Why Facebook Places Will Be Better Than Foursquare
By sorting nearby establishments based on data supplied by your friends, Facebook will best its competition Read more on The Atlantic
First Look: Facebook Single Sign-on
Facebook is getting serious about on-the-go social networking with a suite of new features announced during the Facebook Mobile event on Wednesday. We’ve already taken a look at how the release of a new Facebook Places API to mobile developers will change the way we shop, but how will the simplified Single Sign-on process change our favorite apps? Read more on PC World via Yahoo! News
How the Foursquare Social Network Can Help Promote Your Business
While Facebook may hold the lead in the realm of social media, location-based Foursquare continues to grow and show that it may be a worthy competitor. So what is location-based social media, how are people using it, and how can you use it to promote your business?
Don’t know much about Foursquare? This social media site works with an app on your phone to track businesses and other places you frequent. When you “check-in” to a location via your phone, it shows up in Foursquare and keeps count of how many times you visit certain places. Some businesses will offer specials or discounts to those who frequent their business and check in via Foursquare.
In some ways, Foursquare is like a game. You can earn points by visiting venues, obtain badges, and see how you rank against other customers. Users rank not only against their friends, but also everyone else in the city, creating a competitive aspect. And if you’re a really devoted customer, you might strive for “mayorship.” The mayor of a venue is the person who has visited the most in the past 60 days, and usually gets a freebie for doing so.
This provides a great opportunity for businesses to reach out to local audiences. By promoting your business and offering specials, you can entice new customers to visit your business. Also, users are rewarded with points for being adventurous and visiting new places, and so people who have never visited your establishment might have incentive to do so, even without a special offer. And for those who are already customers, it encourages them to visit more often when you offer special discounts and freebies for frequent visitors.
Customers can also help you promote your business via Foursquare, by creating tips and to-dos. They can tell friends and the general public about information regarding your venue (like nights you offer a special, or a dish or product to try), which will be seen by anyone nearby.
Once you’ve signed up, Foursquare offers tools and services to help you promote your business. You can choose what type of offers you’d like to make available to your customers, and even check real-time stats to see how many visitors you’re getting.
With the success of Foursquare, other similar sites have cropped up and tried to compete. Social media giant Facebook came out with a similar app, Facebook Places, which was hailed as being a “Foursquare killer.” However, instead of killing Foursquare, Facebook Places helped it grow even more. So how did that happen? Mainstream media extensively covered Facebook Places, saying it would rival Foursquare, which many people hadn’t heard of until then. This caused people to look up Foursquare, and many signed up when they learned about what it is and how they could benefit from it.
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Facebook also helped to legitimize location-based social media. Those who had heard of Foursquare, but were reluctant to use it for one reason or another, saw that Facebook had a similar service and figured that it must be something worth using.
However, Foursquare is not for every person or business. Since you need an app on your phone to use Foursquare, those who don’t have Internet on their cell phones won’t be able to use this service. Also, by using Foursquare you’re basically announcing where you are at all times. Those who wish to keep their lives more private will likely never use Foursquare. Therefore, there is a significant portion of the general population you won’t reach via Foursquare.
It also will not benefit every business the same. Businesses such as car dealerships, law firms, or funeral homes that people only visit when necessary or infrequently, will probably not find a lot of success. However, businesses with frequent repeat visitors, like restaurants, bars, and coffee shops can benefit greatly from Foursquare. Of course, with other forms of social media marketing, it all depends on how you use it.
Wendy Suto is president and CEO of Search Circus, Inc., an ethical SEO firm specializing in organic search engine optimization, blog marketing, Web site copywriting and article marketing solutions. As a certified search engine optimization consultant, she teaches SEO seminars in Cleveland, Ohio. [email protected]
Facebook Places is a new feature from Facebook, which can tell people where you are, right now. This video tells you what you need to know, so that you can stay safe. Learn about the implications of using Places, and how to change your Facebook settings to control this feature. Free Music from: www.music4yourvids.co.uk Animation created at: www.goanimate.com
Facebook introduces places with the support of the Foursquare and Gowalla
Facebook today introduced the long-awaited product of Facebook to a large collection of business news in Palo Alto, California office. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has admitted that the company is working on a product to be little more than a few months. Although much of the functionality offered by the location of the duplicates, and Foursquare Gowalla companies, representatives of both companies swallowed their pride and spoke at the event about the benefits of using the new Facebook API Places. product has three goals, Zuckerberg said: facilitate participation, in which they are Help users to see who is around them Help for users to see what is happening and explore new places
Places begins today in touch.facebook.com for advanced mobile browsers and on the companys new iPhone App. Dedicated BlackBerry and Android does not have any function. Sites is not about giving the location on the globe, to share with your friends where you are, said Michael Sites Product Manager Sharon. Sharon showed off selected sites, in the latest activity from friends and other people who checked in check-in there are status messages, such as a logo with a small pin similar to those seen in Google Maps and are published on the walls of your friends if they are added. Pull local places of business data through a business partnership with Localeze. As for privacy, users can turn off all location-tagging, and the default check-in is just friends. You can only tag your friends, and you are notified as soon as you are loved. Developers will be able to use data sites API tomorrow. Gowalla CTO Scott Raymond testified on stage about his companys integration with Facebook, pitching it as an opportunity to expand and become wider distribution of the stamps very Gowallas.(At this time the link is only one way; Gowalla check-in will be syndicated on Facebook, but Facebook check-in will not be syndicated to Gowalla.) Foursquare VP Mobile and Holger Luedorf Partnership spoke to his companys pioneering efforts in space, and its value add on top of Facebook sites with game mechanics and prizes from local merchants. Yelp Mobile Products Director Eric Singley, said that his company builds in a way to draw Places facebook friends check-in at the beginning of Yelp reviews. Booyah CEO Keith Lee made his debut for new applications of location-based iPhone game called InCrowd that said the company built in the last three weeks and will be available soon. Facebook Vice President Chris Cox products sociologist Ray Oldenburg, cited concerns that the technology we will be in our community, because the only are places people go home and work. Cox said that the promise of the place is that the technology can pull us away from TV and the bar. Technology does not have to deny us apart, he said. If that was not very juicy, Cox then spoke to the idea of the story is pinned to a physical location for many years, so when the child goes to the beach 20 years from now he may be informed that this is the first place parents kiss. Places does not have function and start earning, check-in, roll in the U.S. only. Business owners can claim as their own sites, making it Facebook Pages. More information: Deal of the Facebook site and Statement in Plain English
Loading Next Previous Image 1 10 Refer to the disclosure of information on Facebook in We . Related Research Pro (sub reqd): Location: Epicenter Mobile Innovation
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