Facebook Places: Where We Go
Facebook adds time to location sharing: Where we are, where we go, and where we’ve been; http://eicker.at/WhereWeGo
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Gerrit Eicker
Facebook Profile to Facebook Page Migration
Facebook starts a Page Migration tool: convert Facebook Profiles to Facebook Pages; http://eicker.at/ProfilePageMigration
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Gerrit Eicker
Facebook: “Since profiles are for meant individual people, they aren’t suited to meet your business needs. Pages offer more robust features for organizations, businesses, brands, and public figures… Business accounts are designed for people who only want to use Facebook to administer Pages and run ad campaigns. For this reason, business accounts do not have the same features as personal accounts. … Be aware that when you convert your profile to a Page, your profile pictures will be transferred, and all of your friends will be automatically added as people who like your Page. No other content will be carried over to your new Page, so be sure to save any important content before beginning your migration. … Once you have converted your profile to a Page, you can’t revert this change. Please keep in mind that it is a violation of Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities to maintain a profile for anything other than an individual person.”
IF: “For the first time, Facebook now allows personal user profiles to be converted into official business Pages, turning all their friends into fans. The ‘Profile To Business Page Migration’ tool will help people who either created a personal profile for a business before Pages existed, or accidentally started accumulating fans as friends instead of Likes. … Migration will be especially useful for users who initially planned to use their profile to promote a small business, such as an event promotion company or consultancy, but eventually hit Facebook’s 5000 friend limit. It will also allow those promoting a business with a personal profile to begin using third-party Page applications that allow them to set up a Like-gated landing page, run contests, collect email addresses, and recreate functionality from websites.”
FC: “With the launch of a new migration tool, Facebook is letting single users around the world create a more business-centric, limited form of Facebook entry that allows business to have thousands of ‘fans’ rather than acting as an interactive friend resource. … A user may choose to migrate to the Pages system because while it has restrictions, such as the inability to friend people or follow the usual social networking status-update shares, it does allow you to surpass the 5,000 friend limit because followers of a Page are ‘fans’ not ‘friends.'”
Gerrit Eicker
Adoption of Online Marketing Services
Local businesses: the adoption of online marketing services; http://eicker.at/2d Chart: http://eicker.at/2e (via @SocialTimes)
Gerrit Eicker
Facebook Shopping
Retailers are integrating Facebook: users are opening up to the idea of shopping on Facebook; http://eicker.at/FacebookShopping
Gerrit Eicker
Facebook Mobile
Facebook launches: new iPhone/Android apps, Single Sign-on via Places API, Facebook Deals; http://eicker.at/FacebookMobile
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Gerrit Eicker
TNW: “Facebook held its ‘mobile event’ for over 7,000 viewers. In his opening remarks, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said, ‘Our goal is to make it so that no matter what platform you are building, your apps can be social…And that over the next few years, entire industries will be rethought as social applications.‘ He also mentioned that 200 million people now use Facebook via mobile devices.”
Ray, Forrester: “Today’s pronouncements demonstrate the ambition and vision Facebook has for itself in mobile computing and socializing over the long term, but in the immediate future Facebook now is poised to bring the wonders of checking in to the masses. … Facebook’s new Deals feature is uniquely positioned to bring rapid changes to consumer behavior over the next year. Here’s why: First, Facebook is a platform with 500 million avid users (compared to the 4 million who currently use Foursquare), and with each passing month more consumers are accessing and updating Facebook via their smartphones. Second, Facebook’s new Deal platform is free for marketers and SMBs; anyone who claims a location on the Facebook Places platform can easily and quickly launch an offer. Finally, marketers are lining up to create offers on this new Facebook platform. … One outstanding question is how Facebook’s new Places features will affect the fledgling LBS category. … It seems evident to me that the LBS space is in for some profound changes in the coming year as Facebook Places becomes as familiar to Facebook users as status updates and fan pages are today.”
