WebProNews

This week, there have been fresh rumors about cutbacks and layoffs at AOL.  They may or may not be true, but at least one thing hasn't been removed from the corporate menu: an acquisition of Socialthing.

Socialthing is a bring-the-pieces-together site that's often compared to FriendFeed.  It's quite young, having been founded in 2007, and remains in private beta at the moment.

 Matt Galligan

Odds are good the acquisition will affect that last detail.  Matt Galligan, cofounder and CEO of Socialthing, confirmed the AOL deal on a company blog, and assured existing users, "We'll continue to work on Socialthing! developing new features, integrating more services and building a better back end."

He also added, "[W]e have a really cool opportunity ahead of us to integrate into some other AOL products that might change the way you see social aggregation.  AIM is a really big target for us, both on the aggregation and on the publishing side . . ."

One thing neither Galligan nor anyone on AOL's side got into is Socialthing's price; perhaps after so many layoffs and the $850 million matter involving Bebo, that subject's a little touchy.  The acquisition may allow AOL to move beyond its stodgy image, though, so a little outlay seems reasonable.