Yahoo Buys Look Flow To Enhance Discovery In Flickr

Internet giant, Yahoo, has now acquired Look Flow, a startup that develops image recognition technology, according to an announcement from the two companies on Wednesday. The start up was until now creating new ways for people to find, collect and share content that they found interesting.

Look Flow, which is based in Mountain View, California, announced on its website that its employees would be joining Yahoo to work with the Flickr team. Yahoo went on to confirm the same, saying that as part of the acquisition, it will be bringing "five talented engineers and the technology they built into (its) Flickr organization in San Francisco."

Look Flow also said that its products will be integrated into future versions of Flickr, but did not divulge any more information in that regard. Flickr was developed back in 2004, a time when social sharing wasn't very prominent. So it wasn't designed to allow its content to go viral over the Internet. However, with the influx of technology from Look Flow, the image and video hosting website should fare much better against competitors who've been designed to facilitate greater content discovery.

Over the last year, Yahoo has acquired numerous companies and start ups to empower tis mobile efforts. The list includes prominent names like Stamped, Tumblr, Xobni and Qwiki. It looks like CEO Marissa Mayer is preparing the Internet giant to become a powerful player in the coming years where mobile devices and the Internet will influence our lifestyle in a big way.