Facebook (Nasdaq: FB), the No. 1 social network, said it's acquiring the staff and technology of startup Lightbox.com, developer of a photo app for mobile surfaces.

The move by Facebook, of Menlo Park, Calif., which plans its initial public offering Thursday, is the latest as it moves from its heritage as a PC-based website with 901 million members to one that also links with smartphones and tablets.

With Lightbox.com, based in London, Facebook said it's hiring its seven-person staff and its technical applications as of June 15. It's not acquiring the company.

Terms weren't disclosed.

Facebook is not acquiring the company or any of the user data hosted on Lightbox.com, the company said. A statement by co-founders Thai Tran and Ninesh Patel thanked backers and previous customers.

Tran boostrapped the company with some of the cash he had from prior employment at Google (Nasdaq: GOOG), the No. 1 search engine as well as $1.1 million from venture capital companies including Accel Partners, a major Facebook investor; Index Ventures, SV Angel and others.

Lightbox.com developed various apps for Google's Android OS, launching its second version only last December.

The company quickly won millions of users who downloaded its app to use for photos. Last year, PC World listed the app as among the 100 best products of 2011.

The acquisition may be the last before Facebook's IPO, expected Thursday.

In recent weeks, the company has announced plans to acquire Instagram, another mobile app specialist, of San Francisco, for $1 billion, as well as patents valued around $550 million from Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), the world's biggest software company, which were recently acquired from AOL (NYSE: AOL), the No. 7 website.

Facebook also acquired Glancee, a location-based discovery service, also of San Francisco, as well as Tagtile, another San Francisco startup, which handles loyalty rewards and mobile marketing.

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