Jan 13, 2014 05:15 PM EST
Today in Tech: Snapchat Apologizes for Spam, Facebook Buys New Startup

Social networks across the board had news on Monday, whether good or bad. In the mixed bag, Snapchat had to apologize for an influx of spam, while newcomer Jelly reportedly broke news on a recent Facebook purchase.

Here's the breakdown.

Snapchat has gotten quicker with the apologies.

The Los Angeles startup apologized on Monday for an increase in spam on the messaging service, PCWorld.com reported. Snapchat clarified in a blog post that the influx of unwanted messages were not related to the hacking job last month that exposed 4.6 million user names and phone numbers.

"We've heard some complaints over the weekend about an increase in Snap Spam on our service," the company wrote. "We want to apologize for any unwanted Snaps and let you know our team is working on resolving the issue. As far as we know, this is unrelated to the Find Friends issue we experienced over the holidays."

The company cited "a quickly growing service" as the issue. Spam has increased on the site before when a user created multiple accounts and sent snaps to everyone with an account set to public.

Facebook acquired a new piece of property.

The latest startup in a flooded marketplace is Branch, a small company backed by Twitter co-founders Evan Williams and Biz Stone. Facebook has purchased the startup, which is described as "a way for people to connect and talk about web information," according to USA TODAY.

Facebook hasn't released details on the deal. Branch has reportedly garnered some $2 million in funding so far.

Jelly finds its purpose (maybe... maybe not).

Jelly is a company that has confused a lot of people--basically most people who have done anything online. When its concept was finally unveiled with much hoopla, the network's purpose was a disappointment. In a world with Facebook, Twitter, text messaging and more, why do we need yet another place to ask our friends questions?

The Q&A app, which comes from Twitter co-founder Stone, had a small moment of glory on Monday when a question posted through the service seemed to break a story, TechCrunch reported.

Using Jelly, someone asked about Branch, the company just purchased by Facebook. Another user replied that the startup had been bought--but the response was timestamped for late Sunday night, before the news officially broke on Monday.

If the posts are legitimate (and not stamped with the wrong time due to a glitch), perhaps Jelly could find a purpose breaking stories ... although isn't Twitter doing that already?

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