morgenthaler Ventures. The new funding brings its total raised to $27.8M. Doximity is led...

Mountain View-based Facebook has acquired Threadsy, the firm behind the Facebook analysis service Swaylo, Threadsy said over the weekend. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Threadsy said that SwayloPro, the premium versi...

San Francisco-based social networking site operator Tagged said today that it has raised $15M in a funding round, a growth round form Lighthouse Capital partners and Comerica Bank. Tagged said the funding will go to fund growth, and specifi...

Intel Capital, the investment arm of semiconductor giant Intel, has backed Elike, the developer of social commerce software in Brazil. Size of the funding was not disclosed. Elike's Facebook app, My Shopping, provides "virtual stores" for ...

San Francisco-based SocialPandas, which develops software to help convert relationships on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter into sales leads, has raised $1.5M in a seed funding round. The round was led by True Ventures, as ...

San Francisco-based MyHealthTeams, which develops online, social networks specifically geared towards patients with individual, chronic health conditions, said today that it has raised $1.75M in a seed funding round. The round was led by Ad...

Sana Francisco-based Zoosk, the online dating and social networking site, said Wednesday that it has added Jeff Epstein to the company's board of directors. Epstein is currently executive-in-residence at Bessemer Venture Partners, and is a ...

San Francisco-based Jobscience, a developer of talent management and staffing software, said today that it has acquired Atomkeep, a developer of software which helps users synchronize their profiles across different social networks. Financi...

Redwood City-based Wildfire, a developer of social media marketing software, has been acquired by Google. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Wildfire--which says it now has almost 400 employees--said it will continue to help bra...

San Mateo-based Pinfluencer, a developer of analytics software which analyzes the traffic from Pinterest social network, has raised $1.4M in a seed funding. The round was led by Freestyle Capital and Baseline Ventures, and also included ang...

San Francisco-basedNetpulse, a developer of entertainment systems which connect into exercise treadmills, said today that it has raised $15.6M in a Series C funding round. The round was led by August Capital, and also included Javelin Ventu...

Redwood City-based Booshaka, which operates an online service which helps businesses identify their most active social media fans, has raised $1M in a funding round, the company disclosed today. The firm said its Series A funding came from ...

San Francisco-based Nextdoor. which operates an online social networking site which connects you with your neighbors, has raised $18.6M in a funding round. The round came from Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures, Greylock Partners, Shasta Ventu...

San Francisco-based Jetpac, the developer of an iPad app which lets you browse and comment on your friends' travel pictures, has a raised $2.4M in a funding round. The Series A funding came from Khosla Ventures, Morado Venture Partners, Jer...

San Francisco-based Involver, a developer of social marketing software, has been acquired by Oracle, the two companies said this morning. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Involver was venture backed by Bessemer Venture...

Rally.org, the San Francisco developer of a social fundraising service, said today that it has raised $7.9M in a Series A venture capital round. The round came from Relay Ventures, Mike Maples of Floodgate Fund, Reid Hoffman of Greylock Par...

Palo Alto-based Swipp, a stealth mode firm which says it wants to challenge the "social media status quo", said it has raised $3.5M in an institutional round. Funding came from Old Willow Partners. The firm, headed by Don Thorson, says it i...

Mountain View-based social networking site Facebook said today that it has acquired San Francisco-based Face.com, a developer of facial recognition software. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Face.com said the company's team wo...

San Francisco-based Gigya said yesterday that it has raised $15.3M in a funding round. The round came from Advance Publications, Mayfield Fund, Benchmark Capital, DAG Ventures and Adobe. Gigya develops social software aimed at businesses, u...

San Mateo-based schoolFeed, a startup developing Facebook applications to help people connect with their high school class, has been acquired by United Online. Financial terms of the deal were not announced by the companies. schoolFeed--whi...

Redwood Shores-based Oracle is continuing to sharpen its social media and marketing offerings, saying Tuesday morning that it has acquired Collective Intellect, a developer of cloud-based, social intelligence software which helps companies ...

San Francisco-based Zynga has acquired game development firm Buzz Monkey, according to reports today. Financial details of the buy have not been announced. Buzz Monkey was based in Eugene, Oregon. Buzz Monkey apparently employs over 50 deve...

San Francisco-based Salesforce.com said this morning that it has acquired Buddy Media, a provider of social media marketing software, in a deal worth $689M. Salesforce said the deal was a combination of cash and equity, split beteen $467M i...

One of the companies to come out of the Ycombinator venture accelerator, Grubwithus, has scored more funding, the firm said yesterday. Grubwithus said it has raised $5M in a Series A funding round, out of GRP Partners and entrepreneur Miche...

Redwood Shores-based database giant Oracle announced this morning that it has acquired Atlanta-based Vitrue, which develops social marketing software. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Vitrue's software helps marketers runs cam...

CrunchFund, the venture capital fund run by former TechCrunch founder Michael Arrington, has acquired a stake in New York microblogging site Tumblr. Size of the stake, which apparently was acquired from early stage investors, was not disclo...

Despite a long awaited IPO, the initial public offering of Facebook stalled out Friday, as the firm close up only slightly above its IPO price of $38.00, at $38.23. Facebook traded up slightly for part of the day, as high as $45.00 per shar...

On a busy day over at Facebook, the now-public social networking site has acquired Karma, a developer of mobile, social gifting applications which are integrated with Facebook. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Karma said that...

Mountain View-based Facebook has priced its IPO at $38.00, at the high end of its already increase offering range, which was between $34.00 and $38.00 per share. The IPO--which will be the largest IPO of a technology company, ever--will sta...

Under what looks to be a severe oversubscription to Facebook's upcoming IPO, the company filed a new S-1 this morning, saying that it will now offer up 421,233,615 shares of its stock in its IPO offering, expected to price Thursday evening ...

As the frenzy towards the IPO of Facebook builds, the social networking site said in a filing that it has raised its initial public offering price to between $34.00 and $38.00 per share. The pricing range is up significantly from its initia...

DataSift, a developer of social data analytics software, has raised $7.2M in a Series A follow on investment, the firm said today. The round came from GRP Ventures and IA Ventures. As part of the funding, the UK-based company said it has se...

Sunnyvale-based software developer Moxie Software has spun out, and funded, a new startup, according to Bellevue, Washington-based ReadyPulse. ReadyPulse said earlier this week that it has raised an initial round of funding for the firm fro...

San Mateo-based Marketo, a developer of marketing automation tools, said this morning that it has acquired Crowd Factory, a developer of social marketing campaign management software. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced....

San Francisco-based Alt12 Apps, a developer of social health applications, said today that it has raised $1.26M in a seed funding round, and launched a new social network for parents called Kidfolio. Alt12 said the funding came from Felicis...

San Francisco-based Facebook dating service theComplete.me said yesterday that it has raised $1.2M in a seed funding round. The round came from Intel Capital, PlentyOfFish, CrunchFund, as well as angel investors Russ Siegelman, Ben T. Smit...

San Francisco-based Path, the developer of mobile social networking software, has raised somewhere north of $30M in a funding round, led by Redpoint Ventures, the firm said Monday. The round also included Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins ...

Viadeo, a European startup with U.S. headquarters in San Francisco, said today that it has raised $32M in a funding round for its professional networking service. The round came from French Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Fonds Strategique d'Inv...

Mountain View-based Facebook said today that it has agreed to acquire Instagram, in a deal worth $1 billion in cash and stock. Facebok's Mark Suckerberg said that Instagram's team will be joining the social networking site, but will continu...

Mountain View-based mobile social networking software developer Loopt has officially been swallowed by prepaid debit card provider Greent Dot, after the official close of the $43M acquisition of Loopt. According to Green Doot, Loopt will re...

San Francisco-based Skout, the developer of location-based networking apps which center around flirting with others, has raised $22M in a funding round, the firm said this morning. The funding came from Andreessen Horowitz. The firm said th...

San Bruno-based SocialShield, a developer of a service which helped parents monitor the social networking activity of their children, has been acquired by Avira. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Avira said it will add SocialSh...

Google Ventures is one of the backers of a mobile, social networking app developer, Kibits, Kibits said today. Kibits said it launched its micro-social networking app for the iPhone and iPod touch today, and has raised $1M from Google Ventu...

Redwood City-based games developer Kabam said this morning that it has acquired social games maker Gravity Bear. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Gravity Bear develops 3D games, including Battle Punks, a role playing combat g...

Palo Alto-based GraphScience, a startup led by Raymound Rouf, has raised $2M in its Series A round, the firm said today. The firm uses social data to help marketers generate revenue and optimize their Facebook marketing efforts. The funding...

Palo Alto-based Machine Zone, a developer of mobile and social games, said yesterday that it has raised $8M, from Menlo Ventures. The startup--formerly known as Addmired--said that Shervin Pishevar of Menlo Ventures has joined the company's...

A number of executives from San Francisco-based cloud hosting firm Joyent have backed a startup developing social games for Facebook. According to Mob Science, the social gaming firm behind inFamous Anarchy, Coffee Bar, Snowball Fight, and...

Pleasanton-based Spigit, a developer of enterprise collaboration tools which use game mechanics and social algorithms, said today that it has raised $15.2M in a Series E funding round. The round came from private equity firm Warburg Pincus....

San Francisco-based social gaming firm Zynga has acquired OMGPOP, the developer of the popular mobile game Draw Something, in a deal worth $200M, according to multiple reports Wednesday morning. OMGPOP is based in New York, had raised aroun...

Defunct unified social networking and email service Threadsy has found a buyer, in the form of unified relationship management service MyLife. MyLife said today that it has acquired the technology of Threadsy, but did not disclose financial...

San Francisco-based 500Friends, a startup developing social loyalty programs for e-commerce retailers, has raised $4.5M in a Series A funding round. The round came from Crosslink Capital, Intel Capital, along with angels. 500 Friends is a Y...

Palo Alto-based Jiff, which is developing a social networking and digital health product, said this morning that it has raised $7.5M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Aeris Capital, and also included Aberdare Ventures. As pa...

Menlo Park-based Badgeville, the developer of web site gamification software, is expanding into the mobile market, saying yesterday that it has launched a Software Development Kit (SDK) for both iOS and Android devices. The firm--which help...

Oakland-based Self Aware Games, the developer of the mobile game titles Fleck, Card Ace: Casino, and Taxiball, has been acquired by Big Fish Games. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Big Fish acquired by Self Aware and parent fi...

Wayin, an online social polling and entertainment site which was founded by Sun Microsystems' Scott McNealty, said today that it has raised $14M in a Series B funding. The new round came from U.S. Venture Partners, along with TIBCO Software...

Pleasanton-based Milyoni, a developer of social entertainment and games for Facebook, has raised $11M in a Series B funding. The funding was led by Oak Investment Partners, and also included ATA Ventures and Thomvest Ventures. According to ...