SEL: “The world of location-based services changed dramatically today. And the changes that Facebook announced place the company firmly in the center of that very dynamic universe and ecosystem. – Toward the end of becoming a “platform” for mobile, Facebook made several significant announcements aimed at developers. There were also announcements aimed at consumers and marketers, ‘Deals’ being the big one. … It thus appears very simple to create an offer for Facebook Deals. The simplicity of this page will be significant for the millions of small businesses that will undoubtedly be interested getting access to this offering. And it will be opened up to small businesses in the near future – initially 20,000 and then the broader audience. … Deals will be a big hit with both consumers and marketers, whether large or small. Coupons is one of the most effective and popular forms of mobile advertising and Facebook’s reach will make it a huge player in this segment. – It will take a little while to digest all the implications of these announcements as well as to see their impact on the market and the mobile ecosystem as a whole. But I’m pretty confident that they’ll be significant and even lasting.”
IF: “Facebook is seeking to allow developers to build in a social environment no matter what phone they’re building on, whether that’s RIM, Android, iPhone, Windows Phone, or the mobile web. The company recently reached the milestone of 200 million people actively using Facebook mobile products across all platforms. … ‘You can rethink any product area to be social, have it be more engaging, have it grow virally, and remake whole industries’ says Zuckerberg.”
VB: “With a new single sign-on feature, Facebook aims to become the way users log into all their mobile applications. It’s already doing this to some extent, by allowing users to log into non-Facebook websites using Facebook Connect, but the company’s mobile chief, Erick Tseng, said the goal here is to make the process as simple as possible on phones, where typing in user names and passwords can be a huge pain. … On the privacy front, the news today doesn’t seem hugely significant, but I still expect some complaints when users start seeing Facebook data showing up in other apps.”
Guardian: “Facebook today revealed a series of improvements to its service on mobile devices in a move that lays the foundations for new revenue streams from retail stores, venues and small businesses. – Mobile is seen as a powerful platform for the expansion of Facebook, particularly in the developing world where internet adoption is increasingly skipping desktop computers and growing rapidly on the mobile web. … Facebook’s head of mobile business, Henri Moissinac, told the Guardian the improvement could be interesting for developers. ‘Augmented-reality apps like Layar will be able to visualise deals in real-time around a user’s location,’ he said.”
Gerrit Eicker
Facebook Apps
Updated Facebook iPhone/Android apps include: Facebook Groups, Facebook Deals, photo check-ins; http://eicker.at/FacebookApps
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Gerrit Eicker
IF: “Version 3.3.1 of Facebook for iPhone brings Groups, Deals, and enhanced Places functionality to the most popular Facebook mobile app. Released today, the app allows users to post to Groups and read Group feeds, add photos and tag additional friends to an existing check-in, and discover rewards Deals offered at local Places. – Facebook last made a major update to its iPhone app when it launched Places, and fixed a few bugs with a release in September. When Groups was launched last month, the only mobile way to access the feature was through m.facebook.com, which has now changed. Details about the new Deals feature leaked a few days ago, but today Facebook walked members of the press through how it businesses can use it to incentivize check-ins. … The new version of Facebook for iPhone is fast, easy-to-use, and offers both unique mobile functionality and new replications of web interface features. Instead of answering user demands for minor features like the ability to add photos to albums, or remove friends, Facebook is giving users new ways to take advantage of the iPhone’s GPS and camera. While Facebook for Android also received an update today, Facebook apps for Palm, Blackberry, Windows, and others which still don’t have Places functionality will now look even more antiquated.”
RWW: “Today’s updated version of the Android app adds Places and Groups, as well as improves the Notifications from within the app. The Android app still lacks the Chat feature, something iPhone users can still gloat about. But today’s release brings the Android app closer to parity with the iPhone. … The iPhone now gets the Groups feature too. But in addition, there’s a new look to the News Feed, which now makes it easier to add photos and check-ins, not merely status updates. Within the new Groups feature, similarly, buttons urge users to add photos and/or posts.”
