Facebook bought social location application Glancee after Instagram ~ Technology Update

Facebook has made its second major acquisition this year after buying social location application Glancee.

The app - dubbed a 'friendly stalking' application - locates nearby Facebook (and, as of now, Twitter) users with similar interests to be your 'friends', located via their phones.

Along with its purchase of Instagram for $1 billion, it's an indication that Facebook is keen to beef up its expertise in mobile technology - both apps are focused on phones and tablets, rather than desktop PCs.

Glancee Aplication

For an undisclosed sum Facebook, took ownership of all of Glancee’s technology and its staff in its latest attempt to crack location based services.

Glancee quietly tracks users’ locations and suggests people nearby who have similar interests by comparing their profiles on Twitter and Facebook.

It is different from Foursquare because users do not have to check in and works in the background until it finds a good match nearby.

Users can then ask to become ‘favourites’ with people they would like to know, a process that has been dubbed ‘friendly stalking’.

Glancee generated a significant amount of buzz at the SXSW festival this year and appears to have impresed Facebook more than Highlight, a similar location sharing app.

The difference with Highlight is that it shows the exact location of other users on a map, whereas Glancee just tells you they are nearby.

Experts said that the sale was not another Instagram which had 35million users and was a potential threat to Facebook.

Facebook Logo

Glanceee only has been downloaded 30,000 times and 20,000 users using it in the background on their iPhone.

But Facebook is keen to make it a success after its similar ‘Places’ app failed miserably.
It also bought Gowalla, which again carried out a similar function - but shut it down months later.

Facebook’s move was greeted with some scepticism on some technology websites and writing on Venturebeat Jolie O'Dell said it was bad for Glancee users.

She said: ‘Unfortunately for the app’s users, this was a talent grab.

‘It looks like Facebook is shutting Glancee down; users are being offered the chance to download their data, and the app has been yanked from the App Store and Google Play’s Android apps section’.

In a statement Facebook said it was ‘thrilled’ to acquire Glancee.