San Francisco-based Rapportive, which develops a Gmail plug-in for displaying social networking information about your contacts in your email, has confirmed its acquisition by LinkedIn. Financial details of the acquisition were not announce...

San Francisco-based Sugar, Inc., the online publisher of women's websites and blogs which is backed by Sequoia Capital and Institutional Venture Partners, said Tuesday that it has acquired fellow San Francisco firm Circle Of Moms. Circle of...

Intel Capital, the venture capital arm of semiconductor giant Intel, said last week that it has invested in two, Brazilian companies, Fashion.me and Coquelux. Financial terms of the investment were not disclosed. Fashion.me is a provider o...

San Jose-based Compass Labs, a developer of software for managing social media advertising, said this week that it has raised $6M in a funding round. The round came from New Enterprise Associate sand Presidio Ventures. Compass Labs is led b...

San Mateo-based SchoolFeed, a new startup looking to connect people with their high school classmates via Facebook, said today that it has raised $1.75M in a seed investment round. The round was led by First Round Capital, and also included...

San Francisco-based Extole, a develoepr of social marketing programs and technology, announced today that it has raised $10M in a Series C round. The round was led by Shasta Ventures, and also included Norwest Venture Partners, Redpoint Ven...

San Francisco-based TastemakerX, a developer of social games, said this morning that it has raised $1.8M in funding. The round came from Guggenheim Partners, Baseline Ventures, True Ventures, AOL Ventures, and Tekton Ventures, along with an...

San Francisco-based Rapportive, the developer of a Gmail plug-in for pulling in social networking information alongside your email, has reportedly been acquired by LinkedIn. Financial terms of the deal have not been announced, and the deal ...

San Francisco-based Klout, which measured "social influence" of people on the web, said today that it has acquired Blockboard, a developer of local community software. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Blockboard provides a way...

Menlo Park-based Facebook has filed for its IPO, saying Wednesday afternoon that it is looking to raise up to $5 billion trading as FB. The IPO is being underwritten by Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan, Goldman Sachs & Co., BofA Merrill Lynch, B...

San Francisco-based UrbanSitter, which operates an online service to help connect parents to babysitters via people they know on Facebook, has raised $1.75M in funding, the firm confirmed today. The round was led by First Round Capital, and...

San Francisco-based UrbanSitter, an online service which uses Facebook to connect parents with babysitters, has raised $1.75M in a funding round, according to a regulatory filing from the firm this week. The filing indicates thirteen invest...

Mountain View-based Facebook is getting set to file for its IPO, according to reports, in what could be one of the biggest IPOs this year. No details of the IPO have been filed yet, but the WSJ reports Morgan Stanley is the lead underwriter...

Mountain View-based Google has updated its Google Earth product, pulling the mapping program into the age of Google+. According to Google, the latest release of the software, Google Earth 6.2, allows users to share images from within Google...

San Francisco-based Tynt Multimedia, a developer of software used to analyze the social habits of web visitors, has been acuqired by 33Across. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. 33Across said that it has acquired all of ...

Moutain View-based Polyvore, an online, social shopping and fashion website, has raised $14M in a new funding round, the firm said Tuesday. The Series C funding was led by DAG Ventures, and also included Goldman Sachs, Vivi Nevo, Benchmark ...

San Francisco-based Mertado, which operates a social shopping service on Facebook, has been acquired by Groupon. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Mertado was venture backed by Rustic Canyon Partners, Redpoint Ventures,...

San Francisco-based 6waves Lolapps, a social games developer, said today that it has acquired Escalation Studios, a Dallas-based mobile game developer. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. 6waves said the buy brings its ov...

In a further push to integrate its new social service, Google+, into user's lives, Google said Tuesday morning that it is "transforming" the search engine into one highly influenced by your friends on Google+. Among the updates, Google said...

Palo Alto-based Piazza, an online social networking site aimed at professors and students, said today that it has raised $6M in a funding round. The round was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, and also included Kapor Capital and Felicis Ven...

Emeryville-based Lithium Technologies, which develops social marketing software for brands and businesses, announced today that it has raised $53.4M in a Series D round of funding. The round was led by New Enterprise Assocaites, and also in...

San Francisco-based Spreecast said this morning that it has raised $4M for its social video platform, from angels Frank Biondi (Viacom), Gordon Crawford (The Capital Research Group) and Edward Scott, Jr. (BEA Systems). Spreecast provides an...

San Francisco-based Keas, a startup developer of a social game aimed at employee wellness, announced this morning that it has raised $6.5M in a Series B funding. The firm, which was co-founded by Adam Bosworth, ex chief of Google Health alo...

San Francisco-based Leverage Software, a developer of enterprise social networking software, has been acquired by Telligent, a developer of enterprise social community software. Financia terms of the acuqisition were not disclosed. Leverage...

San Francisco-based social networking site Hi5 has been acquired by fellow San Francisco social networking site Tagged, the firms said today. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. The acquisition is the second for Tagged this month...

Palo Alto-based Jive Software, the maker of social networking software for businesses, surged in its IPO Tuesday morning, trading as high as $16.50 in morning trading. The firm raised $161M in its offering. Jive priced at $12.00 a share las...

Palo Alto-based Jive Software, which develops social networking software for business, has priced its IPO at $12.00 per share, above its initial, $8 to $10 per share range. Jive Software will start trading Tuesday on the NASDAQ Global Marke...

San Francisco-based Tagged, which operates an online social networking site focused on meeting new people, said today that it has acquired Topicmarks. Topicmarks operated a site which summarized news articles, documents, and more to make th...

Sunnyvale-based Affinity Circles, which operates an online private social networking stie for alumni and student groups, professional trade associations and sports teams, has been acquired by Climber.com. Financial terms of the buy were not...

More details of the acquisition by Facebook of location-based check-in service Gowalla emerged Monday, as both Facebook and Gowalla detailed the acquisition terms. Financial details of the deal were not released, however, Gowalla will be sh...

Facebook has acquired check-in and location guide firm Gowalla, according to a report this evening from CNNMoney. The report said that a source close to Gowalla disclosed the deal. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. Go...

san Francisco-based Miso, a developer of social apps for television watchers, announced this week that it has scored a new funding, from Khosla Ventures, Google Ventures, and Hearst Interactive Media, worth $4M. The new funding brings the c...

Redwood City-based Electronic Arts said today that it has acquired KlickNation, a developer of free-to-play, social role playing games. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. KlickNation becomes part of BioWare Sacramento, h...

Palo Alto-based Jive Software, the developer of social networking software for businesses, has set its IPO range, saying in a filing this morning that it expects to debut its IPO at between $8.00 and $10.00 per share. The firm is planning t...

San Francisco-based Rocket Ninja said Tuesday that it has raised $7.5M in a Series B funding round. The developer of social gaming titles said the funding was led by Marcel Boekhoorn, a European private investor. Rocket Ninja is headed by O...

San Francisco-based Salesforce.com said Monday afternoon that it has acquired Model Metrics, a provider of mobile and social cloud consulting. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Salesforce.com said that the buy will accelerate i...

Santa Clara-based Salorix, a developer of social media marketing and analytics software, said today that it has raised $3.5M in a Series A funding. The round was co-led by Inventus Capital Partners and Nexus Venture Partners. Salorix is led...

Katango, a developer of social networking software backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has been acquired by Google, the firm announced Thursday. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Katango--whose software auto-sorted user...

San Francisco-based Kontagent, the developer of user analytics software used to understand the social web, said Thursday that it has raised $12M in a Series B financing round. The round was led by Battery Ventures, and also included Maveric...

San Francisco-based Mingly, a new startup which developers software which connects Gmail with social networks, has raised $500,000 in a seed funding round, the firm said today. The company, headed by Tyler Koblasa, said the funding came fro...

San Francisco-based Schematic Labs, the developer of the iPhone mobile music app SoundTracking, announced Tuesday afternoon that it has raised $4.75M in a financing round. The round was led by Accel Partners, and also included True Ventures...

Palo Alto-based Gogobot, an online, social travel site, has raised another $15M in a Series B funding round, the company said Thursday. The round came from Redpoint Ventures, and also included Battery Ventures and CrunchFund. As part of the...

6wave Lolapps, the developer of social and mobile games, said last week that it has acquired Smartron5, a Beijing, China-based social gaming firm. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Smartron5, was backed by private equity group ...

San Francisco-based Sociable Labs, a developer of A/B testing and web optimization products aimed at social referrals and e-commerce, said today that it has raised $7M in a Series B funding round. The round came from Battery Ventures, Javel...

Palo Alto-based Subtext, a developer of online book applications for the iPad, said today that it has launched its first product, and also disclosed $3M in funding. The funding came from Google Ventures, Mayfield Fund, New Enterprise Associ...

San Francisco-based Livefyre, a developer of social commenting software for bloggers and publishers, announced today that it has raised $4.5M in a Series B round. The round was led by Greycroft Partners, and also included Cue Ball, HillsVen...

San Francisco-based Grockit, which operates online social learning and education tools for the test preparation market, said this morning that it has raised $7M in a Series D venture round. The round was led by Atlas Venture, and also inclu...

In a continued consolidation of the multitude of projects at Google, the search engine giant said Friday that it is shutting down a number of services, including Google Buzz, Code Search, Jaiku, and its entire Google Labs site. Google said ...

San Francisco-based Zynga, the social games maker, updated its S-1 Thursday, saying that it has selected the NASDAQ Global Market as the exchange for its IPO. Zynga said it has applied to list on the exchange as ZNGA. Among other details re...

Mountain View-based Friend.ly, a developer of question and answer tools for social networking sites, has been acquired by Facebook, friend.ly said this morning. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Friend.ly said its team will joi...

San Mateo-based social shopping site Kaboodle said Friday that it has merged with StyleSpot, an online fashion publisher and shopping site. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Kaboodle, which is a subsidiary of Hearst Corporatio...

Twitter, the micr-messaging site, has acquired a developer of social search activity, Julpan, Julpan announced today. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. According to Julpan, Twitter is acquiring the firm to integrate its...

San Francisco-based Tagged, a social networking site focused on meeting new friends, said Wednesday that it has acquired WeGame, an online site focused on letting users play games via its own gaming client. Financial terms of the buy were n...

Mountain View-based Google told its publishers today that it will begin showing its +1 button and personal recommendations to its display ads, extending the reach of its new Google+ social networking features via its advertising network. Go...

Glam Media, the online content network focused on women, said Tuesday evening that it is acquiring Ning, the online social networking firm. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Ning was founded in 2004. Glam said that Ning has mor...

Redwood City-based Mertado said Wednesday that it has raised $2.3M in a funding round. The firm develops social shopping services around home and kitchen products. The round included new investor Rustic Canyon, and also included prior inves...

