Skip to main content

Facebook acquires Gowalla to help with Timeline

gowalla
Image used with permission by copyright holder

According to a report from CNN, Austin-based Gowalla was purchased today by Facebook. Two years ago, Gowalla attempted to compete with Foursquare in building a social network that promoted user locations. While Foursquare dominated Gowalla in regards to adding users, the company shifted directions to travel discovery guides that provide a visual look at various landmarks and cities around the globe as well as telling a story about each location. According to the CNN article, Gowalla founder Josh Williams and many employees will be relocated to Palo Alto to work in Facebook’s offices. However, some employees will remain in Austin, Texas and work from a satellite Facebook office.

Gowalla-Mural-2-450x300The team will be working directly on Timeline, the revision of the Facebook wall that was announced earlier this year. Facebook Timeline was scheduled to be released over a month ago, but has fallen behind schedule. Based on previous acquisitions, it’s highly unlikely that Facebook will continue to run Gowalla in the current state. Facebook typically purchases companies like Snaptu and Hot Potato to integrate talented developers and engineers into the Facebook family. No official announcement has been made on the fate of the Gowalla site or the Gowalla mobile application available for iPhone and Android phones.

Recommended Videos

The Gowalla application has about 10,000 daily active users, but that’s a pittance compared to rival Foursquare with over half a million daily active users. According to Mashable, Foursquare officials released the follow statement about the acquisition: “Congrats to Josh and the team in Austin. Here at Foursquare, we continue to focus on building an amazing product and growing our 15,000,000-strong community.” Gowalla raised about 10 million dollars during two rounds of funding and notable investors include Digg founder Kevin Rose, wine aficionado Gary Vaynerchuk and Mahalo founder Jason Calacanis as well as some venture capitalist firms.

Mike Flacy
By day, I'm the content and social media manager for High-Def Digest, Steve's Digicams and The CheckOut on Ben's Bargains…
I paid Meta to ‘verify’ me — here’s what actually happened
An Instagram profile on an iPhone.

In the fall of 2023 I decided to do a little experiment in the height of the “blue check” hysteria. Twitter had shifted from verifying accounts based (more or less) on merit or importance and instead would let users pay for a blue checkmark. That obviously went (and still goes) badly. Meanwhile, Meta opened its own verification service earlier in the year, called Meta Verified.

Mostly aimed at “creators,” Meta Verified costs $15 a month and helps you “establish your account authenticity and help[s] your community know it’s the real us with a verified badge." It also gives you “proactive account protection” to help fight impersonation by (in part) requiring you to use two-factor authentication. You’ll also get direct account support “from a real person,” and exclusive features like stickers and stars.

Read more
Here’s how to delete your YouTube account on any device
How to delete your YouTube account

Wanting to get out of the YouTube business? If you want to delete your YouTube account, all you need to do is go to your YouTube Studio page, go to the Advanced Settings, and follow the section that will guide you to permanently delete your account. If you need help with these steps, or want to do so on a platform that isn't your computer, you can follow the steps below.

Note that the following steps will delete your YouTube channel, not your associated Google account.

Read more
How to download Instagram photos for free
Instagram app running on the Samsung Galaxy Z Flip 5.

Instagram is amazing, and many of us use it as a record of our lives — uploading the best bits of our trips, adventures, and notable moments. But sometimes you can lose the original files of those moments, leaving the Instagram copy as the only available one . While you may be happy to leave it up there, it's a lot more convenient to have another version of it downloaded onto your phone or computer. While downloading directly from Instagram can be tricky, there are ways around it. Here are a few easy ways to download Instagram photos.

Read more