Plinky, a “content encouragement” service that provides daily prompts to people in need of help composing social media updates, was presumed to be headed to the junk heap after its creator, San Francisco-based Thing Labs, announced plans in April to stop updating the site.
But in a post on the Thing Labs blog today, the company, founded by ex-Googler Jason Shellen and supported by Waltham, MA-based Polaris Venture Partners, says Plinky has been acquired by Automattic, maker of the WordPress online content management system.
“We’re happy to hand off Plinky to a company that knows and loves the world of blogging and content creation,” the post says. “Not only are we excited that the original idea will live on in some form with people we trust, but it means we at Thing Labs can continue to focus on Brizzly.”
Brizzly is a reader that simplifies access to Twitter and Facebook updates. It long ago eclipsed Plinky as Thing Labs’ most successful product.
The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, and the post offered no details on Automattic’s plans for Plinky’s future.
Author: Wade Roush
Between 2007 and 2014, I was a staff editor for Xconomy in Boston and San Francisco.
Since 2008 I've been writing a weekly opinion/review column called VOX: The Voice of Xperience. (From 2008 to 2013 the column was known as World Wide Wade.)
I've been writing about science and technology professionally since 1994. Before joining Xconomy in 2007, I was a staff member at MIT’s Technology Review from 2001 to 2006, serving as senior editor, San Francisco bureau chief, and executive editor of TechnologyReview.com. Before that, I was the Boston bureau reporter for Science, managing editor of supercomputing publications at NASA Ames Research Center, and Web editor at e-book pioneer NuvoMedia.
I have a B.A. in the history of science from Harvard College and a PhD in the history and social study of science and technology from MIT. I've published articles in Science, Technology Review, IEEE Spectrum, Encyclopaedia Brittanica, Technology and Culture, Alaska Airlines Magazine, and World Business, and I've been a guest of NPR, CNN, CNBC, NECN, WGBH and the PBS NewsHour. I'm a frequent conference participant and enjoy opportunities to moderate panel discussions and on-stage chats.
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