Facebook Places, 7 days later: It’s not better than foursquare
You can’t compare the two services.
They’re different.
7 days after the launch of Facebook Places, I do not think it will replace foursquare. Not yet. A quick scan of my Newsfeed tells me, the majority of my own friends aren’t rushing to check-in and share their location everywhere they go.
As a web consultant, naturally, I wanted to just observe first- use it myself, then form my own opinion(s). Personally, my own circle of friends are still turning to foursquare for real-time location updates even after the launch of Facebook Places (it’s too soon to form conclusions). Here are my initial observations:
- Because users do not have an expectation that Facebook is a source for real-time social networking, FB Places isn’t being used the same as foursquare, therefore not replacing it. Not yet. FB will have to redesign it’s mobile application interface and website to make it easier to find location information if they want more people to use Places.
- Foursquare is inherently a real-time platform. Think about it: users have the expectation when they open the app, the information they’re seeing about their friends is real-time. Foursquare highlights data about your friends over minutes and a few hours. That’s a big difference in utility and usage when compared to Facebook. “Top News” on FB can be delayed by over 20+HRS in showing you updates.
The fact is, location-based social networking is still foreign concept to most. 84% have not even heard of foursquare, Gowalla or Brightkite. And FB Places is only on the iPhone and Touch devices. This means, this 500 million other people on Facebook, like my mom, aren’t going understand how to use this feature right away. It’s going to take time.
The initial launch of Facebook Places could have been annouced as BETA, because the features set is lean. But that’s the point. They have made it simple and easy for everyone to first understand. While most people might not initially use it, they’re introducing the concept. Let people get comfortable and socialized with it. Then, over time, I believe they’ll draw perpetual attention as they release new features and enhancements. Make no doubt there’s big plans for how to draw more people into finding value with using FB Places. It will be fun to see how things shake out.
Until then, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m a bit annoyed having to check-in two places now 
What do you think? Are you using it? What are your thoughts? Share them, good and bad.
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The biggest difference to date, is that you can in fact Check-in on FB Places! FourSquare has had miserable up-time issues the past two days. Right at a point when SCVNGR, Gowalla, Booyah among others are trying to gain market share. It sounds as though these technical "shards" issues will persist as they must be experiencing exponential growth.
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