Move over, Foursquare. Facebook has officially checked-in to the location tagging game with its new “Places” feature. Available on the Facebook application for iPhone, Places allows users to alert their friends to where they are and who they’re with.
Once users have checked-in using Places, their location will be shared on friends’ news feeds and in the recent activity section on the page for that place. In addition, users can tag the friends that they are with and post an update to include more information about the place and what they are doing there.
Hot on the heels of criticism regarding their privacy regulations, Facebook is quick to assure its users that sharing information with Places is strictly voluntary.
“With Places, you are in control of what you share and the people you share with. You choose whether or not to share your location when you check in at a place. When you check in, you can tag friends who are with you but only if their settings allow it. When you are tagged, you are always notified.” – Facebook
For those of us actively using location-based social media, it is convenient to have these services combined with our existing Facebook friend collection – the whole “killing two birds” thing definitely applies here. However, Facebook Places doesn’t offer the coupons and deals that Foursquare is still struggling to popularize.
Do you think Facebook Places will make Foursquare and Gowalla obsolete or will it up the ante and force them to provide more user incentives?
Labels: Apple, apps, Facebook, social media, social media tools