Facebook's
unveiling of Facebook Places is an obvious banshee cry to Foursquare and
other location-based check-in services. As with those services,
Facebook Places allows users to share their location and discover new
hot spots by following the stops of people in their network.
While the folks at Facebook
haven't confirmed how Facebook Places might eventually integrate with
Facebook's business pages, this is undoubtedly in the works and once it
happens the implications are obvious -- companies will have an easy
opportunity to market and promote their services on the most popular and
powerful social media platform.
That's
not to say Foursquare should just take down its shingle. The service
has excelled as a way for businesses small and large to build customer
loyalty through its fostering of spirited competition among consumers
through it's Mayor badge. But it's going to take more than a basic
reward system of points, badges and coveted Mayorships to stay in the
game. Foursquare is going to need to build more alliances with
businesses the way it has with Starbucks, which has taken advantage of
the service to drive customers with special discounts.
Also,
Foursquare currently has a slight edge in its real-time stats feature
that logs such information as the most recent customers, the frequency
of their visits, gender breakdown and the tips visitors have left. (By
contrast, Facebook Places currently only shows who has checked into a
location.) A business - and its competitors -- could glean valuable
intel from this data if Foursquare did more to make it visible.
Ultimately,
however, no strategy will likely be enough to fend off obsolescence.
Once Facebook Places incorporates enough Foursquare-like features -- and
it will -- Foursquare users will start abandoning the service in droves
to take advantage of the expansive network they've already built on
Facebook and the ease of managing multiple services from one social
networking platform. Then there are those folks who have never
previously used a location-based check-in service who will undoubtedly
get in the game through Facebook Places.
Companies,
in turn, will be unable to resist the lure of the millions of embedded
and engaged users Facebook offers - leverage Foursquare has no hope of
competing with.
Until Facebook
Places expands its feature set, Foursquare could remain the go-to
location-based check-in service for many users, largely thanks to its
integration with Facebook. But Foursquare's days are numbered. Savvy
businesses will claim their Place on Facebook Places today, and never
look back.