I’ve been on holiday for the last two weeks so missed out on the official launch of Facebook Places. Now, as I read more about the long-predicted service, I’m increasingly convinced that it is the move that will really bring location-based social networking to the public at large and will be wildly successful.
So without further ado, here the reasons why I believe Facebook Places will be big:
1. Location is king
Being social comes naturally to us, but location’s important too. The web might be a fantastically diverse, global and cosmopolitan smorgasbord of people, thoughts and opinions, but increasingly, we all find ourselves coming back to what is going on in our own country, town and neighbourhood. The local web has yet to be won, and with local papers going out of business, the race is really on for this niche. Putting social at its heart makes total sense.
2. The mobile time-bomb
One of the reasons that location is becoming increasingly attractive is the growth in mobile computing. Facebook knows this only too well and has already got a head-start here; Facebook accounts for 45% of mobile web usage in the UK alone! Mobile connectivity makes location based networking possible in a way that just wasn’t when users were sitting in front of a desktop computer. Devices like the iPad will only accelerate this move.
3. The move to real versus online
Perhaps driven by the previous point, I do think that there is an growing move away from connecting with unknown people you might meet online back to connecting with actual connections you know in the real-world. Location lies at the heart of this. You only have to look at the success of local offline tweet-ups to see that the appetite is there to mix online and offline in a localised way. Using social networks as a way to organise and energise our offline lives makes total sense and is a good fit for a network like Facebook where the focus has always been on connecting with real-world friends and family.
4. The chicken and egg argument
Following on from this, the big stumbling block for other location based services like Foursquare has been a lack of users. As with many social technologies, the real benefits don’t become clear until your friends and colleagues are using the service. Foursquare has been pulling in users at a pretty impressive rate, but, as my colleague Louise commented, Foursquare is pretty pointless without other people that you know using the service. Facebook pole-vaults this problem in one swoop as it brings location based features right in front of its 500 million users. Combine points 1, 2 and 3 with 500 million users and you immediately have a winning combination.
5. Monetisation
For me, this is one of the key reasons that Facebook has moved quickly to ramp up its localisation features. The social giant has often seemed to find that monetising its community is a bit of a challenge (despite reports about record share prices). The potential for monetisation when it comes to local services is huge. Foursquare started to make steps in this direction with business services and I can only imagine that barrage of businesses that will be knocking on Facebook’s door trying to get in on the action. Not to mention the potential for localised advertising on the site as well.
BUT…
There is a caveat to all this. The privacy police will be swarming around this move, especially given Facebook’s history here. I don’t actually think the fury that often resonates round the technology industry about Facebook and privacy has actually hit the radar of most of Facebook’s users, but it’s still something that Facebook needs to confront head on and quick.
I’ve been reading about Facebook Places today. Maybe I’m just a bit of a cynic when it comes to new social media initiatives, but I’m not convinced of its value to me, or a large percentage of the people on Facebook.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I’m not familiar with location-based services. I’ve been using Foursquare for a while, but the most I’ve got out of it is eleven mayor-ships (hardly something to write home about.)
You see, Foursquare hasn’t changed my behaviour, social life or led me to connect with new people. In fact, I find myself only really using it when I’m either trying to knock Danny Whatmough off the mayor status at Wildfire HQ, or when I’m on the train and so bored that I check myself into every station on the Waterloo to Guildford line just to give me something to do.
Now I know Facebook starts from a different premise to Foursquare, as users will already have an established network of friends they are actively connecting with and I can see why some people are going to find Places appealing.
But it just doesn’t make sense to me. I’ve got about a hundred or so ‘friends’, however most of them don’t live anywhere near me at all and I don’t see them regularly. Instead, I use Facebook to keep up to date on their news, share the odd story or look through their latest photos to see how they’re getting on.
So do I really need to know if my cousin has checked into a bar in Northampton? Or if half the people I went to school with are out on the lash in a new bar in Portsmouth’s Gun Wharf? Or whether an old university friend is taking the kids to Bournemouth? The chances of that prompting me to jump in the car and drive two hours to join them are as slim as a slim thing.
So when Facebook Places comes to the UK, it could be something that I just leave well alone.
After many months of rumours, Facebook Places is the official name given to the social networking giant’s new location-based features. Currently only live in the US, the service is available via the iPhone app and mobile site with no date announced as to when it will reach other shores. However, with 500 million users in the bank, it has a built in audience with which the likes of Foursquare simply can’t compete.
