Loomia Inc., developer of SeenThis?, a social recommendations application for Facebook, is announcing Wednesday that it has closed a $5 million Series A from Silicon Valley venture capital firm Asset Management Co. and strategic investors Peacock Equity (a joint venture between General Electric Co. and NBC Universal) and Telefonica Capital S.A.U. (the finance subsidiary of Telefonica SA and owner of Terra Networks).

The idea is "for you to bring your social network with you wherever you go," CEO Dave McMurtry (pictured) tells Tech Confidential. Using algorithms that analyze textual, behavioral and social information, the Facebook app works with sites from the Wall Street Journal, NBC Universal and CNET.

If you're a Facebook user who has downloaded SeenThis?, and you go to the Wall Street Journal's Web site, for example, you'll be steered to articles that have already been read by individuals and groups you've aligned yourself with on Facebook.

Interestingly, Loomia began life in 2004 as a social podcasting site at the "height of the Napster craziness," explains McMurtry. The company's first customer was Audible Inc. [ADBL] (acquired by Amazon.com Inc. [AMZN] in March). Loomia still provides the technology that powers music recommendations on Audible.

Original financing for Loomia came from a 2006 sub-$1 million seed round from Silicon Valley's who's who of angel investors, including SoftTechVC's Jeff Clavier, early Google Inc. backer Ron Conway and Foundry Group's Brad Feld. 

McMurtry -- a 14-year veteran of Intuit Inc. who led $1.5 billion in acquisitions at the financial software company -- came aboard Loomia as COO early last year and was made CEO later in the year.

Since SeenThis? became available at the end of January, more than 10,000 Facebook users have downloaded the recommendation service, reports McMurtry. He plans to use the new funding to develop more products, including programs on other social networks and to grow sales. - Mary Kathleen Flynn

See Jan. 30 press release from Loomia