*Updated August 24, 2010* It finally happened. During an over-the-top press conference on August 18th, Facebook launched what many have dubbed as its “Foursquare Killer,” Facebook Places.
Once fully rolled out, Places will allow Facebook’s millions of users to “check-in” to the physical locations they visit via their mobile devices, and then broadcast their locations to their Facebook friends. So on any given day, you could see that Chris is eating lunch at Red Lobster, and Julie is drinking a cup of coffee at Starbucks.
Sound familiar? It should.
That’s because, aside from a few subtle differences, Places is nearly identical to Foursquare. You’ll use Places to check-in to locations around town, connect with friends, interact with businesses, write and receive tips, etc. It’s Foursquare, but with a different name and place to live.
The obvious advantage Places has over Foursquare is its established audience of more than 500 million Facebook users. Even if just a small percentage of these users adopt Places, it should be easy for Facebook to outpace the up-and-comer.
So how can business owners and marketers start taking advantage of this new service?
Well…we’re not quite sure yet. Flipping through Facebook’s Guide for Businesses, it’s still not very clear how brands will interact with consumers through Places.
On Foursquare, businesses are encouraged to create specials that can be unlocked by customers who visit their location once or multiple times (e.g. “Free bagel for every five check-ins”). But, as of yet, we’ve seen no reference to any sort of similar offering from Places. Note that Facebook tends to drag a little with rolling out new products, so we’ll likely see this in the near future.
The other question that remains to be answered is how Places with interact with brand Pages. Facebook has said, “…not all Pages and Places can be merged at this time.” But what will it look like once they are merged? And how will what happens on one’s Page impact what happens on its Places page? There is some reference to this in Facebook’s Guide for Businesses and in its Help Center, but much of it is still unclear.
As more information becomes available, MGH will be sure to update you with answers to any of our unanswered questions.
But, for now, back to Foursquare we go!
*UPDATE 8/23* AboutFoursquare has released some additional details about the merging of a brand’s Facebook Page and Place. Here’s what we’ve learned thus far:
In order to begin the merge process, business owners will first be asked to visit their Place to claim that business as their own. The easiest way to do this is to check in to that Place via your phone and then do a search for your business’ name on Facebook.com.
If a business is not already in the system, users will be given the option to create it as a Facebook Place. Once verified as the owner, the user will then be given the option to merge their Page with their Place. But this is where things get a little tricky…
Merging a Facebook Page and Place will cause the layout of that business’ Page to be drastically altered. Let me say that once more just to emphasize how important this really is…
Merging a Place with a Page will DRASTICALLY change the layout of your Facebook Page. We’re not talking about a couple of changes; we’re talking about a full redesign of your Page that you’ve worked so hard on.
You can view an example of the merged design here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hubstown/111260105555214?ref=ts
Some of the bigger layout changes we’ve noticed include:
- Top navigation has been moved to the left-hand side of the Page. This is the most significant of the changes, altering how users will interact with your Page and its content areas.
- Addition of a Bing map to the top of the Page. Facebook has also added a “Get Directions” button.
- Removal of the “Write something…” box. Users must now click on buttons that read “Write on Wall,” “Add Photos,” and/or “Post Link” in order to post something to a Page’s Wall.
- Addition of “Check-ins,” which notifies users of how many times people have used Places to check in to that location.
- Removal of the “# People Like This” box. Rather than showing you the names and images of people who “Like” a business’ Page, Facebook now just tells you how many people are fans.
It’s still unclear as to whether or not these changes will be the standard for all brand Pages moving forward. But, as you can imagine, they are likely to cause waves among business owners and marketers who have invested countless hours into tweaking their Pages.
As for now, MGH recommends refraining from beginning the merge process until more details about Facebook’s plan for Pages/Places become available.
*UPDATE 8/24* After reading through a series of blog comments, it appears as though most users have not yet been given the option to merge their Place with their Page. Perhaps Facebook is still working out the details? More to come…