San Francisco-based Blumberg Capital has led an investment in an Israeli social marketing startup, Fanzila. According to Fanzila, it raised $1M in a Series A round led by Blumberg Capital, which also included Dr. Yossi Vardi, Shlomo Nechama...

San Francisco-based OneTrueFan, a developer of a web-based community and check-in rewards system and widgets, has been acquired by BigDoor, a Seattle-based developer of gamification software. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. O...

San Carlos-based Hive Media, a developer of social games geared around movies, television, and brands, has raised $1.5M in a funding round, according to angel group the Keiretsu Forum. The funding round also included The Angels' Forum, Band...

San Francisco-based RootMusic, the developer of social music app BandPage for Facebook, said Wednesday that it has raised $16M in a Series B round of funding. According to the company, the round was led by GGV Capital, and also included Nor...

Tinypay, the operator of an e-commerce software tool for helping users sell their stuff through Twitter or Facebook, said today that it has raised $1M, and is moving its headquarters to San Francisco. The company--which was previously based...

Palo Alto-based Jive Software, the developer of enterprise social networking software, has filed for an IPO, saying Wednesday that it is looking to raise up to $100M on the public markets. The firm says it hopes to trade as JIVE, but has no...

Palo Alto-based Jive Software, which makes enterprise social networking tools, has hired on Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and UBS in preparation for an IPO, according to Bloomberg. The report cited anonymous sources close to the...

San Jose-based Upmo, which develops a career-focused, social networking application for the enterprise, said this week that it has raised $1.7M in a secured bridge funding round. The round included Brian NeSmith, former President and CEO of...

San Francisco-based Bagcheck, an online social shopping and sharing service headed by Sam Pullara, has been acquired by Twitter. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. According to Bagcheck, Pullara joins the Twitter enginee...

San Francisco-based ngmoco has inked a deal with AT&T, where ngmoco will power an AT&T's Android game portal, the firms said yesterday. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The two said that ngmoco--now owned by Japanese game developer DeN...

San Mateo-based myRete, the developer of the mobile social networking app, WhosHere, said Wednesday that it has raised a first round of funding from Lightbank, the venture capital investment fund of Groupon co-founder Eric Lefkofsky and Bra...

San Francisco-based The Meltwater Group, a developer of social media monitoring tools and services, said today that it has acquired IceRocket, a developer of blog and social media search tools. Financial details of the buy were not announce...

San Francisco-based Get Satisfaction, which develops online software to help companies power online customer support and online communities, said today that it has raised $10M in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Interwest Part...

Palo Alto-based Airy Labs, a developer of social learning games for young children, said today that it has raised $1.5M in a seed funding round. The round was led by Foundation Capital and also included Google Ventures and PLaydom co-founde...

San Francisco-based Hearsay Social, a developer of tools to help market and monitor social networks, said today that it has raised $18M in a new funding round. The round came from New Enterprise Associates and Sequoia Capital. As part of th...

Google has acquired startup Fridge, which was working on group collaboration and sharing tools, according to Fridge today. Financial details of the buy were not disclosed. Fridge said it will become part of the Google+ team, and will be clo...

SupersonicAds, which operates an in-game, advertising network, said today that it has raised $4.2M in a first institutional funding. The firm, which has operations in San Francisco, said the round was led by Greylock Israel. The firm's adve...

San Rafael-based Autodesk, the developer of 3D cad software, said today that it has acquired Pixlr, an online, social site focused on creating, collecting, editing, and sharing images. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. ...

Campbell-based Move, the parent firm of Realtor.com and other real estate websites, said today that it has acuqired SocialBios, the developer of online business referral and social search software. Financial details of thea cquisition were ...

Menlo Park-based Badgeville, the online gamification and social loyalty software provider, has scored $12M in a Series B funding. The new funding was led by Norwest Venture Partners and El Dorado Ventures, and also included Trinity Ventures...

San Francisco-based AddToAny, a developer of widgets for Wordpress and Drupal for social sharing, has been acquired by Seattle-based Lockerz. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. AddToAny was founded by Pat Diven II....

San Francisco-based Zynga has filed for an IPO, saying in a filing with the SEC Friday that it is looking to raise up to $1 billion on the public markets. The firm's IPO is being underwritten by Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs & Co., BofA Mer...

Mountain View-based RockMelt, a developer of a social, web browsing application, said Tuesday that it has raised $30M in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Accel Partners, and also included Khosla Ventures and Andreessen Horowit...

Palo Alto-based Facebook said Thursday that it has named Reed Hastings, the Chairman and CEo of Netflix, to its board of directors. Hastings also sits on the board of Microsoft. Facebook's board also includes Marc Andreessen, Jim Breyer of ...

Danville-based EverLoop, a developer of a social networking service specifically aimed at children 8-13 years old, has raised $3.1M in funding. The funding came from the Band of Angels, VFormation, Envoi Ventures, as well as a number of ang...

San Jose-based Bunchball, the provider of online gamification software headed by Jim Scullion, said today that it has raised $6.5M in additional financing. The round was led by Triangle Peak Partners, and also included Northport Investments...

San Francisco-based Scoreloop, a developer of mobile, social gaming developer tools, has been acquired by Research In Motion, RIM said today. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. According to Scoreloop, the company will be...

Mountain View-based Google has acquired PostRank, a developer of real-time analytics software which uses social web engagement and advertising. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. PostRank announced the deal on its homepage on F...

Redwood City-based RockYou said Wednesday that it has acquired an Australian game development studio, 3 Blokes. Financial details of the acquisition were not announced. 3 Blokes develops Facebok games, including Galactic Trader, a space tra...

San Francisco-based Socialcast, a developer of enterprise social networking tools, has been acquired by VMware, the firms said Tuesday. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Socialcast was venture backed by Baseline Venture...

Redwood City-based Kabam, a developer of massively multiplayer social games, said today that it has raised $85M in a Series D funding round. The round was co-led by Google Ventures and Pinnacle Ventures, and also included Performance Equity...

Palo Alto-based Jive Software, the developer of social networking applications for the enterprise, said today that it has acquired OffiSync, which develops connectors for Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Office and Microsoft SharePoint. Financi...

Social games maker Zynga and animation studio DreamWorks Animation SKG said this morning that the two have inked a promotion deal, which will promote the upcoming Kung Fu Panda 2 film in Zynga's CityVille. Financial details of the deal were...

Mountain View-based LinkedIn more than doubled its initial offering price, closing its first day in trading at $94.25. The firm, which debuted Thursday morning at $45.00 per share, had traded as high as $122.70 in extremly high demand for ...

Mountain View-based business social networking site LinkedIn surged to twice its IPO opening price in trading Thursday, trading as high as $92.99 in morning trading. The firm opened at $45.00 in its long anticipated IPO. LinkedIn is venture...

Burlingame-based Jobvite, which develops online, social recruiting software, said Tuesday that it has raised $15M in a Series C funding round. The round was led by trident Capital, and also included CMEA Capital and ATA Ventures. Jobvite de...

Mountain View-based LinkedIn has bumped its IPO pricing today, according to a regulatory filing, as it preps for its IPO Thursday. The firm said it will be offering up 7,840,000 shares of its common stock, at between $42.00 and $45.00 per s...

Mountain View-based Sococo, a developer of "social communications" software for companies, said today that it has raised $4M in a new investment round. Source of the new funding was not disclosed. The firm said the funding brings its total ...

San Francisco-based LinkedIn is expected to hit the markets Thursday in its IPO, according to reports today. LinkedIn is looking to sell 7,840,000 shares of its stock on the New York Stock Exchange as LNKD. The firm set its initial pricing ...

Palo Alto-based Yatown, a new social networking startup focused on local neighborhoods, launched Wednesday, saying that it was backed by angel investors from Yahoo, Salesforce.com, TiE Angels, and others. Financial details of that seed fund...

Mountain View-based Claritics, a developer of social analytics software, announced this morning that it has raised $1.5M in a Series A financing round. The round was led by Cervin Ventures and TiE Angels. Claritics said the funding will go ...

Palo Alto-based Inside Network, which operates the Inside Facebook and Inside Social Games sites, has been acquired by WebMediaBrands. WebMediaBrand is paying $14M for Inside Network, including $7.5M in cash plus $6.5M in stock. WebMediaBra...

San Francisco-based BranchOut, which develops professional networking and jobs applications on Facebook, said today that it has raised another $18M in a venture capital funding. The new round was led by Redpoint Ventures. Branchout raised $...

San Jose-based Proformative, an online site focused on corporate finance executives, said today that it has raised $1.1M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Bullpen Capital and Floodgate, the venture fund of Mike Maples. Profo...

Mountain View-based LinkedIn has set the pricing range for its IPO, saying this morning that it anticipates the initial public offering price for the firm's IPO to be between $32.00 and $35.00 per share. The firm is selling 7,840,000 shares...

San Francisco-based Salesforce.com said last night that it has completed its acquisition of Radian6, a developer of a social media monitoring platform. Salesforce.com had announced the $326M acquisition on March 30th. Radian6 was venture ba...

San Francisco-based ZipZapPlay, a maker of social games, has been acquired by PopCap Games, the Seattle-based developer of casual games. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. ZipZapPlay had developed games Baking Life and Happy Ha...

Palo Alto-based Magnet Systems, a developer of social applications for the enterprise, has raised $12.6M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Andreesen Horowitz. Magnet's CEO and founder is Alfred Chuang, one of the founders of...

Palo Alto-based Facebook has acquired Daytum, a New York-based developer of an iPhone application and service for organizing data. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Daytum said that founders Ryan Case and Nicholas Felton have ...

PayayaMobile, the Android social gaming firm which has offices in San Francisco, said today that it has raised $18M in a Series B round of funding. The round was led by Keytone Ventures, and also included DCM. The firm said the round will g...

San Francisco-based DoubleDutch, a developer of mobile social business applications, announced this morning that it has raised $1.2M in a new funding round. The round was led by Lightbank, the investment fund of Groupon co-founders brad Key...

San Francisco-based Ticketfly, which operates a social event ticketing service, said today that it has raised $12M more in funding. The Series B round was led by Mohr Davidow Ventures, and also included High Peaks Venture Partners, Contour ...

Wal-Mart announced today that it has agreed to acquire Mountain View-based Kosmix, which develops software for filtering social media for users. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Koxmis was founded by Venky Harinarayan and Anan...

Palo Alto-based Jive Software, which develops social networking software for businesses, said today that it has acquired Proximal Labs. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Proximal Labs develops data mining software used to impro...

San Francisco-based Sneakpeeq, a social commerce and shopping startup, has raised $2.67M in a funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm this week. Source of the new funding was not disclosed. Sneakpeeq is headed by Harish ...

San Francisco-based Tagged, an online social networking focused on meeting new people, said today that it has added Tish Whitcraft as its Chief Customer Officer. Whitcraft was most recently SVP of Customer Experience and Operations for Mysp...

