Handheld maker Nokia has purchased "certain assets" of micro-social networking site Plum Networks, MediaPost reports.

Plum began life as a social bookmarking site, then evolved to into the social networkign space. It enables users to build private networks based on connections that they decide; for example, a family can create a Plum group where their data is visible only to each other.

"Plum Groups is a service for those of us that want to share the more private parts of our lives with smaller groups of people we are close to such as family and friends," explained co-founder Hans Peter Brøndmo in a blog post.

"It fills the need need [sic] for 'private' sharing and conversations."

Vulcan Capital and Levensohn Venture Partners have both invested in Plum.

Financial terms remain undisclosed. Nokia said Plum's bits would be incorporated into its Services unit, where it will "complement Nokia's Social Location services," a spokesperson said.

Nokia's demonstrated its own desire to draw closer to the online social space with "Lifecasting," a feature that weds its mobile phone feature to social network Facebook.