Geolocation Is Going Places

On August 18th, Facebook announced their newest feature, “Places”.  The latest contender in the geolocation game is fully integrated into the dashboard of the Facebook iPhone app or touch.facebook.com (if your mobile browser supports HTML 5).

If you’ve used some of the popular geolocation apps that have been picking up steam over the past year or so, then you’re going to find that the user experience of Places is very similar. Just like with other services, users can check-in to different locations through the app and tack on an update detailing what’s on their mind. Where Facebook’s service differs slightly is that it allows you to tag friends who are with you at your check-in just like you would tag a photo or video. Once tagged and posted, it’s published in the News Feed for everyone to see.

Normally, when new platforms come onto the horizon, it takes me a while to really jump on board and start using them at full steam. Case in point: VaynerMedia is invested in Venmo, a service that allows you to pay debts to those around you via text message. It’s an absolutely genius platform that is going to revolutionize the way money is exchanged and it is used by literally everyone in our office on the regular. However, when someone owes me money and says “cool if I Venmo you?”, I have to say I don’t really use Venmo and then deal with a look of shock, generally followed by the impending judgment. I’m sure I’ll be Venmo-ing my face off sooner or later, and judging my landlord for not using it, but as of right now, I’m still getting my feet wet. And that’s how it goes for me; I use new platforms enough to understand it so that I don’t fall behind, but I don’t really use it voraciously right away.

Why do I bring up my irrational fear of change? Because it doesn’t apply to Places at all and that is why it has the ability to take over the geolocation game. While other people do not share my specific apprehension, they most certainly enjoy staying within their comfort zones to some degree. So when it comes to a super-young space like geolocation, Facebook has positioned itself to become the industry leader seemingly overnight. Did they put in the work to determine the public’s wants, dislikes, etc like Gowalla and Foursquare? No. Did they produce a service that is revolutionary and different? No. What they did do is they allowed the space to develop to the point where the public’s familiarity with geolocation services was substantial  but not yet mature enough that the majority has “brand loyalty” with any one service. For instance, most of VaynerMedia uses Gowalla. My interest started when Gary invested in the service; they retained that interest through the platform’s phenomenal features and user experience. However, many people can’t say that yet; they can’t explain what their favorite geolocation service is because most of them simply don’t have one. And at this pivotal point in the growth of this space, in comes Facebook, the 800lb gorilla with half a billion users, and they throw their hat in the geolocation ring.

Honestly, after playing around with Places for a while, I wasn’t blown away by any of its features or graphics; the layout is fairly similar to everything else out there that I’ve used. However, the one enormous, gigantic, ridiculous (bust out the thesaurus) advantage that Facebook has is that for any service or feature they launch, their infrastructure is already in place. As a user, you never have the feeling that no one is paying attention to your activity or that you’re building relevancy because your network is already built and waiting for you. A buddy of mine from Boston College had a good analogy: “getting people to use Places versus any other similar service is the difference between laying a cornerstone on a piece of land and building an addition onto your house.” Well put. It’s simply easier to build the addition, and most people will do what’s easier. Personally, I think there is a lot to be said for starting from the ground-up on a new platform; I remember at one point I thought that I could challenge Gary on DailyBooth because we both started on it around the same time. I quickly abandoned that hope, but you get what I’m saying. The truth is, a vast majority of social media users don’t agree with me and they stick to what they know, and EVERYONE knows Facebook.

What do you think? Is Facebook going to take over the geolocation game or can these other companies move quicker and evolve faster? Is Facebook “adopting” popular social media trends the beginning of a pattern?