Google has continued on its acquisition trail by snapping up social networking service Jaiku for an undisclosed sum.

Jaiku, which launched in July 2006, is a mobile "micro-blogging" service, which allows users to send text messages updates to a network of friends telling them what they are doing.  

Product manager Tony Hsieh said Jaiku had been "hard at work developing useful and innovative applications for staying in touch with people".

Hseih said: "Technology has made staying in touch with your friends and family both easier and harder. It's more difficult to keep track of everyone when they're running around at warp speed.

"We wish a hearty Google welcome to Jaiku, and are looking forward to working together on new and innovative ways of keeping people connected."

Jaiku's employees will be transferred to Google to continue work on developing the service.

Google is closing new user registrations for the moment "in order to focus on innovation instead of scaling".

Current registered users can still use the service and new users will be able to sign up once Google releases a new version of the service.

Jaiku is the latest in a series of acquisitions by Google this year. Last month, it paid an undisclosed sum for mobile social networking platform Zingku.

Other purchases include video game advertising firm Adscape, which was bought for $23 million, and RSS feed provider FeedBurner for $100 million.