The biggest threat to the Foursquare boom has arrived – Facebook Places. With over 500 millions users now, Facebook is the largest social media network in the world. There has been much hype over this anticipated move by Facebook into the geo-location services arena, and since the launch the uptake has been massive.
Geo-location based services are growing at a rapid rate since the release of platforms like Foursquare and Gowalla. With these services you are able to “check-in” at various locations, and leave comments, and share this with your network of friends, contacts, or even post your location to Twitter.
It seems like the “Privacy” storm that recently rattled Facebook, has gone quiet. But with friends being able to “tag” you in various places, there is a possibility that the “Privacy” monster will raise its head again.
It would be great if you could easily integrate your Facebook Business Page with Facebook Places, but maybe this will come along in a future update. It will be interesting to see if this will become a beneficial tool for businesses with a Facebook presence, or if this new service will just stay among friends.
Currently you can use Facebook Places via the iPhone app, or using Facebook’s mobile website – http://touch.facebook.com. But PLEASE NOTE: at time of publishing Facebook Places is only available to US based users – typical…
Are you using Foursquare or Gowalla? Would you consider switching to Facebook Places?
Twitter: bbrian017
August 23, 2010 at 2:52 pm | Permalink
You know I’ve seen the update on my iphone but it’s still not available in our area. I think it’s rolling out in the united states first.
bbrian017´s last [type] ..Functionally upgrades for blog engage
Twitter: fionamceachran
August 25, 2010 at 7:46 am | Permalink
@bbrian017, Hi Brian, Yes, I discovered this as well, when I was testing it here in Europe. Maybe the US is a guinea pig first, to make sure it works properly. I’m not sure when the rest of the world will follow. Hopefully soon, so we can play too.
I began to notice this recently. Is it just me or are all the social networking sites beginning to adopt each others’ features?
Mandy June´s last [type] ..Play The Game of HOME
Twitter: fionamceachran
September 5, 2010 at 12:53 pm | Permalink
@Mandy June, Yes Mandy, it does look like this a bit. Everyone seems to be trying to out-do each other to gain more customers (users) and also to gain more users time on their site. After the geo-location phenomenon I wonder what will be next?