From an announcement on the main Google Blog and on the Google Places blog:
It’s been incredibly exciting to watch Hotpot grow—the community has quickly expanded to millions of users who are rating more than one million times per month and enjoying a truly personalized view of the world. Based on this success, we’ve decided to graduate Hotpot to be a permanent part of our core local product offering, Google Places.
Hotpot originally had its own blog, which was fine for their initial visibility. But add to that the weird name, which I was never a fan of, and the fact that they had to explain what it meant, and that it seemed like a product that was supposed to be an enhancement to either Google Maps, Google Places, or Google Latitude (or all of the above), it seems like a smart move to just make it an official Google Places feature.
And yes, I still think Google HotPot is going to be HUGE for your business – Google already says they’ve passed 1 million checkins, and I think that’s just the beginning.
Glad HotPost is Merging with Places – Was a Weird name! http://bit.ly/flSD7w
Glad HotPost is Merging with Places – Was a Weird name!: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/hotpot-is-going-… http://bit.ly/flSD7w
Glad HotPost is Merging with Places – Was a Weird name!: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/04/hotpot-is-going-… http://bit.ly/fmaqBk
Glad HotPost is Merging with Places – Was a Weird name! http://su.pr/8tHfcN
[...] On Your Google Sitemap? HotPot Swallowed by Google Places, Just as Nature Intended 10 Google Tools You May Not Have Heard [...]
[...] times I was off the mark but saw the shift before the product change. Google HotPot was folded into Google Places – it didn’t disappear, it just folded into another product. Google [...]