Facebook announced Tuesday that it will acquire Push Pop Press, an digital publishing company that specializes in interactive books for Apple’s iPad and iPhone.
Mike Matas and Kimon Tsinteris, co-founders of Push Pop Press, wrote on the company’s site that Facebook won’t be moving into the digital book business.
“Now we’re taking our publishing technology and everything we’ve learned and are setting off to help design the world’s largest book, Facebook,” they wrote. “Although Facebook isn’t planning to start publishing digital books, the ideas and technology behind Push Pop Press will be integrated with Facebook, giving people even richer ways to share their stories. With millions of people publishing to Facebook each day, we think it’s going to be a great home for Push Pop Press.”
Though Facebook denies it will move into book publishing, skeptics are wondering what this new move suggests.
The New York Times’ Bit blog suggested it could have been a move to scoop up talented designers and programs (Push Pop Press’ co-founders are former Apple employees), or the company could be recruiting help for its iPhone and iPad strategy.
The move could also signal that Facebook is pushing to become not just a social network, but an entertainment distributer as well, according to the Times.
Facebook’s move into other forms of entertainment, like gaming and movies, demonstrates that the company is looking at other forms of revenue beyond standard advertising. Of course, it doesn’t need to own a book company to distribute books. It doesn’t own a movie studio or a game maker.
But maybe it is learning something. Facebook has another advantage as an entertainment platform. The company understands customers’ likes and dislikes. Facebook users promote their favorite movies, books and songs in their profile descriptions on the site, and people also regularly update their Facebook status with the latest form of entertainment they have consumed, and how much they liked it. That gives Facebook an advantage over other entertainment purveyors.
Read more at Mashable and The New York Times’ Bit blog.
