Google compra Zagat

Google reveló la adquisición de Zagat, un popular portal de recomendaciones que se basa en las valoraciones por parte de los usuarios para puntuar restaurantes de todo el mundo.

La noticia ha sido confirmada por ambas compañías, y este es el apresurado comunicado oficial que podemos leer en la portada de Zagat ahora mismo:

"ZAGAT, un pionero en el contenido generado por el usuario y creador de los análisis de más influencia y credibilidad del mundo, acaba de ser adquirido por otro innovador de renombre, GOOGLE, que combinando su contenido, recursos y plataformas, este dúo dinámico planea optimizar el potencial de Zagat al mismo tiempo que ofrece nuevas vías para los consumidores de expresar sus opiniones y hacer decisiones informadas; gracias a los millones de usuarios que han compartido sus experiencias con ZAGAT durante todos estos años, confiamos en en que disfrutarán del siguiente menú".

En Google también consideran esta compra algo importante, y ha publicado su comunicado oficial recientemente:

Google just got ZAGAT Rated! “Did you know there's a place in Menlo Park near the Safeway that has a 27 food rating?” one of my friends asked me that about two years ago, and I was struck because I immediately knew what it meant. Food rating... 30 point scale... Zagat. And the place... had to be good. With no other context, I instantly recognized and trusted Zagat's review and recommendation.So, today, I'm thrilled that Google has acquired Zagat. Moving forward, Zagat will be a cornerstone of our local offering—delighting people with their impressive array of reviews, ratings and insights, while enabling people everywhere to find extraordinary (and ordinary) experiences around the corner and around the world.
With Zagat, we gain a world-class team that has more experience in consumer based-surveys, recommendations and reviews than anyone else in the industry. Founded by Tim and Nina Zagat more than 32 years ago, Zagat has established a trusted and well-loved brand the world over, operating in 13 categories and more than 100 cities. The Zagats have demonstrated their ability to innovate and to do so with tremendous insight. Their surveys may be one of the earliest forms of UGC (user-generated content)—gathering restaurant recommendations from friends, computing and distributing ratings before the Internet as we know it today even existed. Their iconic pocket-sized guides with paragraphs summarizing and “snippeting” sentiment were “mobile” before “mobile” involved electronics. Today, Zagat provides people with a democratized, authentic and comprehensive view of where to eat, drink, stay, shop and play worldwide based on millions of reviews and ratings.For all of these reasons, I'm incredibly excited to collaborate with Zagat to bring the power of Google search and Google Maps to their products and users, and to bring their innovation, trusted reputation and wealth of experience to our users.(BTW, Kaygetsu, the place in Menlo Park, definitely lives up to its 27 food rating!)