Gowalla team joins Facebook, will shut down location-sharing service in January

Late on Friday, CNN Money reported that Facebook had purchased Gowalla, and co-founder Josh Williams officially announced on the Gowalla blog today that the team would be moving onto the Facebook team. He and co-founder Scott Raymond were “blown away” by Facebook’s F8 Timeline announcements, and discussions began a few weeks later when Facebook contacted the Gowalla team. The Gowalla location sharing service will be shut down in January — Facebook didn’t buy Gowalla’s user data — and it will offer ways to export your personal data, including photos, Passport information, and more. So, while Facebook hasn’t acquired the company, it’s just bolstered its design and engineering ranks in advance of the Timeline launch.