Gerrit Eicker
Facebook Deals
Facebook goes local business, enables merchants to push deals out to existing and new customers; http://eicker.at/FacebookDeals
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Gerrit Eicker
NYT: “Facebook introduced a feature on Wednesday that will allow retailers and other merchants to offer coupons and special deals through its mobile application, intensifying competition in the market for mobile searches and advertising. – People who use Places, Facebook’s location feature, will see a yellow icon indicating that a redeemable deal or coupon is available nearby. They can then use the application to ‘check in’ at the store or restaurant and show their phone’s screen to an employee to claim their deal. … Mr. Kendall said Facebook would not charge businesses directly to list coupons and special deals through the mobile application. Instead, businesses can purchase advertising to publicize their offerings on Facebook, he said. … Facebook also plans to work with nearly two dozen major chains like H&M, 24-Hour Fitness and McDonalds for special offers. But eventually all merchants and small businesses with a Facebook Places page will be able to offer deals. Facebook’s deals program borrows heavily from location-based social networks like Foursquare, Loopt and Gowalla, which have long been experimenting with similar ways to offer rewards and deals on cellphones. … For retailers, the Facebook feature offers the chance to establish online connections with real-world customers and learn more about them.”
AF: “So far Facebook claims that the number of users who have used the Places application is multiples larger than any other location service. That would lead us to believe that well over 10 million Facebook users have checked in with Places. If enough brands begin to leverage the new Deals platform, this could clearly be a big win for Facebook. Most significant here is that Facebook doesn’t charge any companies to launch deals. – Contrast that with Groupon who goes through the laborious process of negotiating the cost of every deal that they launch with local businesses. While Groupon has an incredible email list of consumers who want to make purchases, Places based deals could prove to fill a much needed niche. While companies can’t ping Facebook users as they walk by their businesses, users can choose to seek out deals that are nearby. … To be clear, Facebook Deals is not the Groupon-killer that some had claimed when we leaked out information last week about the impending launch. Instead, this is a different business model where customers will have to seek out deals through businesses that they become a fan of. Fortunately, many of the companies don’t think it will be long before most Facebook users are seeking these deals out.”
IF: “The most interesting part of the product is that Facebook isn’t taking a cut of revenue for these discounts, posing a challenge to smaller competitors that use deal revenue as part of their business model. On a business’ Places page, they can set up an offer. There are four kinds: Individual deals, which reward a customer if they check-in once. Loyalty deals, which reward customers for a certain number of purchases or check-ins. Friend deals, which reward customers if they bring in extra friends. Charity deals, which allow businesses to donate to charity for every check-in they attract.”
VB: “The social network’s executives said in a press conference that they won’t charge businesses for the deals. – That’s pretty surprising, since deals are seen as the main way for check-in services like Facebook Places (which includes the deals service), Foursquare, and Gowalla to make money. … Update: A Facebook spokesperson just emailed and said that although the deals are free for the program’s initial launch partners, the pricing could change in the future. … Facebook chief technology officer Bret Taylor said that Facebook didn’t create the feature to increase advertising. ‘The main thing is to improve the user experience around our Places product,’ he said.”
pC: “It’s not clear how many people are using its check-in feature, called Places, right now, although if this catches on it will clearly give users a financial incentive to use it. Places was introduced in August. Asked about usage, Zuckerberg only said it was ‘multiples larger’ than other similar services. – Zuckerberg did use the event to provide an update on Facebook’s overall mobile usage, saying that the company now has 200 million users who access the social network ‘across all platforms,’ a figure that has tripled over the last year.”
