Facebook acquires social travel startup Nextstop

Facebook has acquired social travel startup Nextstop, which enables users to create and share vacation guides and tourist recommendations. Financial details were not disclosed. Nextstop first announced the deal on its website, stating "What this means is that we'll be joining Facebook and that Facebook has bought most of our assets." The firm adds the Nextstop service will shut down on Sept. 1, urging existing users (who have contributed information on close 100,000 destinations across the globe) to export their guides to Google Maps or Picasa or download a set of PDF or HTML files.

It is unclear how Nextstop figures into Facebook's future--in an email statement, the social networking giant confirmed the purchase, but said only that it represents "a small talent acquisition." Conventional wisdom suggests the Nextstop solution will bolster Facebook's evolution into the social location segment, presently dominated by mobile upstarts like Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt. Last month, research firm The Nielsen Company said 39 percent of smartphone owners use the Facebook social networking application each month, adding it is the most popular app on the iPhone (used by 58 percent of consumers) and BlackBerry (39 percent), and the second most popular on Android (51 percent).

For more on the Facebook/Nextstop deal:
- read this BusinessWeek article

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