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05 Dec 2011 21:44

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Tech: Facebook’s Gowalla buyout was for the talent, not the company

  • 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.
  • A statement from Facebook • Basically emphasizing that they bought out Gowalla’s staff, not its service. It apparently was a marriage of mutual ambition: “It became clear that the way for our team to have the biggest impact was to work together,” said Gowalla CEO Josh Williams. The statements effectively play into what many have figured about the Gowalla team — they’re a very good company at design, but ultimately, their product was an also-ran in the market, one increasingly surpassed by Foursquare. They shouldn’t feel bad, though — Facebook was an also-ran at location-sharing, too. source

02 Dec 2011 20:22

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Tech: Gonewalla? Facebook buys location-sharing service Gowalla

  • The sum? Undisclosed. In what’s probably Facebook’s highest-profile acquisition since it scooped up FriendFeed in 2009, the social network bought Gowalla, a popular location check-in service that’s probably the most notable competitor to market leader Foursquare. Facebook had a location check-in service of its own called Facebook Places, which it discontinued back in August after it flopped in the market. So, two questions: With Facebook’s backing, can Gowalla get a kick in the pants? Or is it dead entirely? (For what it’s worth: FriendFeed is still online, though it hasn’t been actively developed in years.) Either way, if you don’t want Facebook to have your Gowalla data, location check-in fans, check out TheNextWeb’s guidesource

20 Aug 2010 11:39

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Tech: Foursquare isn’t doing too bad considering, y’know, Facebook Places

  • cause Facebook launched its Foursquare-aping “Facebook Places” feature, leading many to claim that the service was going to die soon. Because that’s what Facebook does. They rip off other services.
  • effect Instead, Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley tweeted this: “Just heard from The @HarryH that today was @foursquare’s biggest day ever in terms of new user signups.” Hmm. Interesting. source

19 Aug 2010 09:29

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Tech: Facebook Places launch: The announcement was super-weird to us

Is it just us, or are Facebook product launches kind of like secret society rituals, what with the gongs and bizarre in-jokes and stuff? source