Get Facebook Places in 5 minutes
What is Facebook Places in a nutshell?
Facebook has always asked "what are you doing?", but now it wants to know "where are you?". They call this "checking in" and through services like Foursquare and Gowalla the over-sharing cool kids have been doing it for a while already. With the huge growth in the use of Facebook on mobiles the social networking giant now thinks the idea is ready to go mainstream.
Why would I want to tell Facebook where I am?
Like everything else you share with Facebook, there are two audiences: your friends and Facebook advertisers. Friends can share and recommend places with each other and have spontaneous meet-ups when they're out and about. Advertisers can make you relevant offers in exchange for the info; for example discount vouchers when you check in at one of their shops. And of course the potential for advertising revenue is a big part of what makes Facebook a $33bn company.
So, I get to be mugged by advertisers while burglars perform a free removals service on my empty house. No thanks!
Ah yes, it wouldn't be a new Facebook service without some pretty serious privacy concerns. By default friends can see where you've checked in (so if any of your friends are burglars now is the time to unfriend them). However so can anyone else who happens to be nearby at the time as Facebook Places has a Here Now feature, showing other people checked in at the same place.
And there's a twist: your friends can check you in, in much the same way they might tag you in a photo. However, you get notified, and it won't show in your profile until you agree.
Sounds complex. What should I do about all this?
It's well worth closely reviewing your Facebook privacy settings if this makes you uncomfortable. Mashable has done a good walkthrough of the Places privacy settings.
And what about those advertisers? How are they using Places?
Possibly the highest profile example so far is Nike. They asked Twitter followers to check in at a food truck and surprised them with a free Nike jacket. In the non-commercial world Kentucky University has used it for undergraduate recruitment. Expect thousands of local businesses to follow suit soon with discounts and loyalty rewards, especially as new tools make it accessible to the non-techies among us.
I run a "Place". What should I do?
If you want to explore Facebook Places the first step is to claim your Place, or create it if it doesn't exist. From there you can integrate it with your Facebook Page if you have one. The website All Facebook has a handy guide to Facebook Places for Your Business.
OK, I now "get" Facebook Places. What are other people saying about it?
Good question. Don't just take my word for it and all that. I asked a few people how they would describe Facebook Places and the responses were largely sceptical.
@mat_walker: Its like Gowalla or Foursquare but without any of the 'fun' elements which make you want to use those sites
@mewroh: provide faceless corporations with priceless information for piddling to non-existent rewards. Not a fan of geo social media
@Claremontcomms: 1 tweet? 1 word more like: sinister
@talkweb: I think it's got potential, but would like to see a 'reward' system like the Foursquare badges.