Gerrit Eicker
Facebook Places
Facebook cements location, Facebook Places as a key feature of future developement; http://eicker.at/FacebookLBS
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Gerrit Eicker
TNW: “Obviously, today’s event cemented location/Places as a key feature of Facebook. Expanding the ability to check-in on Android is an especially good move for Facebook at this point, as is the opening up of its Places APIs to all developers. Before today, the Places platform was simply too limiting to show what it is capable of, and now we should start to get a taste of that potential (or not). … Facebook, for the foreseeable future, is dependent on Apple’s and Google’s location determination. – Of course, once Facebook has that, it then translates that to its own Places database (and/or compares it to the third-party check-in app that is feeding Places) or users can create the venue. This last part was a huge issue at smaller location startups, and Facebook said that it realizes that this will be a hurdle to get over with Places moving forward. … What Facebook will end up doing beyond today, we’ll have to wait and see, but it certainly sounded from my discussions that the wish lists is already quite long, and that Facebook expects that those future enhancements will allow it to dominate this space.“
Gerrit Eicker
Facebook Single Sign-on
Facebook revamps the mobile log-in process with Facebook Single Sign-on, opens location APIs; http://eicker.at/SingleSignOn
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Gerrit Eicker
TC: “Today at its mobile event, Facebook has just announced that it’s opening up its Write API and Search API to Facebook Places, in addition to the Read API that launched earlier this year. – So what does that mean? Facebook first launched its location APIs at its Places event in August, but it was split into two main sets of functionality: Read and Write access. Most developers only had access to the former – with a user’s permission, a third-party app could pull in Places data from Facebook. But only a handful of large partners had access to the Write functionality, which lets a user syndicate updates the other direction (for example, a check-in on SCVNGR also updates your Facebook Places status).”
TC: “This is a button that third-party developers can use to give users a one-click way to sign on. ‘It removes the need to ever have to type a username or password again,’ Tseng noted. This is all about ‘saving you time from things you have to do, to the stuff you want to do,’ he continued. – This is something that Zuckerberg has been talking about for a while now. And back in August, CTO Bret Taylor noted that they have a team called “Platmobile” working on this very thing. – Tseng noted that implementing this is just a few lines of code. In fact, it’s the same permission system that over a half million games and apps use today on facebook.com, he said. And with that, he invited people from Groupon and Zynga to talk about their experience implementing this.”
RWW: “Interoperability between social networks means that the social connections available are no longer scarce, and service providers must then compete based on quality and kind of service. Want the push notifications Foursquare offers from groups like the History Channel or the Independent Film Channel when you check-in near a point of interest they’ve annotated? Then use Foursquare; you don’t have to lose track of your friends on other networks when all the networks are tied into Facebook. Want the design elegance and collections of locations gathered into Trips that Gowalla offers? Then use Gowalla. You can still see where your friends are if they are using Foursquare instead. – Want to create a radically new place-based social networking experience? No longer will you need to convince potential users to leave their friends behind on more established networks and wander into your lonely wilderness. You’ll just offer them a new lens through which to view the world and their friends on other networks.”
Gerrit Eicker
Facebook Places Deutschland
Facebook Places startet in Deutschland: Werden Check-in-Dienste jetzt massentauglich? http://j.mp/dwDMPq
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Gerrit Eicker
Facebook: “Orte ist eine Facebook-Funktion, mit der du sehen kannst, wo deine Freunde sind, und mit der du anderen deinen physischen Aufenthaltsort mitteilen kannst. Wenn du Orte verwendest, kannst du sehen, ob sich deine Freunde gerade in der Nähe befinden und dann einfach Kontakt mit ihnen aufnehmen. … Du kontrollierst und besitzt alle Informationen, die du auf Facebook teilst, einschließlich der Informationen in der Orte-Anwendung. Du bestimmst, wie und mit wem du diese teilst. Dein Aufenthaltsort wird niemals automatisch mitgeteilt: Und zwar weder beim Verwenden deines Handys noch beim Verwenden der Facebook-Anwendung und auch nicht, wenn du die Orte-Funktion verwendest. Dein Aufenthaltsort wird nur dann mitgeteilt, wenn du diesen in der Orte-Anwendung angibst. Ob und mit wem du teilst, wo du dich befindest, ist deine Entscheidung.”
