So long Gowalla, it's been real!

Not too long ago, I added a blogpost about Gowalla, essentially asking whey they changed their popular app and wondering what they were thinking.  Well, I guess today we got our answer.  Facebook has now purchased Gowalla and will be shutting the application down and folding it in to it's offering.  It appears, according to most reports, that neither Gowalla's application nor (more importantly) user data will be going in to Facebook.  Seems like you'll have to export your data before it's gone forever.  Pete Cashmore of Mashable provides some insight and shares some thoughts on what Facebook buying Gowalla means for users.

It's kind of a shame, I guess.  I liked Gowalla's previous incarnation when it was a simple, social check-in app.  I really liked the fact that I could check in without cluttering up my Facebook timeline with posts that I don't think people really cared about by being able to selectively post my check-ins to Facebook.  The fact that I'm arriving at Reliant Stadium about to watch a Texans game or getting on Space Mountain are cool check-ins that I think are worth sharing.  The fact that I'm getting bagels on Sunday morning, not so much.

I started using Gowalla originally because it was a new, social technology that had a lot of buzz around it and that they were a local (Austin, TX) company.  I guess I can now start using Foursquare since Gowalla is now no longer either of those.  Oh yeah, I guess you can also add the reason that they no longer exist.  So long Gowalla, it's been real!