Spotted: Facebook's Check-In Functionality And New “Places” Tab
Code doesn't lie. — Over the past several weeks, there's been a lot of speculation about Facebook's location functionality. At least part of that speculation can end now. We now know what Facebook is planning to launch …
Context & Ripple Effects
Facebook had already signaled in March that users would be able to share their location, and a May 7 report framed the approaching feature as a choice between a Foursquare-like service and a Twitter-style status layer. The newly spotted code makes the product direction more concrete: location is being organized as a distinct Facebook surface rather than only an attribute of a post.
That matters because Facebook can attach check-ins to an existing social graph. The prior report on an impending location product had already identified Foursquare, Loopt, and Gowalla as the most exposed location-social rivals.
First-order effects
- Facebook is positioned to add check-ins and a Places destination to its core product, giving its users a native way to attach location to social activity.
- Foursquare, Loopt, and Gowalla face a direct distribution challenge from a location feature embedded in Facebook's established network.
Second-order effects
- Location-based social networks must differentiate their services beyond the basic act of checking in, since Facebook can make location sharing available alongside existing profiles and connections.
Third-order effects
- If Facebook treats location as a standard social-graph signal rather than a standalone destination, location-based social networking shifts toward features controlled by broad social platforms rather than specialist apps.
The trend: Large social networks are absorbing location sharing into the core social graph, raising the competitive bar for standalone check-in services.