San Francisco-based Salesforce.com announced this morning that it has acquired Radian6, a provider of a social media monitoring platform, for $276M in cash plus $50M in stock. Radian6's services are used by the Fortune 100 to monitor Facebo...

Palo Alto-based Color, a developer of iPhone and Android photo and video sharing applications, announced today that it has raised $41M in a funding round. The funding came from Bain Capital Ventures, Sequoia Capital, and Silicon Valley Bank...

Silicon Valley-based social gaming developer A Bit Lucky has raised $5M from South Korean videogame developer Nexon. Nexon announced the deal Tuesday. A Bit Lucky is headed by Frederic Descamps. Nexon gains a seat on the board with the inve...

Israeli mobile social networking application provider Snaptu has been acquired by Facebook, the firm said over the weekend. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Snaptu is a developer of mobile apps, including a Facebook mobile app...

San Francisco-based social gaming firm Zynga has acquired Floodgate Entertainment, a developer of PC, casual, mobile and social games. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Floodgate is based in Waltham, Mass., and will join Zynga...

San Mateo-based SuccessFactors said this morning that it has acquire Jambok, a developer of social learning software-as-a-service. Financial terms of the acquisition wer enot disclosed. Jambok is a social learning service allows users to cr...

San Francisco-based Topsy Labs, which operates a real time, social search site, announced today that it has raised $15M in a Series C funding round. The round came from BlueRun Ventures, Ignition Partners, Founders Fund, Scott Banister, as ...

San Francisco-based StumbleUpon, which develops web discovery software, said Wednesday that it has raised $17M in a Series B funding round. The round came from Accel Partners, August Capital, DAG Ventures, First Round Capital and Sherpalo V...

Redwood City-based Moblyng, which develops HTML5-based games for mobile devices and social networking sites, has scored funding from Motorola Mobility Ventures. According to Motorola, the equity funding came in conjunction with Moblyng's ex...

San Francisco-based SocialEyes, a new startup focused on allowing users to chat with friends and others via video, has debuted at the DEMO conference today. The startup is backed by $5.1M in investment from Ignition Partners and Maynard Web...

Yahoo told users of MyBlogLog, its social blog service, that it would officially discontinue the service effective May 24, 2011. MyBlogLog had allowed publishers of blogs to see who was visiting the site, connect with others, and add commun...

San Mateo-based DotNetNuke said today that it has acquired Active Modules, a developer of social collaboration software for the firm's platform. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Active Forums develops software for crea...

San Mateo-based Digital Chocolate, which develops social games on Facebook, said Tuesday that it has raised $12M in a Series D funding round. The round was led by Intel Capital, and also included Sutter Hill Ventures and Bridgescale Partner...

Menlo Park-based RootMusic, which develops software for Facebook to allow musicians to promote themselves on the social networking site, has upped its recent Series A funding to $3.13M. According to a regulatory filing by the firm, it added...

Google said this morning that it has enhanced its integration of social search into the search engine, and is now including the results from Social Search inline in results. The additional information is mixed into results, based on data fr...

San Francisco-based Inigral, a developer of social networking software for college students, said today tht it has raised $4M in a new, Series B equity financing, including a $2M, program related investment from the Bill & Melinda Gates Fou...

San Francisco-based GoingOn, which is developing online social web software, has raised $6.235M in a funding round, according to a regulatory filing from the firm this week. GoingOn was founded by Tony Perkins of AlwaysOn and Upside, and is...

Mountain View-based social sharing and messaging firm Meebo said this morning that it has acquired Mindset Media, a provider of psychographic measurement and targeting services to advertisers, agencies, marketers, and publishers. Financial ...

San Francisco-based Storify, a firm which develops software that helps publishers pull tweets, photos, and videos into news stories, said Thursday that it has raised $2M in funding. The funding came from Khosla Ventures. ...

San Francisco-based Massive Health, a stealth mode health care firm looking to apply crowdsourcing, game mechanics, and social networking to the healthcare field, has raised $2.25M in a seed funding round. The firm said the funding came fro...

San Francisco-based Rdio, the online social music service started by Skype founders Janus Friis and Niklas Zennstrom, has raised $17.5M in a funding round, the firm said today. The new round included Mangrove Capital Partners, Atomico, Skyp...

San Francisco-based Path, which operates a mobile social network which looks to limit networking to just close friends and family, has raised $8.65M in funding, the firm said today. The funding came from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and...

San Francisco-based Experience Project, which operates an online community to share life experiences, said today that it has raised a Series C round of funding. Size of the funding was not disclosed, however, reports place the funding at $2...

San Francisco-based Seesmic, the developer of social media monitoring software headed by Loic Le Meur, announced today that it has raised $4M more in a funding round. The investment came from salesforce.com and Softbank. Seesmic's other bac...

San Francisco-based social discovery site Tagged announced today that it had $32M in revenues in 2010, and is on its third year of profitability. The firm, which is venture backed by Mayfield, is privately held. The firm said it has surpass...

Mountain View-based business social networking site LinkedIn has filed for an IPO, saying Thursday afternoon that it is looking to raise up to $175M on the New York Stock Exchange. The firm's IPO is being underwritten by Morgan Stanley, Bof...

San Francisco-based Crowd Factory said today that it has raised $6.5M in a new equity funding round. The round was led by Storm Ventures, and also included prior investors Hummer Winblad, Peninsula Ventures, and angel investors. Ryan Floyd ...

San Francisco-based Zynga continues its acquisition roll, saying Friday that it has acquired Area/Code, a New York-based developer of social games. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Area/Code says that it has become Zynga New Y...

Redwood City-based Kabam, which develops massively multiplayer, online social games, said this morning that it has raised $30M in a Series C funding round. The round came from Redpoint Ventures and Intel Capital, as well as existing investo...

Redwood City-based social games firm RockYou said this morning that it has acquired Playdemic, a social games developer based in Manchester, England. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Playdemic is the developer of Gourmet Ranch...

San Francisco-based Formspring,which operates an online service that allows users to share and connect with each other, said today that it has raised $11.5M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Redpoint Ventures, and also inclu...

San Francisco-based Klout, which operates a service to measure the influence of people on the web, said today that it has closed a new, $8.5M funding round. The round came was led by Kleiner Perkins and its sFund, and also included Greycrof...

San Francisco-based Tapjoy, which develops monetization services for developers of social and mobile games, said today that it has scored $21M in new funding for the company. The new round was led by Rho Ventures, and also included existing...

Menlo Park-based RootMusic, the developer of software for Facebook which allows musicians to represent themselves on the social networking site, said today that it has raised $2.3M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Mohr Davi...

Mountain View-based social browser developer Flock has been acquired by social games developer Zynga, according to the firm. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Flock was venture backed by Shasta Ventures, Bessemer Ventur...

A report today from the New York Times says that Facebook has raised $500M in a new funding round, from Goldman Sachs and Digital Sky Technologies. According to the Times, the round brings the company's total raised to $1.3 billion, and set...

Twitter said Tuesday that it has acquired San Francisco-based Fluther, a provider of an online question and answer service. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Twitter, the deal adds four engineers and one designer-...

Mountain View-based Meebo, which provides an online way to share content and communicate with other users via instant messaging, said Monday that it has raised its Series D funding round to $27.5M. The firm, which initially announced the ro...

San Francisco-based NeoEdge, a developer of advertising services for the casual and social games market, said today that it has raised $3M in growth capital. The funding came from MMV Financial. NeoEdge said it currently serves over 100M vi...

Sunnyvale-based IngBoo, a developer of social marketing software, is announcing today that Sun Microsystems co-founder Scott McNealy has joined the firm as an advisor. IngBoo is developing a social marketing software product which automates...

Los Altos-based Tasty Labs, a stealth mode social software firm headed by Delicious founder Joshua Schacter, has raised $3.0M in a funding round, according to a regulatory filing by the firm. No details on the funding have ben announced. Fu...

Mountain View-based Meebo has raised $25M in a Series D round of funding for the firm's instant messaging and social content sharing services, bringing the firm's total raised to $60M. The round was led by Khosla Ventures, and also included...

San Francisco-based Zynga, the maker of social games, is in a new promotion with the upcoming Dreamworks Animation film Megamind, the two said today. According to the two firms, they will feature a special, 24-hour promotion of Megamind thr...

Redwood City-based Kabam, a developer of social games, said today that it has acquired fellow social games developer WonderHill, which is based in San Francisco. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Kabam is developer of the game ...

Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers announced this morning that it has established a $250M social fund. Focused on investing in entrepreneurs in the social space. As part of the announcement, made at Facebook, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers ...

Mountain View-based ShopSocially, an online social shopping site focused on allowing friends to recommend and discover new products, has raised $1.1M, the firm said today. The funding was led by Valhalla Partners, and angels Raman Khanna, A...

Redwood City-based social games developer RockYou said this morning that it has named Jonathan Knight as its Senior Vice President. Knight was most recently at Electronic Arts and has also served at Activision. RockYou said that Knight was ...

San Francisco-based Involver, a provider of social marketing products, said today that it has raised $8M in a Series C funding round. The round came from Bessemer Venture Partners, Western Technology Investment, and Cervin Ventures. Involve...

Palo Alto-based Facebook, and Microsoft's search engine, Bing, said Wednesday afternoon that the two have partnered to use Facebook data to better hone results on Bing. Financial details of the move were not disclosed, however, the two said...

San Francisco-based iSkoot, the developer of mobile social networking and Skype communications software for mobile phones, has been acquired by Qualcomm. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Qualcomm, its subsidiary,...

San Francisco-based PlayFirst, a developer of social games, said Tuesday that it has raised $9.2M in a new funding round. $5.2M of the round came from its existing investors, including Mayfield Fund, Trinity Partners, DCM and Rustic Canyon ...

San Bruno-based SocialShield, a developer of an online, software-as-a-service offering which monitors kids use of social networks like Facebook and MySpace, said it has raised $10M in a Series A funding. The round was led by Venrock, U.S. V...

Mountain View-based social networking site LinkedIn is targeting college students today with a new feature, which it launched in conjunction with auditing firm PwC. According to LinkedIn, it has introduced a new, LinkedIn Career Explorer to...

San Francisco-based Peanut Labs, a provider of market research survey products designed to work with virtual currency, social networking sites, and online games, has been acquired by e-Rewards. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed...

San Francisco-based BranchOut, a developer of career networking applications for Facebook, has raised $6.0M in a funding round, according to a regulatory filing from the firm today. The new funding comes from Accel Partners. BranchOut--form...

San Francisco-based Extole, a provider of social marketing tools and services, said Wednesday that it has raised $5M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Trident Capital, and also included Redpoint Ventures and Norwest Venture ...

Redwood City-based Omidyar Network, the philanthropic investment firm of eBay's Pierre Omidyar, said this morning that it has invested $750K in a grant to Jumo, a philanthropic web organization started by Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes. A...

