Seesmic picks up Ping.fm

Jake Widman
Tuesday, 05 January 2010 04:00

IT Industry - Strategy

Twitter client maker Seesmic has acquired Ping.fm, enabling users to post updates to 50 social networks at the same time.

Seesmic offers desktop and mobile clients that integrate Twitter and Facebook feeds into a single window, as well as Seesmic Web, which adds multiple views and other functionality that Twitter.com doesn't offer.

The clients include Adobe Air applications for Windows, OS X, and Linux, a new Seesmic for Windows client, and applications for Android and BlackBerry smartphones.

Ping.fm, on the other hand, provides a single point for updating those social networks but many others as well, including LinkedIn, Jaiku, Plaxo Pulse, Bebo, Flickr, and various blogging services.

As described on the Seesmic Blog and the Ping.fm Blog, the acquisition will bring all those other networks to Seesmic's clients, as well as letting people post updates by e-mail or  text messages.

The Ping.fm blog states, "You can definitely expect to see full integration of our services into all Seesmic clients within a few weeks."

As part of the deal, Ping.fm cofounders Adam Duffy and Sean McCullough will join Seesmic.