Facebook has just made another partial acquisition – this time in the form of Threadsy, a startup best known for their Klout-like service Swaylo.
Swaylo is a Facebook-centric tool that analyzes Facebook users’ reach and influence across the network. Users can connect with Swaylo and the app will give them a “Sway” score, between 1 and 10, that reflects the “impact of [their] online activities in their social circles.”
Well, users could connect with Swaylo. As a result of the deal, people will soon be unable to access their Sway scores on the Swaylo site.
But Swaylo is not completely dissolving into Facebook. According to company founder and CEO Rob Goldman, their premium serivce, SwayloPro, will continue to function as a standalone company “owned by its current investors.” He says that SwayloPro will “continue to help businesses connect with influential people on social media.”
“This is incredibly exciting for us! We built Swaylo because we believe Facebook and other social media services are the digital representation of our lives. There is no better opportunity to take Swaylo’s vision to the next level than at Facebook,” said Goldman.
As TechCrunch points out, this isn’t the first time that Facebook has taken only a portion of a company. Back in 2010, their acquisition of Zenbe only involved three employees. These kinds of mini-purchases are suitably deemed “acqui-hires.”
