MUMBAI: In a move to compete with Facebook by offering social networking and entertainment, internet giant Google has acquired social technology company Slide for $ 200 million.

The acquisition will help Google make its services more "socially aware."
 
Currently Google faces mounting competition from Facebook and Twitter with both the entities attracting a growing number of online advertisers and thus threatening to drain off Google‘s main source of revenue. To counter that, Google is making more acquisitions and adding social features to existing services.

"For Google, the web is about people and we‘re working to develop open, transparent and interesting methods to allow our users to take full advantage of how technology can bring them closer to friends and family ," said Google engineering director David Glazer.  
 
Slide, a company founded by PayPal co-founder Max Levchin in 2005 as a photo-sharing site, has about 125 employees and raised $50 million from investors that valued the company at more than $500 million.