ReadWriteWeb

It's the end of a big week here at ReadWriteWeb. For one, we just got acquired by SAY Media. As I sit here thinking about what happened in 2011 and what's to come in 2012, I keep in mind the simple fact that soon ReadWriteWeb will be operating under a very clean look and feel in this brave new tech world. What does that have to do with 2012 predictions? Not much. Just thought I'd remind you about the state of tech news right here and now.

Which brings me to my 2012 predictions for Facebook, e-commerce, location and social networks, the four areas I've been watching closely since I joined the rad team at ReadWriteWeb this past October. Come along to the next page!

A new report from Forrester says that geosocial apps a.k.a. location-based social networks can "help increase in-store visits, your brand's visibility and consumer word of mouth by connecting people with their locations and their friends." Yet consumer adoption of location-based apps is very slow. In 2010, only 4% of U.S. online adults used geolocation apps monthly or more; that number grew to 6% in 2011. In 2010, 84% of US online adults did not know what geosocial app like Foursquare or Gowalla even were; that percentage has changed to 70% in 2011.

From the folks who brought you the Pivot Conference and Hasai Marketing comes an infographic that tells the story of 7 companies that, you guessed it, made significant pivots in strategy to successful ends. Included are gaming companies, social networking sites and group buying pioneers.

From instagram's departure from a check-in model (ala Foursquare), to YouTube's online video dating histories, this infographic should remind you that no matter what you are building, be ready to change directions if necessary.

CNNMoney reports that Facebook has just acquired the location-based sharing service Gowalla. Sources say that Gowalla's employees will move to Facebok's Palo Alto offices and work on the Timeline feature, which is all about telling stories. Gowalla had recently shifted its vision to storytelling.

When Gowalla launched in 2009, it faced off against rival location-based social network Foursquare. Since then, Foursquare grew leaps and bounds in the location space, transitioning from a check-in service to a partner of daily deals giant Groupon. Gowalla got lost in the dust.

Read our full coverage of Gowalla, 2010 up to right now, after the jump.

Gowalla, the hip but small location-based social network frequently mentioned in the same breath as market leader Foursquare, announced this morning that it is shutting down two defining features to refocus on what seems to be working.

"Items," the well-designed virtual goods that users collected and dropped for each other at the various places they checked-in at, will be eliminated due to insufficient adoption. Notes, the feature that allowed users to annotate a space with text (wonderful idea, frankly I thought it was poorly implemented), will disappear as well - though the company says they may return. In place of these features that Gowalla was known for, the company says it will release new features soon that encourage more exploration of the real world. That's been the goal all along though and I can't help but wonder if the whole scenario isn't working out as well as Gowalla and its backers hoped it would.

Google Latitude, the search giant's mobile location service, has announced this morning that it is adding the ability to check in to specific places to its Android and iPhone apps. Android users will be able to check in automatically, using two brand new, different and very interesting methods. Latitude has now been live for 2 years and Google says it has 10 million monthly users, making it much more popular than the more high-profile startups in this space.

Why is Google working on mobile location tracking and sharing? It's all about search and relevance. "Our idea is to organize the world's information and part of that is location," Latitude's Ken Norton told us. "Location is a vector against which all factors and metrics will be considered."

Location based social network Foursquare is reportedly partnering with bulk-content company Examiner.com to provide reviews of restaurants and other venues whenever a user checks-in at a location. On one hand the move will add helpful content to otherwise barren place pages when users haven't yet added their own tips to those places, and it will provide lengthier content even when user tips are available. On the other hand, the inclusion of reviews instead of news and other content seems like a big lost opportunity. Examiner content is also widely derided as low-quality. Some users will undoubtedly feel that Foursquare has chosen a content partner who paid over place annotation solutions that add more value for the users.

David Kaplan at PaidContent reported on the partnership this morning but very few details are available and Foursquare has yet to reply to our request for comment. Update: Foursquare replied to say that this partnership is less unique than we expected, it's "no different" the company says from its other brand partnerships (discussed below). It appears that not everyone will see the Examiner's reviews, though that's made unclear by the company's statement that "Local tips will also be available to non-friends who check-in nearby."

The mobile social travel diary and game Gowalla launched version 3.0 of its popular, if market-trailing, service last week and it's a great example of the potential and the pitfalls of contemporary social software.

If you're familiar with Facebook Places or Foursquare, Gowalla now reads friends' updates from and posts your check-ins to those other services, if you like. That's a really fantastic feature. Unfortunately, the way it's poorly implemented is one of several heartbreaking problems with the new version of Gowalla. Here's an update on what Gowalla does and doesn't have to offer in the heated competition to be our primary mobile companion in travels throughout town and the world.

Gowalla has released an ambitious update to its iPhone app today that does more than just offer well-designed pins or virtual items. Gowalla 3.0 comes to the iPhone with a brand new design, a number of new features and something Gowalla users are likely to find far more useful than any digital mocha - integration with Facebook Places and Foursquare, Gowalla's much larger rivals in the location-based check-in sphere.

Topguest, the location-based "checkin" service that gives travelers hotel points, airline miles and other travel perks, has just nabbed one of its biggest partners yet: Choice International, the world's second largest hotel company. Choice manages brands like Quality Inn, Comfort Suites and Cambria Suites.

What, you ask, only the second-largest hotel chain? Actually, Choice joins Topguest's previous partners, including IHG, the largest hotel chain worldwide. That means the top two hotel groups are now using Topguest's service for location-based marketing. Maybe it's time you sign up, too?