Social Media has always been a wild and wooly world of startups, breakouts and burnouts. Austin-based Gowalla is the latest example of the “if you can’t beat ‘em, buy ‘em” mantra of Social giants like Facebook and Google. “About two months ago, my co-founder Scott and I attended F8,” explains Gowalla CEO Josh Williams. “We were blown away by Facebook’s new developments. A few weeks later Facebook called, and it became clear that the way for our team to have the biggest impact was to work together.” And so the Austin team is packing their bags for California.
What does this mean for Facebook? Ideally, the Gowalla folks could help Facebook create more compelling content for the profile Timeline. This was Gowalla’s core strength. Cool badges, items, tips, and insights derived from checkins. Another task the Gowalla use-to-bes could undertake would be turning Facebook’s Places into more of a Foursquare-killer. Unlike Foursquare, Places doesn’t allow users to discover locations based on whether they’re a restaurant, nightlife venue, public place or whatever. Facebook’s Places also doesn’t provide users tips about cool things to do once they’re there. An easy fix, it would seem.
The one thing Facebook is not acquiring from Gowalla is their database. So Gowalla users have no worries about having their information hi-jacked.
The Gowalla sale is simply another example of what makes many Dallas advertising agencies skittish about Social Media. There is just so much churn! But advertising agencies and CMOs cannot simply bide their time and wait until they see where the dusts settle. It’s not going to. Social Media–– and the digital space at large–– is a rodeo. You just have to saddle up, keep your eyes open and hang on.
