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Facebook has checked in at Foursquare competitor Gowalla, consuming the location based app and rolling the Gowalla team into its own, both Facebook and Gowalla have confirmed.
Although it sported a more complex and visually engaging user interface than Foursquare, Gowalla failed to catch on on the same level its main competitor enjoyed.
Gowalla co-founder Josh Williams said in a blog post about the acquisition:
“A few weeks [after Facebook developer conference f8] Facebook called, and it became clear that the way for our team to have the biggest impact was to work together. We’re excited to announce that we’ll be making the journey to California to join Facebook. Gowalla, as a service, will be winding down at the end of January.”
Also excited about the transition is Facebook, officially commenting and confirming the lack of future plans for Gowalla to continue on as part of the service thus far:
“We’re excited to confirm that Gowalla co-founders Josh Williams and Scott Raymond, along with other members of the Gowalla team, are moving to Facebook in January to join our design and engineering team. While Facebook isn’t acquiring the Gowalla service or technology, we’re sure that the inspiration behind Gowalla will make its way into Facebook over time.”
Williams also confirmed that Gowalla will provide an “easy way” for users to export data, and that Facebook will not be acquiring user data after Gowalla is sunsetted. Williams said, too, that he hoped Facebook would integrate some of Gowalla’s features down the line.
