<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"Even though Google's own social efforts shouldn't be mistaken as direct competition with a social network like Facebook, the company announced an acquisition that makes us go &amp;quot;hmmmm&amp;quot; today.  The company has acquired social marketing platform, Wildfire.  The service lets brands manage pages, apps, tweets, videos, sponsorships, promos and ads all in one place.\r\n\r\nHere's what the Wildfire team had to say on its blog:\r\n\r\nFour years ago, we set out on a journey to make social media marketing easier and more effective. We thought our idea had potential, but little did we know what an incredible ride it would be. Not only have we helped to define and build an entirely new industry, but we\u2019ve created a company that\u2019s larger (from 5 to almost 400 employees in two and a half years!) and more successful (we\u2019re proud to serve 16,000 customers including 30 of the top 50 brands) than we ever imagined.\r\n\r\nThat means that Google is now inside of Facebook and Twitter.  Literally.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\nIs this enough to cause a regulatory stir? Probably not, but its an acquisition worth noting, especially if Google's existing customers turn to the service to manage their brand throughout the web.  How deep does Wildfire go?  Have a looksy at this:\r\n\r\nFor now, we remain focused on helping brands run and measure their social engagement and ad campaigns across the entire web and across all social services \u2014 Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Google+, Pinterest, LinkedIn and more \u2014 and to deliver rich and satisfying experiences for their consumers.\r\n\r\nGoogle now has a literal &amp;quot;in&amp;quot; with all of the most popular social services on the web.  Yesterday it didn't, today it does.  It will be interesting to see how this plays out, or how the other social services react to the news.  This could get ugly.\r\n\r\nWhat did Google have to say?  Have a peek at how it led off the news:\r\n\r\nBusinesses around the world\u2014from neighborhood restaurants to major retailers\u2014are embracing social media to share information and forge stronger relationships with their fans and customers. We know because we are one of those businesses\u2014on Google+, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, YouTube and LinkedIn.\r\n\r\nYes, the company was quick to point out which services the company has now &amp;quot;infiltrated&amp;quot; with the Wildfire snap-up.  Wildfire says it will be business as usual, which isn't surprising at all.  It's this business as usual that Google wanted.\r\n\r\nLet the discussions begin, let us know your thoughts in the comments!\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/google/2012/07/31/google-takes-the-trojan-horse-approach-to-social-with-its-acquisition-of-wildfire/>