By checking in to a venue, users will be able to tag friends, giving them the option of either accepting the location tag or denying it and defaulting to a standard status update mention. The idea here is that even those without smartphones can be included in the location aspects without introducing complex privacy issues.
Winners and Losers
Interestingly, and perhaps to avoid appearing as the bad guys, Facebook launched the service on Wednesday alongside Gowalla, Foursquare, Yelp and Booyah (Maker of MyTown.) These services will have read/write access to the API (currently in closed beta) but the consequences for the location ecosystem are enormous.
Whether as the ‘gameplay’ of Foursquare or Gowalla’s passport, adding value will become the order of the day and predicting users wants/ ensuring you’re securing the right offers for them is going to become an area of massive competition. At the same time, there are a thousand startups biting at the heels of the bigger services offering their own slant on location. At this point, it’s still anyone’s to win.
Another step to Web 3.0 (Here comes the science bit)
Alongside the recent advances with Facebook Places, adding this location data to the mix strengthens a brand’s Facebook presence with strong semantically clear links to the real world- an incredible boon for the retail sector in particular.
<< If that last sentence left you scratching you head, check out this video to fill you in on Web 3.0, The Semantic Web. We promise you it’s worth it. >>
The result is a Facebook page which can act as the central ‘definition’ of a brand, collating data on its popularity (Facebook Like), location (Facebook Places) and even currency (Facebook Credits.)
When people refer to a brand on social networks, the question is, will they link to the corporate site or simply @Nike? By encouraging the latter, businesses further take advantage of the fact that any reference about the company is unavoidably also addressed to it. This is one of the valuable distinctions which social networks are built on, letting brands better keep track of who’s talking about them and what they’re saying.
And of course, Facebook wins big too by being in control of all this semantic information. One thing’s for sure, Facebook Places is currently a small part of the big picture but when added to everything else, it only increases the threat to competition like Google. Unless the big G can up its hit rate on new experiments (Wave, Bing, Latitude), it could soon find itself in a place it doesn’t want to be.
It struck me recently that with all the focus and interest on social media and digital PR, we are giving short shrift to an aspect of ‘traditional media’ that I believe still holds a lot of value: the British newspaper.
Let me explain why.
The other half and I went blackberry picking at the weekend. We came away with two large tubs full of lovely juicy berries and popped them in the fridge, but we just couldn’t think of anything interesting to do with them outside of a crumble, blackberry pie or jam.
Then this morning I received a letter in the post from my mum (who I’d updated on our blackberry predicament). She’d cut out a summer pudding recipe from her local newspaper and sent it to me.
So I stuck it in the letter rack along with the other 14 newspaper articles she’s already posted to me this year, which range from restaurant reviews and ads for sofas, to recipes and health remedies, and even some articles on fishing.
You see, my mum actually reads the newspaper. She doesn’t flip through the money pages and check the TV guide before turning to the crossword. No, she sits down with a cup of tea and gives the newspaper her full attention, with scissors on hand to cut out any titbits (she’s been doing viral marketing for years has my mum).
She’s not on Facebook, or Twitter. She probably thinks Spotify is some kind of illness. And she still prefers to go into her local travel agent to book her holidays. My mum’s probably not the type of person any brand is going to reach with viral marketing or social media or banner ads or digital PR.
But if you’re looking to target a woman with time on her hands to really absorb a message, who feels compelled to proactively share interesting articles with friend and family, and has the purchasing power – and time – to take action if something catches her attention, then you could be making a mistake if you ignore print newspapers.
This week, Wired put out a controversial article called “The Web is Dead. Long Live the Internet” which has been making waves across social networks due to its audacious claim.
We thought we’d point you toward some links which continue the debate.
From 2003 but still worth a read – insight from a Wired contributor on culture of “must-readness” at the publication which causes articles like this to emerge.
Great analysis of how human beings try to shape the technological narrative of their worlds based on desires and intellectual leanings- in this case, Chris Anderson’s role as Editor of the Wired app and magazine but not the website.
The article focuses on how iOS devices have spread the app phenomenon. However, Android now has greater market share on mobile and this will undoubtedly continue in the tablet market. All this means that the Chrome Web Store and its browser based apps are a good horse to put money on. What’s the difference between a website and web app?
I’ve been on holiday for the last two weeks so missed out on the official launch of Facebook Places. Now, as I read more about the long-predicted service, I’m increasingly convinced that it is the move that will really bring location-based social networking to the public at large and will be wildly successful.
photo credit: Steve Snodgrass
It struck me recently that with all the focus and interest on 
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