Facebook Buys Gowalla

Posted 12/04/2011 at 8:47am | by Justin Kerr

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Facebook has had its own version of a Foursquare style check in system for ages now, but given that just about everyone including myself still calls it a “Foursquare style check in system” suggests they’ve failed somehow. Given how many users the social networking giant hosts each month one would have suspected the in-house solution would have picked up critical mass by now, but somehow it seems to have stumbled. Now according to reports, Facebook has acquired Foursquare competitor Gowalla for an undisclosed sum.

Facebook as expected isn’t commenting, but let’s just say enough creditable sources have been rounded up at this point to say it’s pretty much a done deal. Gowalla, for those who have never used it is a mobile check in system launched back in 2009. The service has been widely reported as losing market share in this niche to Foursquare for quite some time now, but perhaps Facebook thinks they can bring it back from the brink. 

Any Foursquare users out there going to switch to Gowalla if it’s baked into Facebook?