Google has acquired online polling company Polar

Google’s social network Google+ has failed to catch Facebook, but the Web giant has not given up on the business entirely. Google has paid an undisclosed sum to acquire Polar, a startup whose technology is used to poll mobile-device users for their opinions. The deal brings founder and mobile design expert Luke Wroblewski and a handful of employees to Google+. Polar, which started almost two years ago, served more than half a billion polls in the past eight months and had 1.1 million unique voters in September, Wroblewski said in a blog announcing the Google deal. Polar provides polling to other companies and mobile apps, but Polar will be shutting down support at the end of this year. Wroblewski is well-known in the mobile industry as the author of the book Mobile First, which argues that websites and applications should be designed for smartphones and other mobile devices first, rather than the Web and desktop computers. At Google+, Wroblewski and the Polar team will work on making the social network easier to use on mobile devices, Dave Besbris, head of Google+, said. Besbris took over Google+ in April from Vic Gundotra, who left after struggling to increase usage and engagement on the social network enough to keep up with Facebook. The small acqui-hire suggests Google hasn’t given up on its social network, but hardly demonstrates Google+ is receiving the level of focus it once did. Some top Google+ employees have left recently, including three members of its design team, Fred Gilbert, Jonathan Terleski who now work at YouTube, and Brynn Evans, who works in Google’s Android division.