Google buys social media site Aardvark

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Google confirmed Thursday that it bought social search engine Aardvark.

It did not disclose details.

TechCrunch reports that Google paid about $50 million for Aardvark.

Mechanical Zoo, the San Francisco company that created the Aardvark service, was founded by several ex-Google executives including Max Ventilla and Nathan Stoll. It’s a site where users can ask questions and get answers from their social network, a popular new concept being tested by other start-ups.

This is the second major social-media move this week for the Internet giant. Google announced Tuesday that it has added Buzz to its Web mail service Gmail.

-- Jessica Guynn