Palo Alto-based Thump Games, a developer of a social game called Thump Football, which allows sports fans to predict what happens next in live football games, on a play-by-play basis, has raised $690,041 out of a $1.8M, Series A funding rou...

Mountain View-based Google has acquired SocialDeck, a developer of mobile social networking games, according to SocialDeck. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. SocialDeck was based in Ontario, Canada. SocialDeck's social games ru...

Palo Alto-based Angstro, a developer of software to help filter out news based on a user's social graph, has been acquired by Google. Angstro disclosed the acquisition late Thursday, saying that the founders of the firm have joined Google a...

San Francisco-based Zimride, which operates an online community and service for ride sharing, has raised $1.2M in funding. The funding came from Floodgate, K9 Ventures, Teddy Downey and Keith Rabois. Zimride's service, which is available sc...

Facebook said Friday that it has acquired Hot Potato, a New York-based maker of social networking update software. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. As part of the acquisition, Facebook is shutting down Hot Potato. The buy was ...

San Francisco-based social gaming firm Zynga has acquired Conduit Labs, the Boston-based social gaming developer, the firm said today. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Zynga, Conduit Labs will become Zynga Boston...

Mountain View-based Chai Labs, a developer of software used by publishers to deliver content, has been acquired by Facebook, according to reports. According to AllThingsD, the deal is worth around $10M. No details on the acquisition have ye...

Mountain View-based Google has acquired Jambool, developer of the virtual currency and goods software Social Gold. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Jambool confirmed the acquisition by Google on Friday. Social Gold is ...

San Francisco-based social games maker Zynga has hired former MySpace CEO Owen Van Natta as Executive Vice President of Business Operations at the firm. The news came from a number of sources. Van Natta was most recently CEO of MySpace, but...

San Francisco-based Transpond, a maker of social media and mobile publishing tools, has been acquired by Webtrends. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. According to Webtrends, it has acquired Transpond and has launched We...

San Francisco-based Zynga confirmed Thursday that it has bought Unoh, a Japanese developer of social games. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Zynga said that it will use the acquisition of Unoh to accelerate its entry into the ...

San Francisco-based Klout, a firm which operates an online service which measures social media influence, appears to be in the midst of expanding its Series A funding to $2.0M. According to a regulatory filing, the firm is in the midst of r...

San Francisco-based social gaming developer Zynga and investor Softbank announced late last night that the two are in a joint venture, to develop and distribute social games across Japan. Along with the deal, the two said that Softbank has ...

Mountain View-based social games developer Playdom has been acquired by The Walt Disney Company, Disney announced Tuesday afternoon. According to Disney, Playdom shareholders will receive $563.2M, plus a performance linked earnout of up to ...

San Francisco-based Buzzlogic, a provider of blog advertising products, said today that it has raised $8.8M in a Series B funding round. The round was led by Adams Capital Management, and also included Ackerly Partners. According to BuzzLog...

San Francisco-based Kongregate, which operates an online social gaming site and community, has been acquired by videogame retailer Gamestop. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Gamestop said that Kongregate will become a ...

RockYou, the provider of social games and advertising for social media applications, said Thursday that it is in a long term, five year agreeement with Facebook to make Facebook Credits the exclusive virtual currency in its games and applic...

Palo Alto-based Flipboard, a new startup founded by Mike McCue, former CEO of Tellme, and Evan Doll, former senior iPhone engineer at Apple, said today that it has raised $10.5M in a funding round, from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, I...

Enterprise social networking software developer Jive Software, which is based in Palo Alto, said Tuesday evening that it has raised $30M in a Series C funding round. According to Jive, the round came from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, a...

Mountain View-based Google has opened up a new API feature of its Google Buzz API today, saying that it has added a new "firehose" feature which gives every single, public post on the service via a single subscription. The firm said it has ...

San Francisco-based social networking site hi5 announced this morning that it has raised a new round of venture funding worth $14.0M. The firm said the second round of funding was led by Crosslink Capital, and brings its total raised to jus...

San Francisco-based Social Express, a developer of social games, has been acquired by MTV Networks. According to MTVN, which is a unit of Viacom, the acquisition will provide it entry into the social gaming space. Financial terms of the buy...

Burlingame-based Aurora Feint, a developer of mobile games and a mobile social networking platform for game developers, has raised a round of strategic investment from Chinese game operator The9 Limited. Amount of the investment was not ann...

Mountain View-based social gaming firm Playdom said late last night that it has acquired Palo Alto-based Hive7.com, a social gaming startup whole lead title is Knighthood. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Hive7 develops Facebo...

Mobile social networking firm PapayaMobile, which has operations in Menlo Park and Beijing, said Wednesday that it has raised $4M in a Series A financing round. The round was led by DCM. According to PapayaMobile, it is developing an open-A...

Mountain View-based Playdom, a developer of social games, said today that it has raised $33M in additional venture capital funding. The firm said the funding came from Bessemer Venture Partners, Steamboat Ventures, and New World Ventures, a...

Social networking site Facebook said today that it has tied Skype into its Friend Finder feature, which allows users to find their friends and invite them into Facebook. According to a message presented to users with a Skype account, they c...

A report today from the Nikkei English News reports that social games maker Zynga Game Network has received $147M (13.5 billion yen) in an investment from Softbank Corp. No details on the funding have been announced by either of the compani...

San Francisco-based Crowdcast, a developer of enterprise software for social networking, announced Thursday that it has raised $6M in a Series A financing round. The round was led by Menlo Ventures, and also included prior investor Alsop-Lo...

Palo Alto-based SocialText, the developer of enterprise social networking tools founded by Ross Mayfield, has raised in a new, Series A-1 round by $2.26M, according to a regulatory filing by the firm. According to the filing, the funding br...

San Francisco-based social gaming developer Zynga has acquired Challenge Games, a Texas-based developer of social games, the firm said today. Financial terms of the acquisition were not announced. Zynga said that Challenge Games will be ren...

Palo Alto-based Facebook has acquired ShareGrove, a developer of a social networking tool which allowed users to create their own, private groups for sharing web pages, pictures, videos, and conversations. Financial terms of the deal were n...

Sunnyvale-based Yahoo announced this morning that it has signed a partnership with social games maker Zynga, where it will integrate Zynga's games into its network. Financial arrangements between the two firms were not announced, however, Y...

San Jose-based Compass Labs, a stealth-mode, social media advertising targeting firm, has raised $4.0M as part of a $5.0M funding round, according to a regulatory filing from the firm this week. Source of funding was not disclosed, however,...

Menlo Park-based Nutshell Mail, a provider of tools to help users manage their social networks through email, has been acquired by Constant Contact. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Constant Contact said it would use t...

San Francisco-based Zynga said Thursday morning that it has acquired social gaming firm XPD Media, which is based in Beijing. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. XPD Media was backed by True Ventures and Pilot Group, and ...

Mountain View-based social gaming developer Playdom said last night that it has acquired Acclaim Games, a developer of casual and social networking games. Financial details of the acquisition were not disclosed. Playdom said the move will g...

San Francisco-based Grockit, which operates a social network focused on studying and learning, said today that it has raised $7M in a new round of funding. The round was led by Atlas Venture, and also included prior investors Benchmark Capi...

San Francisco-based Ticketfly announced a few minutes ago that it has closed on $3M of funding for the firm, which helps event promoters to sell their tickets using social marketing. According to the firm, the Series A funding came from Hig...

San Francisco-based Scout Labs, a provider of social media and brand tracking tools, has been acquired by Lithium Technologies, Scout Labs announced today. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. The deal has rumored to have been in ...

Social news site Digg said Thursday that it has cut its staff by 10 percent, in what CEO Kevin Rose decribes as a "decision for the long-term health of the company." According to DIgg, the cuts were made so the firm can put "more emphasis" ...

San Mateo-based SuccessFactors said Monday that it has acquired Redwood City-based CubeTree, in a deal worth $50M. SuccessFactors said the definitive agreement is worth $20M in SuccessFactors stock plus a contingent cash payment three years...

Palo Alto-basedAttensity Group said Wednesday that it is in a definitive agreement to acquire Redwood City-based Biz360, a provider of social media monitoring and market intelligence services. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. ...

San Francisco-based Klout, a firm which develops software to measuring social media influence, said today that it has raised $1.5M in a Series A funding round. The funding came from ff Asset Management, Allen Morgan, and Nova Spivack. Klout...

Palo Alto-based Zong, an online mobile payment service for online gaming and social networking web sites, said Tuesday that it has raised $15M in a round of funding and has spun out of Echovox. The round was led by Matrix Partners. Zong pro...

Palo Alto-based Wildfire Interactive, a developer of social media marketing software, said Monday that it has raised $4.04M in a Series A funding round. The round was led by Summit Partners, and also included angels Jeff Clavier, Aydin Senk...

Mountain View-based social gaming firm Playdom said Monday that it has acquired Merscom, LLC, a developer of online and social games for brands. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Merscom is based in Chapel Hill, North Carolina,...

San Francisco-based Blurb, a developer of book publishing software and services, said Thursday that it has launched a new, online book sharing application which allows its users to share their books online, through Facebook, blogs, web site...

San Francisco-based Overtone, a developer of software which monitors social media and other information for consumer brands, announced Monday that it raised $7M in a Series C funding round. The round was led by ABS Ventures and Dolphin Equi...

San Francisco-based MyLikes said Tuesday that it has raised $630,000 in a seed funding round, and added Robert Scoble and Louis Gray as strategic advisors at the firm. MyLikes was founded by Bindu Reddy and Arvind Sundararajan, both former ...

San Francisco-based Kontagent, a developer of Facebook social analytics tools, announced today that it has raised $1.25M in funding. The funding included $250K from the Facebook Fund, plus $1M in funding from angel investors Jameson Hsu (Mo...

San francisco-based hi5, which operates an online social networking and gaming site, has raised around $23M in funding, according to recent regulatory filings by the firm this week. No details have been released by the company. hi5 has prev...

San Francisco-based Socialcast, which develops enterprise activity stream and social newtorking software, announced today that it has raised $8M in a Series B funding round. The new funding came from Menlo Ventures and True Ventures. Accord...

Fremont-based Offerpal Media, a developer of virtual currency software for social games, said today that it has acquired Tapjoy, a developer of virtual goods and other monetization services for the Apple iPhone. Financial terms of the buy w...

San Francisco-based Trazzler, an online social travel recommendations site spawned in Twitter's kitchen, has raised nearly $1.1M in funding, according to a regulatory filing by the firm this week. The filing indicates the firm took the fund...

Sunnyvale-based Yahoo announced today that it has acquired San Francisco-based Citizen Sports, which operates an online social ntworking site focused on sports fans. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Citizen Sports was founded ...

