Google acquires online survey specialist Polar

Google has acquired Polar, a company that specializes in online polls that allows its customers to get "instant opinions on anything."

The deal was announced on Polar's website and Dave Bresbis, vice president of engineering for Google+, welcomed the addition of Polar's staff to his team in a Google+ post.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Polar has been used by various companies to gather audience opinion on a wide variety of topics. Polar customers have used the website to ask whether they think WhatsApp is worth $16 billion, if they would rather buy a new Apple Mac Pro or a PC-based equivalent or if Apple made a smart move to release a public beta of OS X Yosemite.

Polar's polls can be are meant to increase engagement with audiences on sites and apps. "We're a mobile-first mix of photo slideshows and lightweight participation -- perfect for today's world of instant interactions," it said on its site.

Polar's publisher tools will be available to existing customers until the end of 2014. Customers can also download and save an archive of existing polls and data, it added.

Polar's founder Luke Wrobleski will also join the Google+ team. He wrote three books on mobile and web usability, interaction, and visual design including Mobile First, a book that makes the case for why websites and applications should increasingly be designed for mobile devices first .

Wrobleski was also a co-founder of Bagcheck, an online service where people could create lists of items that interest them and share them with others. That company was acquired by Twitter in 2011.

Loek is Amsterdam Correspondent and covers online privacy, intellectual property, open-source and online payment issues for the IDG News Service. Follow him on Twitter at @loekessers or email tips and comments to loek_essers@idg.com