Facebook Places: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

siteadmin — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 02:40:33 +0000

Facebook Places has been out and about for the past few weeks now. Many of us have used it (or at least tried out out and turned it off), and there are definitely some good things, some bad things, and some downright ugly things about it.

The Good
The first weekend after Facebook Places launched, I went home for a visit. My newly iPhone-d mother wanted to tell me all about this new tool she found, where she could share where she was with all of her friends. Now, I had tried to convince her to use Foursquare, but I was her only Facebook friend using the tool.

For her, Facebook Places has some serious value with its built in audience. For me, that group was already on Foursquare, so Places is a redundant tool. Different audiences, different needs. Places definitely fills a gap.

The Bad
As with any Facebook product roll out, there are downsides. For businesses, the process of claiming, measuring and moderating venues is incredibly labor-intensive. Facebook requires scanned documentation of a Better Business Bureau accreditation or Articles of Incorporation to even claim a business, and owners with multiple locations currently have no way to bulk claim or integrate their many venues.

For users, the interface is pretty rigid. You can add a venue and comment on your check-in, but you can't leave tips, earn badges, become mayor or share with other social networks. For many users, these extensions make these geolocation applications more useful, and the elements of competition keep them engaged.

The Ugly
Well, look at it:

If someone checks me in with them, it posts twice. Plus, there's no option to check-in "off the grid" or to share with certain friends.

What do you think so far? Is Facebook Places mostly good, bad or ugly?

Foursquare and the Tragedy of the GPS

agardina — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 07:56:50 +0000

This post was supposed to be a lot of things. It was supposed to be the last post in my mobile series - how business & organizations can use geolocation apps. Then, it was supposed to be a rant about Foursquare's new GPS integration and how much I hate it. And, on a personal level, I do hate it. But I understand it. Why?

I know why Foursquare did it. And they're smart.

Business are getting ideas about using Foursquare for campaigns. P rizes for mayors, discounts for a certain number of check-ins, branded badges. Foursquare, like any company, likes money. Pride in winning the "Don't Stop Believin'" badge doesn't keep the lights on and it doesn't pay salaries.

And so, to monetize, Foursquare had to change. They had to hold users accountable and prove to businesses that the mayor of their venue was actually the person who's been physically there the most times. (By the way, this is, in essence, a summary of what my use for businesses post was going to be about - rewarding your visitors. More later!)

As a user? I hate the GPS integration, but not because it exists. As I said less than a week ago, the reason I use Foursquare over Gowalla is because of Gowalla's bug-ridden GPS. For non-smartphone users, their Foursquare usage is going to basically be nil, and if you ever forget to check-in somewhere while you're there, well, you're just out of luck.

Foursquare made this decision because they're a business. As a marketer, I get that. But I'm willing to bet thousands of their users aren't - and who's going to meet their needs?

(Coming up next: Foursquare Fox: You have to be kidding me.)

alyssagardina.com - foursquare

Facebook Places: the Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Foursquare and the Tragedy of the GPS