BBC- Facebook told BBC News that the strike was aimed at a pro-Georgian blogger known as Cyxymu.
The attack caused a blackout of Twitter for around two hours, while Facebook said its service had been "degraded".
Google said it had defended its sites and was now working with the other companies to investigate the attack.
"[The] attack appears to be directed at an individual who has a presence on a number of sites, rather than the sites themselves," a Facebook spokesman told BBC News.
"Specifically, the person is an activist blogger and a botnet was directed to request his pages at such a rate that it impacted service for other users."
Botnets are networks of computers under the control of hackers.
The machines were used to mount a so-called denial-of-service (DOS) attack on Thursday.
With all information still coming in, Web Full Circle assures you that we are ok from the attack and all our accounts a safe and sound. This is a scary thought for individuals and business that have gravitated to Facebook and Twitter to promote and sale.
Keep an eye out for more news about this attack to come…
This is a good argument for buying a Baracuda to block such attacks by blocking these often targeted social networking sites. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
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