AOL to acquire social identity site about.me

AOL has announced that it has agreed to acquire about.me, Inc., a product that empowers people to create a single personal profile page that presents their online identities together in one place, simplifying the social experience across the web. This includes profiles on Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, email, personal blogs and more. Upon completion of the acquisition, co-founder Tony Conrad and his team will join the Consumer Applications Group led by Brad Garlinghouse and will be based in AOL's Palo Alto, CA offices. Deal terms were not disclosed. about.me is set to join other strategic acquisitions made by AOL in 2010 including StudioNow, 5min Media, TechCrunch, Thing Labs and most recently, Pictela.

"about.me is more than just the aggregation of social profiles, it allows people to easily express themselves in an increasingly noisy environment full of disparate social experiences," said Brad Garlinghouse, President of Consumer Applications, AOL. "Creating smart online identities for consumers can have an incredibly positive impact on AOL's content and advertising strategy as it gives us the ability to provide relevant and meaningful content to consumers. The team at about.me has built an incredibly compelling product and we look forward to having them join the team."

Founded by Tony Conrad, Timothy Young and Ryan Freitas, about.me provides a simple, cohesive way to give consumers full control of how people view their online lives. In addition to tying together an individual's social profiles, about.me provides analytics allowing users to track how many people viewed their profile pages and which social networks they went on to view from there – providing users with deeper insight into how best to build and market their online "selves". As a part of AOL, it will help the company enhance the experience consumers have with the entire AOL network from AOL Mail and AIM to content sites like Engadget and Popeater.

"AOL has an incredible vision for how content on the internet is changing – and how they will help shape its evolution. The combination of about.me and AOL is a natural fit as we think about what a more personalized web experience looks like for every individual online," said Tony Conrad, co-Founder of about.me. "We're looking forward to about.me becoming an important piece of AOL's strategy to reach across and engage the web."