Twitter announced on Monday that it had acquired the blogging platform Posterous.
Similar to its main rival, Tumblr, the site allows users to easily add posts to their blogs via the web, the Posterous mobile app or by email.
Twitter announced the acquisition on its blog: “Today we are welcoming a very talented group from Posterous to Twitter,” the post said. “Posterous engineers, product managers and others will join our teams working on several key initiatives that will make Twitter even better.”
The precise terms of the deal were not revealed by either party.
Sachin Agarwal, founder and CEO of Posterous, said on the site’s blog that his company “couldn’t be happier” about the deal, describing his his new colleagues at Twitter as “genuinely nice folks.”
He added, “The last four years have been an amazing journey. Your encouragement, praise and criticism have made us better. Thanks for that. We look forward to building great things for you over at Twitter.”
Both companies reassured Posterous users that the website would remain up and running without disruption, though in a somewhat ominous note added that they promised to give plenty of notice “if any changes are made.”
More worryingly, the posts on both sites also said that Posterous users will be given instructions in the coming weeks on how to back up content or transfer it to another service. For many Posterous users, perhaps Tumblr is looking like a more reliable bet just now.
Based in San Francisco, Posterous launched back in 2008 and has around 20 people working for it. It describes its “sole purpose in life” as “to help you share easier.”
But does news of the Twitter takeover mean that Posterous will soon be an ex-blogging platform? If you’re currently a user, will you be gathering your virtual belongings and heading elsewhere?
