Rest in peace, Facebook Places. At least that's what all 6% of the people who actually used it might be saying. It looks like Foursquare is going to win the location-based check-in service battle, as Facebook announced yesterday it would be
killing the Facebook Places check-in feature
within its mobile app.
Facebook's Places feature, released a year ago, was thought by many to be a viable competitor to other popular check-in apps like Foursquare and Gowalla, given Facebook's large user base. However, by last October, only about 6% of Facebook users were touching the service.
Facebook did reveal that, while it is killing Places, it will optionally add locations to users' status updates or pictures. How useful will it be? Only time will tell, but we think not that useful.
Other check-in applications like Foursquare and Gowalla are likely doing the opposite of mourning Facebook Places' death. Foursquare, which now has over 10 million users and more than half a million businesses offering deals in conjunction with check-ins, has been especially active lately, recently adding the ability for users to check-in to specific events rather than just the venues associated with them. The company has also partnered with several daily deals sites (LivingSocial, Gilt City, Zozi, AT&T Interactive, and BuyWithMe), providing better deals to customers that check-in.
Marketing Takeaway
Social media plat forms come and go every day. While it's important to keep tabs on what's new on the scene and how it can impact your marketing campaigns, be mindful that not every shiny new toy will serve a meaningful purpose in your marketing mix. Not every new social network will be as successful and useful as Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Similarly, not every successful social media tool will be applicable to every business in every industry.
Pay attention to how people are adopting use of new tools and trends. If they seem to be attracting use from your target audience, consider ways you can take advantage of their popularity in your marketing efforts. That said, don't overly rely on any one tool. Considering the number of users and the widespread use of Facebook , Facebook Places seemed promising. Now look where it is...
How do you balance adoption of new tools and trends in marketing?
Photo Credit:
Kristian Thøgersen
Inbound Marketing Blog Feed
Steve Kirstein 11:03 AM on August 24, 2011
@ 6% of their hundreds of millions of users, that's still far more users than foursquare. Can't believe they lack the resources to turn that opportunity into vendor/merchant deals.
Ben 12:31 PM on August 24, 2011
As a super-early Facebook Places adopter, I was also a super-early drop from the feature. I also use Foursquare annoyingly (I'm sure) frequently attached to my Twitter. Within a week of checking in on Facebook, a friend commented on my check in: "Nobody cares, dude." The next check-in, I tagged a few friends I was with and one of them, when he got home and checked his notifications, called me and asked firmly that I not check in with him attached anymore due to privacy concerns. I resisted but they both articulated what I felt in my gut: that check-ins weren't part of the culture/etiquette of Facebook. If they really wanted to change the culture to make it so, as they've done with tons of other things that we now see as core features (and that have also faced "popular," or at least vocal resistance), they did a really bad job making it functional and easy to use.
pengurusan masa 4:08 AM on August 25, 2011
you can't ran away that facebook is helping out people to connect around the world lot more easier than better.Cuisinart TOB-195
Matteo 4:58 AM on August 25, 2011
quote 100% Ben
Pieter Vlamings 9:29 AM on August 25, 2011
Completely agree with Ben, the privacy issues with FourSquare don't exist since the people who already checked in will be mentioned automatically. Places will continue to be evolved it the future i believe, right now it's put on the backburner.
Alan Robezzoli 7:02 PM on August 25, 2011
Is Facebook getting so big that they are willing to walk away from an opportunity of this magnitude. Difficult to understand how, with a creative team backed by $billions that they can't find a way to dominate this space, or at least grow it aggressively.
Warford Designs 2:23 PM on September 04, 2011
This is actually a good thing for me, I spent so much time explaining to my clients exactly how it worked. The issue sometimes is that the creator is so intelligent, that it makes it that much harder to dumb it up for the rest of us. lol