Google on buying spree, snaps fflick & SayNow

WASHINGTON: SayNow, a California startup that connects celebrities with their fans with voice products, has been purchased by Google.

Technology blog TechCrunch reported meanwhile that the Internet search giant has also acquired fflick, a service founded by four former Digg employees that mines Twitter for movie recommendations and positive and negative reactions.

The purchase price for SayNow was not available while TechCrunch said Google was buying fflick for around $10 million. There was no confirmation from fflick that it had been bought by Google but SayNow, which is based in Palo Alto and was founded in 2005, said in a blog post Tuesday it was "thrilled to announce that we have been acquired by Google."

"Through the Web, smartphones, and even land lines, our products brought communities together through the power of voice," SayNow said. "And as Google has some of the best voice products in the world, we believe combining forces with the Google Voice team will let us innovate in new and unexplored areas," it said.

SayNow claims more than 15 million users and thousands of celebrities for its products and platforms.

One aplication, SayNow Broadcast, lets brands and celebrities send and receive voice messages and chat one-on-one or in groups with fans.