San Francisco-based social gaming firm Playdom said late Tuesday evening that it has invested $5M in Buenos Aires, Argentina-based MetroGames. According to Playdom, MetroGames will will use the funding to expand its pipeline of games, and t...

Israeli startup Snaptu, a developer of mobile social networking applications, said today that it has raised a round of funding from Menlo Park-based venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. Amount of the financing was not disclosed. Snaptu's s...

Mountain View-based social gaming firm Playdom said Wednesday afternoon that it has acquired Offbeat Creations, a developer and publisher of social media games for Facebook. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Offbeat Creations i...

The State of Texas is hoping that Palo Alto-based Facebook will open an office in Austin, with $1.4M in incentives for the company. According to an announcement by Texas Governor Rick Perry, the state has approved $1.4M through its Texas En...

San Francisco-based hi5, which operates an online site focused on social entertainment and gaming, said Wednesday afternoon that it has acquired Big Six, a Texas developer of social games. Financial terms of the deal were not announced. hi5...

San Francisco-based PeerPong.com, a yet-to-be-launched, stealth mode firm which says it is helping people share "expertise in a new way", has raised $1.8M in a funding, according to a regulatory filing from the firm Monday. Source of the ne...

Pleasanton-based Spigit, a developer of social collaboration software for enterprises, said today that it has signed on Southwest Airlines as a customer. The firm, which is backed by private equity firm Warburg Pincus, said that Southwest i...

San Francisco-based Hooked Media Group, a social gaming firm which is backed by USVP and Altos Ventures, said today that it has launched a new online gaming site called Yoo-Mee. The firm said the new site is targeted at casual gamers, and w...

San Francisco-based social gaming firm Zynga said Thursday that it is acquiring fellow San Francisco firm Serious Business, a creator of Facebook games. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Serious Business is a developer of Frien...

Mountain View-based Google launched Google Buzz, a social networking software component to the firm's Gmail email program, on Tuesday. The firm said the new software allows people to share photos, videos, and links, as well as tie to servic...

Sunnyvale-based XIHA Life, an online social networking site focused on multiple languages and cultures, said today that it has raised $1M in seed funding. The firm said the round came from angel investors and the company's founders. As part...

Palo Alto-based Facebook said Thursday that the firm is opening up its first data center. The firm, which previously leased space from hosting companies, said the move to open its first custom data center is a result of the firm reaching th...

Social networking software site SocialGO, which is run by Bright Things plc, said Tuesday that it has received an $800K investment in the site. The round came from Veddis Ventures. According to Bright Things plc, the firm has acquired Get O...

San Francisco-based Reframe It, a developer of social networking tools that allow users to comment on web sites, said today that it has raised a "multi-million" dollar investment. The investment game from the Sacramento Angels, the Sierra A...

Emeryville-based Lithium Technologies, a developer of social community software, announced today that it has raised $18M in a Series C funding round. The firm said the funding came from DAG Ventures and Tenaya Capital, along with prior inve...

Seesmic, a developer of a social applications dashboard, said today that it has acquired Ping.fm, a developer of a service which allows users to update multiple, social networking sites and services. Financial details of the buy were not di...

Santa Clara-based security software provider McAfee said Tuesday that it believes that Facebook and Twitter will be the top targets for security threats in 2010. The firm said that it believes cybercriminals are targeting Facebook and Twitt...

San Francisco-based gWallet, a developer of virtual currency services, said today that it has launched a new effort to provide analytics to publishers. The firm said its new gLTV service is aimed at helping publishers increase the lifetime ...

San Francisco-based social gaming firm Zynga reported today that the firm is launching a social goods initiative, where purchases of virtual goods in several of its games will benefit two nonprofits in Haiti. The firm said that it will dona...

San Francisco-based social gaming firm Zynga said this morning that it has raised $180M in funding, from Russian firm Digital Sky Technologies (DST). Zynga said that DST will purchase $180M of its securities, providing liquidity for its emp...

Fremont-based virtual currency firm Offerpal Media said today that it has hired Mihir Shah, former VP Ad Network for RockYou, as its Chief Revenue Officer. Offerpal said that Shah will oversee all of the firm's commercial activities, includ...

Mountain View-based social networking firm Friendster has been acquired by Malaysian firm MOL Global Pte. Ltd., an firm affiliated with online payments firm MOL AccessPortal Berhad, the firms said last night. Financial terms of the buy were...

San Francisco-based Trazzler, an online social travel recommendations web site and service, has raised $750,599 in an equity funding round, according to a filing by the firm Monday. Details on the funding have not been released. Trazzler co...

San Francisco-based Zoosk, which operates an online dating service linked with social networking sites like Facebook, MySpace, Bebo, and Hi5, announced today that it has raised $30M in a Series D round of funding. The funding was led by Bes...

San Francisco-based gWallet said Tuesday afternoon that it has closed its first institutional funding round. The round was led by Adams Street Partners and Trinity Ventures. The firm said the funding brings the company's total raised to $12...

San Francisco-based social gaming developer Zynga has raised another $15.187M in funding, according to a regulatory filing from the firm today. The Series B-1 preferred stock round came from its existing investors, which includes Kleiner Pe...

San Francisco-based Zannel, which operates an mobile service for sharing videos, pictures, and text with social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and YouTube, said today it has inked a partnership with rock band KISS. Zannel...

San Mateo-based RockYou, a developer of social applications, has raised $50M in a funding round. The funding came from Softbank. RockYou has also previously raised funding from SK Telecom, DCM, Sequoia, and Lightspeed, none of whom particip...

Mountain View-based Playdom, a developer of social games, said earlier this week that it raised $43M in a Series A investment round. The round was led by New Enterprise Associates, and also included Lightspeed Venture Partners, Norwest Vent...

Burlingame-based Aurora Feint, a developer of social gaming software for the iPhone, has raised $3.6M in a Series 2 investment, according to a regulatory filing by the firm. The company had disclosed a strategic investment from Japanese mob...

San Francisco-based Loopt said Monday that the firm has rolled out a major update of its application for BlackBerry smartphones. According to Loopt, a developer of mobile social networking software, the updated software now runs in the back...

Redwood City-based Electronic Arts said this morning that it has acquired social games maker Playfish. EA said it will pay approximately $275M in cash and approximately $25M in equity for Playfish, which will become a part of EA Interactive...

Redwood City-based CubeTree, a developer of enterprise social networking and collaboration software, said today that it has raised $8m in a Series B funding. The round was led by InterWest Partners, an also included Trinity Ventures. Bruce ...

Google said this morning that it has rolled out a new set of features for Friend Connect, the firm's service which helps web site owners add social networking features to their sites. Google said it has added a new "Interests" section to Fr...

Burlingame-based Aurora Feint, which develops social gaming software for the iPhone, said Friday that it has received a strategic, multi-million dollar investment in the firm. According to Aurora Feint, the investment came from Japanese mob...

Palo Alto-based Zong announced this morning that it has launched an upgraded online mobile payment service which allows users to make online purchases using a credit card. According to Zong, which is used on online gaming and social network...

Mountain View-based Google said Monday afternoon that it has launched a new feature called Google Social Search, which returns information relevant to your social circle first ahead of other results. According to Google, the experiment--fro...

Mountain View-based Watercooler, a developer of social games on Facebook, said today that the firm has raised $5.5M in a Series B funding round. The round came from strategic investor Betfair, an online site focused on betting. Watercooler ...

Palo Alto-based social networking site Ning is announcing tomorrow that the firm has launched a new effort to sell virtual gifts on the site. According to the firm, the new Ning Virtual Gift product will allow its users to create and upload...

Pleasanton-based Spigit, a developer of social collaboration software for the enterprise, announced today that it has raised $10M in an equity funding round. The round came from private equity firm Warburg Pincus. Spigit said the new fundin...

Business social networking site LinkedIn reports this morning that it now has 50 million users worldwide. The firm said that the last million users only took it 12 days. In addition to the total users, the firm gave a breakdown of its user ...

Mountain View-based Friendster is trumpeting a patent the firm gained earlier this year, saying yesterday that it received U.S. Patent number 7,478,078, "Method for Sharing Relationship Information Stored in a Social Network Database with T...

San Francisco-based social games developer Zynga is trumpeting its growth over the last six months today, saying that it now has over 129 million monthly active users playing its games. The firm said the growth comes from its four top 10 ga...

Palo Alto-based Facebook and audience measurement firm The Nielsen Company said this morning that they are in a multi-year, strategic alliance. According to the two firms, they will create new products to help marketers measure the effectiv...

Palo Alto-based Facebook said Tuesday afternoon that the firm has hit 300 million users, and is now cash flow positive. In a blog post, Mark Zuckerberg said that the user now serves 300 million people across the world--approximately one mil...

San Mateo-based Xumii, a developer of mobile social networking services, has been acquired by Switzerland-based Myriad Group AG. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. Myriad said it had purchased the acquired the brand, technology ...

San Francisco-based Plum Ventures, a developer of a social media sharing and messaging site for groups, has been acquired by Nokia. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Nokia said that Plum had around 10 employees, and had...

San Francisco-based social gaming developer Zynga is claiming this week that it now hold the title of the largest social game "in history," with its Farmville game. The firm said it now has more than 11 million daily active users in the gam...

Social networking service FriendFeed, which helps aggregate various social media and networking sites for users, has been acquired by Facebook, the firm said today. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. According to FriendF...

San Francisco-based Zynga reported last week that it has acquired MyMiniLife, a developer of social networking and virtual world tools. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Zynga said it will integrate MyMiniLife's staff a...

San Francisco-based KODA.us, an online site focused on using social networking for job recruiting, said Monday that it has raised $1M in funding from angel investors. The firm said the funding brings the company's total raised to $3M, inclu...

Mountain Viwe-based Loopt, which develops location-aware, social networking applications, said Wednesday that the firm has launched its service on Sprint's Instinct family of devices. Loopt, which has been offering its application on Spring...

Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg said this morning that the popular social networking web site has just hit 250 million users. Facebook had reported it had reached 200 million active users back in April....

San Francisco-based hi5 reported Tuesday that the firm has added a new, downloadable games section to the firm's online games site, tapping into RealNetworks for the new section. According to hi5, it will distribute over 1,500 games from Re...

San Francisco-based Power.com, an online social networking service which aggregates social networking profiles, said Friday that it has filed a lawsuit against Facebook, claiming that Facebook is restricting access to users' own data in its...

San Francisco-based Zannel reported this week that the firm has inked an exclusive deal with country music star Keith Urban, where it will launch a iPhone and iPod touch application focused on Urban. Financial details of the deal were not d...

Redwood City-based StrongMail reported Tuesday that it has acquired PopularMedia, a provider of social media marketing products. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. StrongMail said it would become a component of the firm's "soci...