FAZ: “Facebook-Nutzer können ihren Freunden künftig nicht nur mitteilen, was sie gerade tun, sondern auch wo sie sind. Der Dienst Places, der in Deutschland Facebook-Orte heißt, ermöglicht nun auch den deutschen Nutzern das Einchecken an Orten. Der neue Dienst ortet dabei den Nutzer über Satellitennavigation (GPS). Per ‘Check In’ können die rund 12 Millionen aktiven Nutzer in Deutschland dann ihren aktuellen Aufenthaltsort aus einer Vorschlagsliste umliegender öffentlicher Plätze wie Restaurants oder Geschäfte auswählen oder einen neuen Platz anlegen. Auf diese Weise können Nutzer erfahren, welche Freunde gerade ebenfalls dort sind, oder sie können Kommentare hinterlassen, die vielleicht für spätere Besucher hilfreich sein können. … Der Ortsdienst funktioniert nur, wenn die Nutzer dies ausdrücklich in ihrem Profil einstellen. Die Ortsangaben werden dann nur den Freunden mitgeteilt. Wer von einem anderem Facebook-Nutzer mit eingecheckt werden kann, muss vorher zustimmen. Problematisch ist allerdings die Möglichkeit, auch nicht-öffentliche Plätze anzulegen. Wenn genügend Menschen sich zum Beispiel auf einer Party anmelden, erscheint der Ort als öffentlicher Platz.”
Heise: “Da Facebook aber die Möglichkeit bietet, dass Dritte auch den Aufenthaltsort eines anderen Nutzers preisgeben, sollte man auf derselben Seite ‘Freunde können angeben, dass ich mich an einem Ort befinde’ auf ‘Gesperrt’ setzen. Ein dritter Punkt findet sich auf der Seite ‘Anwendungen, Spiele und Webseiten’. Dort gilt es, unter ‘Informationen, die durch deine Freunde zugänglich sind’, das Häkchen vor ‘Orte, die ich besuche’, zu entfernen. Sonst könnten die Anwendungen von Freunden auf die Ortsinformationen zugreifen.”
NW: “Jeder Ort besitzt eine eigene Profilseite. Einzelhändler, Gastronomen und andere physische Einrichtungen können eine von Nutzern angelegte Orte-Profilseite beanspruchen. Nach einer Verifizierung erhalten sie die Möglichkeit, ihre bestehende Facebook Page mit der Orts-Profilseite zu vereinen. … Betroffen von Facebook-Orte sind unter anderem hiesige Check-In-Services wie friendticker und Qype. Im August erklärte uns friendticker-CEO Florian Resatsch, dass das Berliner Startup Facebook-Orte über die von dem Social Network angebotene API integrieren wolle, sobald es in Deutschland verfügbar sei. – Facebook-Orte ist der bisher bedeutendste Vorstoß eines Webangebots in den primär von jungen, nur bedingt einflussreichen Startups dominierten Markt der ortsabsierten Dienste.“
Gerrit Eicker 08:45 on 24. August 2011 Permalink |
Facebook: “Add where you are to anything you share – In the past, you needed a smart phone to easily share your location. Now you can share your location from your computer, too, and say: Where you’ve been. Remember where you were in your favourite photos. Where you are now. If friends are nearby, they might just meet you there. Where you’re going. Friends who have been there can give you tips or even join in the plan.”
TC: “It was almost exactly one year ago that Facebook launched Places, their location-based offering. … Fast forward to today: Foursquare recently raised a large round of funding valuing them at $600 million. And Facebook is killing off Places. – To be clear, Facebook is not ducking out of the location game itself. In fact, you could say that they’re doubling-down on it. But they are moving away from the game that the ‘check-in’ services have been playing. And a result of that is Places being killed off and being replaced by new ‘Nearby’ area… This is smart, as it’s something none of the other location services have really nailed yet. And now that location is being emphasized on every Facebook action (though it can easily be turned off) – and not just on mobile…”
IF: “Facebook will remove the Places check-in feed from its mobile apps and interface, a company spokesperson confirms with us. Rather than check-in, users will be able to add their city-level location or tag a specific Place in any post. … When users post content from the web, mobile site, or smartphone apps, they’ll have the option to tag a Place, whether they’re there currently or just want to mention it. As TechCrunch illustrates, Facebook’s foot-traffic incentivizing Check-in Deals will still be available, with users seeing the option to redeem them appended to the news feed story of their mention of a location.”