Facebook has acquired sports-related content tracking start-up SportStream for an undisclosed sum.
The move comes as the latest bid by the social networking firm to compete more effectively with rival Twitter.
SportStream collects real-time sports data from social media sites such as Twitter, Facebook and Instagram and then sells it to media companies, sports teams, leagues and others. These customers can then use this data on their media properties.
"We want to help people connect with their passion around sports, and the world more generally," Facebook's vice president of Media Partnerships and Global Operations Justin Osofsky wrote in a Facebook blog posting. "Through this acquisition, we expect to meaningfully improve the ability for all of our partners to access and utilise the insights from Facebook's tools and APIs."
"If there is something interesting going on, people are talking about it on Facebook. From favourite television shows to breaking news, these conversations are happening on Facebook," he added.
SportStream chief executive Bob Morgan wrote on the company's website that his company would continue to work with existing partners and "actively work with them on transition planning".
"We'll be scaling and further developing tools and resources to help many, many more partners going forward," he added.
Facebook has changed its service to users over the last few months in response to a growing threat from Twitter. It has introduced hashtags, trending topics and embedded posts in order to better compete with its rivals.
SportsStream was founded in 2012 and backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen's venture firm, Vulcan Capital. The company's team will relocate to Facebook's Menlo Park campus.
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