Location, Location, Location

I have been thinking about Facebook Places over the past couple of days. Though I have yet to try it since it has not been made available in Canada, I am interested to see how it differs from Foursquare. Or, more accurately, how I will use it differently, how brands might use it differently and how it might co exist with Foursquare.

In my mind, I find it useful to view location based services and what they offer through two distinct lenses. The first is, of course, the lens of PEOPLE that use these services. The second is the PLACES themselves, the actual locations in which we check in. Sure, it is an obvious distinction, but here is how I see some of the implications when we think of these two lenses as they apply to what is happening NOW versus what has happened in the past, or THEN. In other words, how do these services play out in how they deliver value right now, in real time, and how does that differ from how value accrues over time? And how is that different for people and places?

Here is my rudimentary chart

I. Places, Now

This is the data that is made available in real time about what is currently popping at a given location. It is the basic role of Foursquare, as far as Places are concerned; animating the present. How many people are right here, right now at this place? Think of, say, a bar or club, and in many ways this is pretty obvious, people have been doing it with text messages or by telephone for ages. I know that as a DJ this is a behaviour that we saw evolve through the medieval ages (the 1990s, as people would rifle off text messages to their friends upon walking in the club to let them know if the party was happening.

Of course, the present is most definitely vital to location based services, but it is far from everything. Making use of the real time information that is being provided is a huge benefit for places, especially commercial places, but it is different than the long term breadth and depth of information and data that location services can provided. More on that below, but Yelp is just one starting point as an example.

2. Places, Then

I think of this as the layers of meaning attached to locations over time. Yes, much of this can be, and is, commercial in nature. Things like loyalty programs, CRM type stuff. Huge for business. But I think it is quite telling that the example used by one of the Facebook developers when Places was launched was of a beach that you were at, and discovered that this was the place where your parents had their first kiss. How sweet!

This hints at the long term project and goal that transcends the present, commercial or otherwise, and is the beginning of an underlying digital archive of information and meaning attached to physical locations, or places. I should say, it is a beginning, instead of the beginning. There is a lot of interesting work being done by the folks at Bing Maps, for instance, to develop rich layers of meaning on city maps. But given the sheer size of Facebook, this project can take off in a very natural, mass way, by making it part of the regular social stuff we share with friends.

So, in contrast to Foursquares game mechanic driven focus on what is going on now, I think Places strength will be in building meaning over time for locations. This is a lofty goal, but as long as the behaviour of checking in becomes adopted and second nature, it will happen given the sheer size of Facebook. Here is how Augie Ray from Forrester put it,

Soon, the local restaurant or hiking trail may have as rich a personality as do the people on Facebook, not because everyone has visited but because your friends have.  And in the end, isn’t that what we really care about?  Not who is mayor of our local coffee shop, but what our friends did, said, and liked when they were there before us

3. People, Now

When Foursquare launched, it was described as one part social city guide, one part mobile friend finder. For users, the mobile friend finder is exactly the benefit of real time location data. Knowing that your buddies are drinking at the bar around the corner from where you are right now is compelling, and at its best, this is where Foursquare and the other services shine. It is why unlocking badges is such an important engine to the game. And though you are encouraged to leave tips or reviews for your friends or others about places, it really is one of the lesser used functions. The focus is on the now, the game and collecting badges. Indeed, the whole idea of the resetting leaderboard underscores the inherent temporal logic of Foursquare.

4. People, Then

This is where Facebook has the biggest opportunity. The goal is to make checking in and the social relevance of location on par with the many other social behaviours and interactions we already share on Facebook, like tagging each other in pictures or posting on each others wall.

This is from the Facebook Places page

If you're already using Places, it's like you checked in yourself without having to do a thing. If you're not using Places yet, it's just like being mentioned in a status update

Putting the check in in the wider context of social behaviours we are already familiar with will be a huge accomplishment if they can pull it off, and if we actually adopt it as users, because we will have the potential of seeing a lot of rich meaning emerge over time for how we relate with places in the real world. This can be incredibly relevant to our friends and network.

Part of this relevance will be in the now, so that we know where are friends are in real time, but in contrast to Foursquare, that relevance will also grow and emerge over time as it is woven in to the fabric of our social behaviours. Or, as the clever Facebook put it, the where joins with the who, what, when. Smart.

Thinking back to that first kiss on the beach example provided by the Facebook developer, it is worth noting that he intended it to show how Places will be meaningful twenty years down the road, as we develop the shared social history of location awareness with our friends and network.

