Going.com is Going Away

In June of 2009, AOL purchased both Patch Media and Going.  Each acquisition came as part of a plan for AOL to widen it’s “local” strategy.  At a cost of $10 million per startup it was no small investment, but it wasn’t exactly a dent in AOL’s deep pockets either.  Now, almost 2 years later, going.com is doing exactly that; going away.

The official announcement from Going.com founder, Roy Rodenstein, is pasted below:

To our users,
First off, we’d like to thank you and the Going community for your support and your feedback over the years. With your contributions we built a very special site that has helped make the city a place to live in to the fullest and has gotten the word out about thousands of great local happenings, artists, and places. We can’t thank you enough!
As part of AOL’s refocusing, Going will be going away as of Sunday, May 1st, 2011.
We wanted to give you as much notice as possible so that you can grab anything you’ve contributed ahead of that date. Please save out any of your messages, events, photos, profile information and other personal content you’d like before May 1st.
After that date, Going.com will have a new home in Moviefone and Patch which have movie and event listings at a national level.
Hopefully that will ease the transition and help you continue to discover great things to do around town!
Please note that the Going mobile site and iPhone and Facebook applications will be discontinued as well.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions, and thanks again.
Sincerely,
Roy Rodenstein, Going co-Founder, and the Going Team

So, Going.com is getting toasted and tossed into Moviefone and Patch.  I don’t think Going will be missed by many, as that is primarily why it is being shut down.   The whole idea of the site was to post events, and then have people RSVP to them.  To me it just looks like one great big advertisement listing service – something I could do much easier on Facebook, craigslist, Foursquare, or really anywhere.  It just never really took off, and AOL didn’t exactly promote it much after the acquisition.  Say goodbye to Going.com, if you are member you have until May 1st to pull any data that you want to backup.