NEW YORK-Internet search giant Google acquired Dodgeball.com, a popular SMS-based, location-specific social networking service.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Dodgeball.com allows users to “check in” at specific locations-a sporting event or concert, for instance-then sends text messages to member friends within a 10-block radius. The service is available in 22 U.S. cities and has gained national attention in recent months.
Dodgeball co-founders Dennis Crowley and Alex Rainert announced the acquisition on Dodgeball’s Web site.
“Since we finished grad school, we’ve been trying to figure out how to grow Dodgeball and make it a better service along the way,” wrote Crowley. “We talked to a lot of different angel investors and venture capitalists, but no one really ‘got’ what we were doing-that is until we met Google.”