With respect to brands and commercial applications, I think that Facebook might have got it right this time around. Instead of jamming an intrusive and strange interaction down our throat, like Beacon, it is banking on first socializing the check in among users so that it becomes second nature. I suspect that they are purposely waiting to roll out commercial applications because job one is to acclimatize Facebook users to using location features and discovering the many ways that they can deliver value, over time, in ways that go beyond just collecting loyalty points or a free latte.

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[avin]

smart stuff, thanks for sharing. this feels pretty spot on with how i've been thinking about it but havent been able to articulate quite so well.

personally, a difference im starting to notice bet my 4square and facebook places use (which falls in line with your construct) is that i tend to not mind checking into even quick stops on 4square, specifically because of the gaming element, earning more points = badges.

facebook places though feels like it should be more about the places youre going to be at for a significant amount of time (given the larger size of the network), and about the chance for more shared meaning + depth.

and to me that separation may be one of the reasons why all the talk over 'is 4square dead' may not be accurate. they are in fact filling two different roles. not to say that Places couldn't move into gaming territory, but that remains to be seen.

[Dino]

I was thinking about the gaming stuff that might emerge on the Places platform. My hunch is that the best will be built by third party developers using the facebook api, or whatever that is called in facebook world, i keep forgetting. lol
but i think you are right, the fundamental difference is exactly what you point to, avin, and i agree that they are really two different things. it is easy to assume that they are the same, and that facebook will crush foursquare, isn't it?

[MLB Jerseys]

If I speak in the Cheap Authentic NFL Jerseys tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all Official NFL Jerseys knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my USA Jerseys Shop body to the flames,but have not love, I gain nothing.Love is patient, NFL Jerseys love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it NHL Jerseys keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always MLB Jerseys hopes, always perseveres.Love never NHL Hockey Jerseys fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in MLB Baseball Jerseys part, but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappea. When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became NBA Basketball Jerseys man, I put childish ways behind me. Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.And now these three remain: faith, hope and NFL Football Jerseys love. But the greatest of these is love. http://www.jersey-usa.com/sitemap.html YQ

[vibramfiveinger kso]

With several vibram five finger returnees that played last year including three starters, and a large group of talented vibram fivefingers kso newcomers, the linebackers will be the strength of the Reddie defense. Leading the way will be Mike vibram five fingers Wightman, Steve Butrick, Kevin Lloyd and Taylor Stone. Kyle Mathieu, fivefingers kso, Ben Chandler, and Benny Anderson add depth to the Reddie middle four. Mathieu played in all 10 vibram five finger shoes games last season and totaled 17 tackles. The other three are cheap vibram five fingers newcomers, with Aldridge transferred from Indiana State fivefingers shoes where he played in all 11 games on special teams. Chandler comes to Henderson from American River fivefingers kso trek shoes Community College where he was an All-American pick, while Benny Anderson comes to Henderson after having 62 fivefingers shoes tackles, including eight tackles for a loss and one interception last year at Antelope Valley Community vibram fivefingers shoes sale College. Both of the new vibram fivefingers faces logged time at the Nevada County campus previously.Tubiolo split time between Sierra College and vibram fivefingers running American River College, and Eubanks between vibram kso sale Sierra College and Los Rios Community College.Students shuffled through Sierra College's Nevada County Campus Wednesday vibram kso in preparation for another year of school. Hefting backpacks and calling out to old friends, they passed by two familiar faces in new fivefingers kso trek positions. Heather Eubanks and Sam Tubiolo both have taught at the Grass Valley campus before, but each recently vibram fivefingers kso has hired on as full-time faculty an event they found surprising vibram five finger given the budget-slashing in California public education, they said. http://www.vibramfivefinger.org/

[GHD IV]

facebook places though feels like it should be more about the places youre going to be at for a significant amount of time (given the larger size of the network), and about the chance for more shared meaning + depth.

[vigilon]

The technology with the industry of house alarm systems is definitely changing and developing.

[nike shox]

A voyaging ship was wrecked during a storm at sea and only two of the men aboard were able to swim to a small, desert-like island. Not knowing what else to do, the two survivors agreed that they had no other recourse than to pray to God.

[nike shox deliver]

never complain. Complaint will only expose your incompetence.

[beisbol gorras]

¡Guau! Estoy disfrutando mucho de la plantilla / tema de este sitio web. Es muy sencillo, pero eficaz. Muchas veces es difícil conseguir ese "equilibrio perfecto" entre la facilidad de uso excepcional y el aspecto visual. Debo decir que has hecho un trabajo fantástico con este. Además, el blog carga muy rápido para mí en el Internet Explorer. Excepcional Blog!