Gowalla is back

Back when social networks were new, and sharing locations was coming to the fore, Gowalla was my preferred choice.

It felt more polished, more fun to use, and an all round better experience than Foursquare. I even managed to catch up with some of the team at SxSW one year, just before the Facebook acquisition and eventually shuttering.

Now, 12 years later, it launched anew at this years SxSW. And even though I've left using social media behind, I thought I'd give this a go.

The sense of play and discovery is still there. I really like the illustrations and refreshed sticker designs too.

Sign up was a little bumpy, but I put that down to an influx of new users. The interface for creating new places, and checking in, is easy to use. Only available on iOS at the moment.

I'm interested to see, not only where it'll go, but if/how I'll use it. The world is a very different place.