

Facebook Places makes it easier to share way too much information


Hey everyone, did you hear the news? Facebook Places is here! Now, instead of telling your friends about your lukewarm eggs at IHOP, or posting a greasy photograph, you can now let your friends know you are chillin’ at the local IHOP as it happens with Facebook Places. How is this different than foursquare or Buzz? I have absolutely no idea. What I do know is Facebook Places is making it easier than ever to share entirely too much information about yourself.

From a marketing perspective, I love what foursquare can do.  You can set up discounts or giveaways for frequent visitors. You can reward loyalty, garner some info on your shoppers, and hey, it’s just kinda cool to be involved in a location based technology. However, as a social media tool? Why exactly do you need to tell people where you are? Why do you need to make a trip to the store a social experience. Free stuff I get, but for the sake of announcement, no way. Are we so self absorbed that we think others may have an opinion on our trip to Walmart to pick up cookies, zit cream, or tampons? Do those little badges hold any more weight than the purple cow you found in Farmville?

Different strokes for different folks. I know, I know. Certainly people like this stuff enough for so many versions of the same thing to exist, but what is it really getting you?

Any Facebook Places users out there? You enjoying the service?

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Categories: General
Eric Millington

3 Responses

  1. Ellsass says:

    A geolocation service is only as good as its database of locations, and Facebook’s is crap. It hardly has any places around Albany and Colonie, while Four Square has just about every public place and landmarked I’ve tried.

    Secondly, and I know this is lame, but there’s no “reward”. Getting points on badges and Four Square is strangely fun. It becomes sort of a game. On Facebook, you hit the check in button, then the process just ends. It feels very underwhelming.

    Of course it will be massively popular because Facebook is a household name and there is a huge swath of users who aren’t even aware of Four Square or GoWalla. Those apps (well, FS) are very popular among those who are into technology and new social media developments, so we know that geotagging one’s self is something people like. Now that your grandmother and every barely-computer literate Farmville player will be presented with an easy way to do it, I can’t see it not taking off. Too bad it’s a watered-down version of its predecessors.

  2. Joyce says:

    why do people share this much info

  3. I agree ellsass, there is something to be said for points, mayors, and all of that. And i enjoy making it a “game” even if its of the collectathon variety. Facebook is just, ya know, places… For seemingly no good reason :)