Well, if you can’t be #1, then you should probably do like Microsoft and aim for being “one of the top two” (aka #2). Reuters reports that Microsoft is looking to knock one of their competitors (you know, Yahoo and Google) out pretty soon.

The FTC has not yet confirmed Google’s acquisition of DoubleClick. Last week’s town meeting on the subject of behavioral targeting hasn’t changed that.

Quigo and its AdSonar network became the latest in a string of advertising company acquisitions made by AOL in 2007.

People who are trying to sell a house might make all sorts of small upgrades as they attempt to offload the property.  And Automattic made the “small upgrade” of acquiring Gravatar just two weeks ago.  Automattic’s owners apparently aren’t looking to sell, though – a report indicates that they turned down a $200 million acquisition offer.

Much of the reporting of Microft’s acquisition of a piece of Facebook has questioned the ultimate value of the social network.

(Microsoft’s investment puts the total value of Facebook at about $15 billion.) With advertising as the only significant revenue channel, many are wondering if people networking on sites like MySpace and Facebook are paying any attention to the ads.

Less than two weeks after Google acquired Zingku, a mobile social network, they announce that Google has acquired Jaiku.

News community site Newsvine just made an undisclosed amount of cash for its owners as MSNBC agreed to purchase it.

Adobe reached out to snap up Buzzword, an online word processor, while Microsoft looked inward to find its Office Live Workspace.

The average person may or may not have heard of Healia, a health search engine.  But since two new search tools have been added on, he (or she) is now about three times as likely to become familiar with it.

This is one of two Google rumors that surfaced over the weekend. The other one is here.

In what appears to be a very beneficial deal for both sides, Yahoo UK & Ireland will now sell the majority of Bebo’s display advertising.

When times are tough, a person’s got to save money; some people sell their stuff, others crash on friends’ couches.  Fast Search & Transfer plans to fire 148 employees, or about 20 percent of the company’s workforce.

It is now, in a literal sense, a done deal: Microsoft has closed its $6 billion acquisition of aQuantive.  And that money isn’t intended to make people sit on their hands; some big changes are going to take place within the Redmond-based giant.

In many ways, the recent discussion of Marketwire’s acquisition of PRNN and how it was positioned as an example of the pioneering developments in Social Media and news distribution reminds me a bit of PRWeek’s claim that PR was entering an era of PR 3.0.

While our American readers may not recognize the name, folks in Britain should know The Search Works (“the UK’s largest search engine marketing company”).  The Search Works, along with The Technology Works, is owned by The IMW Group, and thanks to a new acquisition, The IMW Group is now owned by TradeDoubler.

Facebook users are a vocal crowd, and the latest outcry occurred when the social network tried to trace connections between them.  According to company reps, it was only a glitch, and everything is now back to the way it was.