Google is about to announce the acquisition of Meetroduction (Meetro), InternetNews reports.

The Chicago-based firm is a maker of “location-aware social networking software” that helps people find other people with wherever they may roam, kind of like a Friendster or MySpace on the go. Users can log in and search profiles of other members to see who’s also online and nearby, as close as a quarter mile radius.

As Google moves towards the development of a more portal-like user experience, it’s long been rumored that they’ll be adding instant messaging to the mix. Meetro, which is compatible with AIM, Yahoo Messenger and ICQ, is a very big step in that direction. Says Meetroduction CEO Paul Bragiel:

“The beauty of Meetro is the direct way in which you connect with people nearby. Just run Meetro, double-click on a person and begin chatting immediately. It’s all real-time, which means you see and communicate with local people who are online right now.”

With its Orkut product yielding mixed results, this acquisition could be a sign that Google is finally poised to make a strong run in the social software category.

The Internet Stock Blog has more.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 9th, 2005 at 11:40 am and is filed under Investment, M&A. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.