Facebook to acquire Gowalla

View Photo Gallery —  In seven years, the social networking site has grown from a project hatched in a college dorm to the largest social networking site in the world, well on its way to hitting its goal of having 1 billion users.

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Gowalla confirmed in a Monday blog post that it is being acquired by Facebook. In a company blog post, co-founder Josh Williams said that the location-based service will be winding down in January. Williams said that the acquisition is the result of a conversation the services’ co-founders had with Facebook during the F8 conference.

“About two months ago, my co-founder Scott and I attended F8. We were blown away by Facebook’s new developments,” Williams wrote. “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. So we’re excited to announce that we’ll be making the journey to California to join Facebook!”

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Facebook is not acquiring Gowalla’s data, Williams said, though the company will be providing a tool to export Gowalla users’ information.

CNN reported Friday that Gowalla, which has been a main competitor for Foursquare, will have its team members work on Facebook’s new Timeline feature. Some of its employees will stay in Austin, the report said.

(Post Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Donald E. Graham sits on Facebook’s board of directors.)

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