It’s been a whirlwind of a week for social media as far as business deals are concerned. Here’s a quick recap of the most significant happenings.

Twitter buys Posterous. Twitter has bought fellow micro-blogging site Posterous for an undisclosed sum. Posterous is a simplistic blog platform similar to Tumblr, designed so users can create quick, short posts. It currently has around 15 million users and has been around since 2008.

UTV Media acquires Simply Zesty. UTV Media has acquired Dublin-based Simply Zesty in a deal worth £1.7 million (with further payments of up to £5 million). The social media agency employs just 22 people and has built up an international reputation with brands such as Sony, ESPN, Universal Music and News International. It’s a great development for both parties.

CNN woos Mashable. Rumours are rife that CNN will purchase Mashable for a whopping $200 million. The two companies are currently in talks and CNN already uses some of Mashable’s stories in syndication (an arrangement which has been around for quite a while). Mashable has 20 million visitors per month and 4 million social media followers.

Yahoo sues Facebook. Yahoo is suing Facebook over 10 patents following the latter’s announcement of plans for an initial public offering that could value the company at $100 billion. Only two of the disputed patents refer to social networking technology; the rest focus on online advertising, privacy and customising information. The case will be heard later this year.

Reddit gets new CEO. Yishan Wong has been named the new CEO of Reddit, six months after the social news site parted ways with Conde Nast. Wong is a former Facebook engineering director and consultant to entrepreneurs. He has been a ‘redditor’ since 2005. He announced his arrival via a blog post on the site.

Source: Irish Times, CNET, Huffington Post, Reuters, Wire

Tags: CNN, Facebook, Mashable, Posterous, Reddit, Simply Zesty, Twitter, UTV Media, Yahoo