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The top story on the social Web this week is Facebook’s acquisition of social media aggregator FriendFeed. The transaction is reported around $50 million. FriendFeed’s traffic is an estimated 1 million visitors per month which is minute compared to Facebook’s 250 million. With a recent Facebook valuation of $10 billion though, the numbers make sense.

Forrester Research analyst Jeremiah Owyang says it was “a good move for Facebook,” but it may have been a little premature for FriendFeed. “They could have given it a couple more years. With some marketing, they could have developed into a viable social media competitor,” says Owyang.

Others seem to have a difference of opinion. PC World reporter David Coursey states, “Purchasing FriendFeed, which seemed to be going nowhere, seems like an enlightened act of charity. The four … former Google stars that founded the company get a graceful exit from FriendFeed and an excuse when the service eventually shuts down.”

In my opinion this was a win-win situation for FriendFeed and Facebook; a lucrative deal for FriendFeed’s former Google engineer founders; and Facebook scoops up a so-far proven service that contains valuable insight into social media features that Facebook has yet to explore on it’s own platform.

Today FriendFeed rolls out a new file sharing feature to expand collaboration across the social networking platform. File sharing has been a common request by users, especially organizations that take advantage of FriendFeed groups. The new file sharing feature functions similar to photo sharing: simply click the “Files” link below the post box (conveniently located next to the “Photos” link) and browse for the file you would like to upload. You can also share files and photos via email through share@friendfeed.com by adding attachments.

Common file types that FriendFeed expects to see users uploading include documents, spreadsheets, Photoshop files, MP3s (limited to three per day), and altogether does not allow video or executable files. While a daily MB limit has not been publicly specified, we expect that FriendFeed will come to a determination in the near future based on common usage.

Facebook, in response to other popular social sites such as FriendFeed and Twitter, has redesigned their traditionally click-to-update news feed into a live status stream. New advanced filters have also been added to the mix that allow you to view your status stream for just family members, local friends or a variety of other options. Preview the new Facebook design set to go live mid next week.