Facebook buys location app Gowalla

PanARMENIAN.Net - Facebook has reportedly acquired location based services app Gowalla, according to a CNNMoney report.

The report attributed the development to “a source close to Gowalla” and mentioned that most of Gowalla’s employees will move to Facebook’s offices in Palo Alto. The team will work on Facebook’s Timeline feature.

In September this year, Gowalla revamped its offering into a social tourist guide. The company, which began as a check-in app, chose to push check-ins to a secondary function of its service. Gowalla decided to allow users to create “stories” around their experiences, grouping together photos and comments from different users who are interacting at the same location.

The company believes there is a huge opportunity for the travel industry to inspire people to tell better stories and share them in real-time with their friends and followers.

In an interview with EyeforTravel’s Ritesh Gupta just before the revamp, Andy Ellwood, Director of Business Development, Gowalla, said, “Each piece of digital content that is created tells a story. Each time I use Gowalla (or any other service) to associated myself with a place, I am including that location as a part of the narrative I am sharing with my network. It is the most honest look at how someone really lives their life. I can tweet, like, blog, and +1 things from my couch. But to share real experiences around the places that I go, I have to actually go. This is a huge opportunity for the travel industry to inspire people to tell better stories and share them in real-time with their friends and followers.”