Yahoo told users of its Yahoo 360 social networking and blogging site today that it is officially closing its doors on July 13th. The site--which has been slated for closure for over a year now--provided a way for users to blog and share th...

Flickr, Yahoo's popular photo sharing and social networking site, said Tuesday that the firm has integrated the photo site with micro messaging service Twitter, and will allow its users to automatically send links to its photos via Twitter....

San Francisco-based social games developer Zynga reported today that industry veteran Brian Reynolds has joined the firm as chief designer. In this newly created role, Zynga noted, Reynolds will head its East Coast operations while directin...

San Francisco-based social game developer Zynga Game Network has sued competing firm Playdom, based in Mountain View, based on the docket of the California Northern District Court. According to the filing, the trademark suit was filed Frida...

Mountain View-based social gaming developer Playdom reported Thursday that it has hired on John Pleasants as its CEO. Pleasants joins Playdom from Electronic Arts, where he was PResident, Global Publishing and Chief Operating Officer. Pleas...

San Francisco-based Zoosk, an online dating site, announced this morning that the firm has raised $6M in a third round of funding. The new round was led by Canaan Partners, an existing investor in the firm. Zoosk operates an online dating s...

Emeryville-based Lithium Technologies announced Tuesday that it has acquired Keibi Technologies, a developer of automated content discovery, analysis, and moderation software for user-generated content and online communities. Financial term...

Redwood City-based Good Technology announced today that it has acquired Intercasting, a developer of mobile social networking software. Financial terms of the buy were not disclosed. According to Good Technology, the buy will further expand...

Yahoo today said it has launched a version of the firm's Yahoo! Buzz service in India. Yahoo! Buzz, which tracks popular topics and allows users to vote on popular stories and content, said the India service is the first international versi...

San Francisco-based Zynga, which develops social games, claimed today that it is now seeing more than 10 million daily active users across its games. The firm is venture backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, IVP, Union Square Ventures...

Mountain View-based Google said Friday afternoon that it has added a number of new gadgets to its Google Friend Connect program. According to google, it has added gadgets to allow sites to promote events, take visitor polls, encourage quest...

Palo Alto-based SocialText, a developer of enterprise social networking tools, has now raised $4.5M out of $5.0M of an equity funding round, according to a regulatory filing. Source or details of the funding were not disclosed. SocialText h...

Burlingame-based Limbo and mobile social media firm Brightkite announced this morning that the two companies have merged, and scored $9M in funding. According to the two firms, they will operate under the Brightkite name, and will be headqu...

San Francisco-based Justin.tv, the live video and lifestreaming startup, said Wednesday that the firm has linked its service to Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter. According to the firm, the integration of the service will allow users to log in...

Socialcast, a provider of social networking tools for the business market, said today that it has raised $1.4M an is plotting a move to San Francisco. According to the firm, $1M of the funding came from True Ventures, with an additional $40...

Redwood City-based RockYou, a developer of social media widgets, said today that the firm has rolled out a new product called Backstage!, which is targeted at musicians, actors, celebrities, athletes, and others. According to the firm, the ...

Social networking web site Facebook is reportedly seeking more than $100M in debt financing, according to a report from Businessweek, as it looks to help fund the firm's investment in computers to run the site. According to the report, the ...

Palo Alto-based Project Playlist, a social media network for music fans, revealed Wednesday that it has bolstered its online offerings with digital audio and video content from EMI Music. As a result, Project Playlist noted, its users will ...

Los Gatos-based Netflix, the movie rental service, said this morning that it has integrated its site with Facebook Connect. According to Netflix, the integration links a Netflix member's account with their Facebook account, allowing users t...

San Francisco-based Zynga said today that it has launched a new, live poker game through Apple's App Store. The social gaming firm, which is venture backed by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, IVP, Union Square Ventures, Foundry Group, Aval...

Zynga, a developer of games for mobile phones and social networking Web sites, reported Wednesday that it has hired Brandon Barber to fill the newly created role of vice president of marketing. The San Francisco-based firm said Barber hail...

Mountain View-based Ooyala, a provider of online video distribution software and services, said Friday that the firm has been selected by vertical social network RunnerSpace.com. According to Ooyala, RunnerSpace.com will use the firm's serv...

Palo Alto-based SGN, a developer of games for social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, reported Wednesday that it has hired Eric Huynh as chief technology officer and vice president of engineering. The firm said Huynh hails from Vivend...

San Francisco-based hi5 said Thursday that it has launched a new casual game feature on the firm's social networking site. According to hi5, the service--targeted at 15 to 24-year olds--now includes casual games in the sports, arcade, strat...

San Francisco-based iWidgets, a developer of web widgets, said Tuesday that the firm has raised $4.1M in a Series A venture funding round. The round was led by Opus Capital, and also included University Venture Fund. iWidgets allows develop...

Mountain View-based social networking site Friendster reports this morning that it has opend up new offices in Asia, as part of an expansion into the region. The firm said it has opened up offices in Singapore and Sydney, Australia, among o...

San Francisco-based Meez, an online social networking and avatar site, said Wednesday that it has merged with Pulse Entertainment, Inc., a provider of avatar messaging services. Financial terms of the merger were not announced. Meez also sa...

San Francisco-based Tagged, an online social discovery site backed by Mayfield, said today that the firm has hired on Steve Sarner as the firm's Vice President of Sales. Sarner joins the company from Fox Interactive Media. According to Tagg...

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said today in Facebook's blog that the firm has now reached 150 million active users. According to Zuckerberg, the social networking web site now has users on every continent, covering 35 languages and 170 count...

San Francisco-based Tagged, a social networking and discovery site, said today that it has raised $5M in a venture debt round. The funding came from Horizon Technology Finance and Leader Ventures. Tagged said the funding will go to accelera...

Palo Alto-based social networking site Facebook said Thursday that it has tapped Donald E. Graham, the Chairman and CEO of the Washington Post Company, for its board of directors. According to the firm, Graham will join Facebook's CEO, Mark...

Mountain View-based Friendster said today that it has snagged a fourth patent, U.S. Patent No. 7,451,161, around compatibility scoring of users in its network. According to the firm, the patent covers method used to calculate compatibility ...

Mountain View-based FriendFeed said that it has launched a new set of international interfaces for the firm's services. FriendFeed, which develops a service that aggregates multiple online social networking and related web sites in a single...

Mountain View-based Google said Thursday that it has opened up Google Friend Connect, a service which allows webmasters to add social networking features to their web sites. According to Google, the new service allows users to easily sign i...

Facebook is sharpening its advertising efforts, by adding a number of new measurements to the firm's Facebook Ads program, the firm told its advertisers Wednesday. According to an email to advertisers using Facebook Ads, the firm has just a...

Mountain View-based business social network LinkedIn said Tuesday that the firm has added a new feature which gives its users new social networking applications to the site. LinkedIn said the applications include collaboration tools, embedd...

Mountain View-based business social networking web site LinkedIn said today that it has raised $22.7M in a new venture funding round. The round came from Goldman Sachs, The McGraw-Hill Companies, SAP Ventures, and Bessemer Venture Partners....

Tokoni, a Cupertino-based startup started by ex-eBay executives Mary Lou Song and Alex Kazim, said this morning that it has launched a new web site to help eople share their personal stories and experiences. The firm said its user-generated...

San Francisco-based social networking site Friendster said late Thursday that the firm has added support for the Facebook Platform on its developer program. According to the firm, it now will support both OpenSocial and Facebook standards o...

Santa Clara-based Intel Capital said Tuesday that the firm has taken a stake in Telligent Systems, a maker of enterprise social networking software. According to Intel, it has agreed to take a $20M stake in Dallas-based Telligent, whose sof...

San Francisco-based iSkoot said this morning that it has acuqired Social.IM, a maker of a social networking instant messaging client. Financial terms of the acquisition were not provided. iSkoot said it would use the acquisition to grow bey...

Mountain View-based Multiverse, a developer of online virtual worlds, said today that it has inked a deal with James Cameron to create a new, educational virtual world based on the Titanic. According to Multiverse, a new site "Places in tim...

Mountain View-based social networking service LinkedIn is bolstering the firm's group features this Friday, the firm told its customers Tuesday, as it looks to add several "much-requested" features by its users around LinkedIn for Groups, t...

San Francisco-based Widgetbox, which operates an online site focused on web widget software, said today that it has linked up with online social networking site hi5. According to Widgetbox, hi5 will include widgets created by Widgetbox user...

San Francisco-based Ma.gnolia, an online social bookmarking service, said today at Gnomedex in Seattle that it will open source the firm's technology. According to the firm, it will open source the firm'new Ma.gnolia 2 re-write of the servi...

San Francisco-based social networking site Friendster said late Monday that the firm has deployed the OpenSocial API on the firm's web site. According to Friendster, it has begun offering the OpenSocial API as part of its developer program,...

San Francisco-based Sprout said today that it has rolled out a new widget buliding service it calls FanKits, focused on helping entertainment and media companies to promote their brands. Sprout said that its FanKits service allows companies...

San Francisco-based trueAnthem announced today that the firm has completed an angel round of funding, raising $2M. The firm says it is developing a music label focused on monetization through social networks. The firm did not disclose inves...

Online social gaming service Zynga announced today that the firm has raised $29M in an investment round, led by Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Institutional Venture Partners. Prior investors in the firm, including Union Square Venture...

Palo Alto-based Facebook rolled out a new look and feel to the firm's web site today, saying that the new design was focused on providing a new, cleaner, and simpler design. The site said that it will provide access to both the new and curr...

Palo Alto-based Social Gaming Network said this morning that it has added Bezos Expeditions, the investment arm of Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, as an investor. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Social Gaming Network develops...

Emeryville-based Lithium Technologies said today that the firm has raised $12M, in a Series B funding round. The round came from Benchmark Capital, along with prior investors Emergence Capital and Shasta Ventures. Lithium Technologies devel...

Credit card company Visa said this morning that the firm has linked up with social networking web site Facebook, with a Facebook application targeted at connecting small businesses on the site. According to Visa, its new "Visa Business Netw...

Cupertino-based Baynote said this week that it has unveiled its new software for the recommendations and social search area. BayNote said that its product, which is available as software-as-a-service, allows businesses to deploy product and...

Mountain View-based Loopt, the Sequoia Capital and New Enterprise Associates-backed startup focused on social mapping and communications, said today that its location based service is now available for free on Blackberry phones to users on ...

Mountain View-based Affinity Circles, a provider of social networking services for universities and professional organizations, said Thursday that it has rolled out a new tool to help employers target job candidates. Affinity Circles said i...

San Francisco-based Zoosk said Thursday that it has raised $4.1M in a second round of funding. According to Zoosk, the round was led by Canaan Partners, and also included first round investor ATA Ventures. The firm said the funding round wi...

San Francisco-based Foxmarks, which is developing social bookmarking and social web surfing software, has quietly raised a round of venture capital from Redpoint Ventures, silicontap.com has learned. The spokesperson of the firm confirmed a...

