Parakey was the name of Facebook’s first major acquisition, completed in 2007.
Parakey was a startup founded by Blake Ross and Joe Hewitt, who were known for their work on the Firefox web browser. The company was developing tools intended to make it easier for people to access and share information online.
Facebook acquired Parakey in 2007, and Ross and Hewitt joined the social-networking company. The acquisition is generally described as Facebook’s first significant purchase and illustrates how Facebook used acquisitions to recruit experienced product and engineering talent during its early growth.
Parakey is easy to confuse with later Facebook acquisitions because many early deals were small and talent-focused. Facebook subsequently bought companies such as FriendFeed, Instagram, WhatsApp, and Oculus, each with a different strategic purpose. Parakey itself did not remain a prominent standalone consumer brand.