Gowalla is a web & iOS/Android app that allowed you to check-in to locations and share that with your friends. I used it purely for my interest - I'm a stats nerd and liked the ability to record location information without having to share it with the world 1. Plus their app looked a lot better than their competition, namely Foursquare.
When I heard that Gowalla was acquired by Facebook I was worried that all the data I had submitted/used with their service was going to be picked up by Facebook as well - but I'm glad to read today on Gowalla's blog that the data wasn't part of the purchase:
Gowalla, as a service, will be winding down at the end of January. We plan to provide an easy way to export your Passport data, your Stamp and Pin data (along with your legacy Item data), and your photos as well. Facebook is not acquiring Gowalla’s user data.
I'm sure we'll see the creators of Gowalla leave Facebook in a year or two 2 and create something else that's awesome. And hopefully the rest of the talented Gowalla team finds a place to land that doesn't see them disappearing into the Facebook machine, never to be heard from again.
And as I'm about to post this, I see that Max Voltar isn't joining Gowalla at Facebook and is instead moving over to Instagram. Good to hear. Though I can't imagine Instagram turning away big offer money down the road as well as most web apps seem to either die or get swallowed up by Google or Facebook. Interesting times ahead.
- i.e. Facebook ↩
- Or whenever their contract allows them to get out but still keep whatever shares/money they picked up by being acquired. ↩