San Francisco-based Dogster, Inc., which runs the Dogster.com and Catster.com social networking web sites for pet owners, said this morning that it has launched a new web site focuse don animal humor. The new site, Snuzzy.com, offers jokes,...

AOL announced today that it has completes its acquisition of social networking site Bebo. The deal, which was originally announced in March, was worth $850M in cash. AOL said that Bebo will become part of a newly created People Networks bus...

Mountain View-based Plaxo, a developer of a social networking service focused on keeping up with contacts, has been acquired by Comcast. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. According to Plaxo, the firm will remain an independent...

Palo Alto-based Social Gaming Network, a publisher of games for Facebook and other social networking web sites, said Tuesday morning that it has raised $15M in a Series A funding. The funding came from Greylock Partners, Founders Fund, Col...

Berkeley-based MOG, an online music blog and social networking website, said Monday that it has hired on Alex Brough as Vice President of Sales and Strategic Partnerships. Brough joins the firm from MTV Networks, where he ran West Coast sal...

San Francisco-based Loomia, which creates social recommendation applications, said today it has raised $5M in a Series A funding. The round was led by Asset Management Company, and also included Peacock Equity and Telefonica Capital. Peacoc...

Palo Alto-based Mytopia said this morning that it has launched a new, online social gaming community. The new site focuses on casual games like Chess, Spakes, and Sudoku, combined with features like chat. The firm's games are available in s...

AOL said today that it is in an agreement to acquire Bebo, in a deal worth $850M in cash. Bebo is a social networking web site, with offices in the UK, San Francisco, and Austin, Texas. AOL said that current Bebo President Joanna Shields wi...

San Francisco-based Fuego Nation, which bills itself a "social networking 2.0" company, said Monday that it has raised $1.5M in a Series A funding round from undisclosed private investors. Fuego Nation said the deal was syndicated by Robert...

Mountain View-based, business social networking web site LinkedIn said this morning that it has launched its new home page, and also added a "Status" feature to let people update their associates on what they are currently doing. The new "S...

Mountain View-based FriendFeed said today that it has raised $5M in a Series A funding and launched its site. The funding came from Benchmark Capital along with Friendfeed co-founders Paul Buchheit and Sanjeev Singh. The firm operates an on...

Mountain View-based LinkedIn said this morning that it has rolled out a mobile version of the firm's service. According to LinkedIn, the new service, available at m.linkedin.com, allows users of iPhone, iPod touch, Blackberry, and other web...

San Francisco-based Peanut Labs, which provides market research and survey technology for marketers, said this morning that it has raised $3.2M in a Series A funding. The round came from Leapfrog Ventures and BV Capital. The firm said the f...

Palo Alto-based social networking web site Facebook said late Thursday that the firm has rolled out a new, international version of the site in Spanish. According to Facebook, the move is the first step in the company's plan to internationa...

Fremont-based NEXAGE said Friday morning that it has received $500K in angel funding for the firm's mobile video social networking applications. The firm did not disclose specific angels investing in the deal. The company said the round of ...

London-based ShoZu, a provider of mobile phone and Web-based social media tools, said Tuesday that it has raised $12M in a Series C funding round. ShoZu said the funding came from SEB Venture Capital, the venture capital arm of Skandinavisk...

Burlingame-based mobile social networking firm mig33 said today that it has raised $13.5M in a Series B funding. The round came was led by DCM, and also included prior investors Accel, Redpoint, and TVP. mig33 said it will use the funding t...

San Francisco-based imeem, which operates an online social media web site, said today it has acquired fellow San Francisco firm Anywhere.FM. Anywhere.FM operates an online digital music player and Internet radio service. Financial terms of ...

San Francisco-based Zynga Game Networks, an online gaming firm which develops games for social networking web sites, has raised an undisclosed round of funding, according to the firm's backers. Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures announced...

San Francisco-based Kadoink, which provides web-based telephone services for social media sites, said today that it has closed on $7M of series A funding. The round came from Sutter Hill Ventures. Andy Sheehan of Sutter Hill has joined the ...

San Francisco-based BiteClub.com, an online social networking site focused on the restaurant business, said today that the firm has raised $500,000 in a seed funding from a group of investors. The firm said the investment came from restaura...

Redwood City-based Shutterfly said Friday afternoon that it has acquired Palo Alto-based Nexo, a provider of online sharing and group services. Shutterfly said it paid less than $15M in cash and stock for Nexo. Nexo founders Craig Jorasch a...

San Francisco-based Liftopia.com, a provider of discount life tickets for skiers and snowboarders, and New York-based KickApps said the two have launched a new online community on Liftopia. The two said the new community, The Lodge, will al...

San Francisco-based, instant messaging service Zannel said today that it has released an iPhone-optimized version of the firm's mobile web site. Zannel is venture backed by U.S. Venture Partners and Palomar Ventures, and allows users to tra...

San Francisco-based Gydget said Tuesday afternoon that it has closed a Series A round of funding for its social marketing platform. Financial terms were not disclosed. The funding came from SunBridge Partenrs, along with angel investors. Gy...

Menlo Park-based DanceJam, a new startup focused on creating an online social networking site focused on dancing, said today that it has launched its site. The firm, which is headed by MC Hammer, has also received an undisclosed amount of f...

Mountain View-based Google said today that it has released OpenSocial, a set of open application programming interfaces (APIs) for social networking web sites. Google said the effort is being supported by Bebo, Engage.com, Friendster, hi5, ...

San Francisco-based Dogster, the online social networking company which runs the Dogster and Catster social networking sites for dogs and cats, said today that it has reached more than 500,000 members of its web sites. The company did not d...

San Francisco-based social networking web site Friendster said last night that it has added Traditional Chinese support to the firm's web site. Friendster said that users of its site can now choose either English or Traditional Chinese to n...

San Francisco-based Digg announced Thursday morning that it has rolled out new, revamped profiles, and added a number of features focused on sharing stories on Digg with friends and contacts. Digg has added notifications when friends or a s...

San Francisco-based TeeBeeDee said today that it has raised $4.8M in a Series A funding. The funding came from Shasta Ventures, which led the round, along with Monitor Ventures. TeeBeeDee is developing an online social networking web site f...

Foster City-based Visible Path, which develops software for enterprise-focused social networking, said earlier this week that it has appointed Cary Rozenweig as President and CEO. Current CEO Antony Brydon becomes Chairman and Vice Presiden...

San Francisco-based Respectance, an online web site focused on remembering loved ones, said today it has added $1.5M in a Series A funding round. The funding came from Solid Ventures and Big Bang Ventures. According to the firm, it is forma...

San Francisco-based hi5, an online social networking web site, said today that it has raised $20M in a venture capital funding from MDV-Mohr Davidow Ventures. hi5 said that it will use the funding to expand its services and grow into new ma...

Palo Alto-based social networking software developer Ning said today in its blog that it has raised $44M in an investment from Legg Mason and other investors. The firm said that the investment was the first outside investment in Ning. The i...

Mountain View-based Affinity Circles, which operates a service that allows organizations to create their own social networking web sites, said today it has launched a new service for employers. The new service allows employers to lists jobs...

San Francisco-based Facebook launched a new development platform yesterday, which opens up the company's college social networking web site to partners. The firm's new Facebook Platform allows developers to create applications for Facebook....

Redwood City-based Frengo, a firm developing social networking products for the mobile market, has raised $5.7M in a Series A funding, the firm told silicontap. The funding came from The Trilogy Partnership, and also includes prior investor...

Palo Alto-based LinkedIn, the online social networking web site focused on business professionals, said today that it has reached 10 million users for the site. The company said that it is currently growing at the rate of over 130,000 membe...

Emeryville-based Imbee, an online social networking web site for kids, has quietly raised $2.5M in a Series A funding from Steamboat Ventures, reports CNET's Digital Kids blog. According to CNET, Industrious Kids, the parent company behind ...

San Francisco-based Kongregate, an online games focused community focused on social features and user-uploaded games, said today that it has launched a beta of its service. The company also said it received seed funding from angel investors...

GenMobi Technologies said today that it has introduced a new age-and-identity verification service for social networking web sites. The San Jose-based startup said today that its technology will allow social networking sites to ensure users...

San Francisco-based Friendster announced this morning that it has received a U.S. patent on its social networking services. The firm said that this is the third patent it has received. The patent is no. 7,188,153 B2, and is entitled "Syst...

San Francisco-based Eurekster has raised $5.5M in a Series B funding, the firm announced this morning. The round was led by Technology Venture Partners (TVP) of Australia and Transcosmos Investments of Japan. The firm said the funding will ...

The New York Times is reporting that Cisco Systems is acquiring Tribe.net, a social networking site, in a deal that is expected to be announced sometime this week. Financial terms were not discussed. The deal follows the acquisition of Five...

Redwood City-based Electronic Arts said Monday afternoon that it is acquiring SingShot Media, a San Francisco-based online community focused on karaoke. Financial terms were not disclosed. Singshot operates a web-based, social networking pl...

San Jose-based Cisco Systems said today that it is in a definitive agreement to acquire Five Across, a developer of social networking software. Five Across develops a product that allows companies to add blogs, podcasts, and user-generated ...

San Francisco-based Piczo, a provider of an online social networking service for teens, said late last night that it has raised $11M in a Series C funding for the firm. The new round was led by U.S. Venture Partners and Mangrove Capital Par...

San Francisco-based BuzzLogic said today that it has raised $9.6M in a Series A investment, led by Adams Capital Management, Ackerley Partners, and Transcosmos Investments & Business Development. The firm is developing enterprise software f...

Palo Alto-based Jaxtr has launched a private beta of the firm's voice services, and added Konstantin Guericke as CEO of the firm. Jaxtr, which is targeting the social networking and blogging space said that it has launched a private Beta o...

Sacramento-based Net Music Makers, a online collaborative music website, said Tuesday that it has acquired My Virtual Band. The two sites will combine to create a new social networking website focused on musicians and fans. According to the...

San Francisco-based Wallop announced this morning that it has launched a new social networking web site and received $10M in a Series B funding. The funding came from Norwest Venture Partners, and included previous investors Bay Partners an...

Dow Jones VentureOne is reporting this morning that investments in U.S. Web 2.0 companies has hit $262.3M in the first half of 2006. The publisher of venture capital data said that 49 Web 2.0 companies were funded in the first half of 2006,...

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Group said this morning that they are launching a new charity arm, Virgin Unite, focused on social and environmental change, and that the charity will tap Burlingame-based Limbo 41414's text messaging games to r...

San Francisco-based Zannel, a stealth "multimodal social entertainment network" startup, has received venture capital funding. The funding was revealed Tuesday by Palomar Ventures, a Santa Monica-based venture capital firm, in its appointme...