Tropes

impactlab_2010 01297.txt

#Facebook Trying to Gain a Foothold in the Location-based Social networking Space with Hot Potato Hot Potato focuses on events versus location check ins. oeif you cant acquire them, squash them might be Facebooks new mantra in trying to create a foothold in the location-based social networking space. Since Foursquare spurned Facebooks advances for acquisition in favor of seeking more funding the mighty social network of half a billion has put Plan B into motion acquiring Hot Potato, another check in service for a fraction of the cost. Considered a second-tier check in service the acquisition only cost Facebook $10 million where Foursquare could have easily set the network back in excess of a hundred million. What differentiates Hot Potato from Foursquare is its focus on events versus location check ins. By Facebook layering location-based services on top of its platform for mobile phones, the resulting social intelligence and data-mining could exceed anything that Foursquare could design at this point in time. With Facebook at 500 million users, the social network goliath dwarfs Foursquares user base of less than 10 million. Facebooks Open Graph even with all its privacy infringement baggage-continues to gather data exponentially on all its users. Its power is based in its ability to now access this data integrate it with Hot Potatos location-based application and virtually offer discounts and deals based on where the user is located at any moment in time. For example if a user was passing a theater in Manhattan, the service could provide him or her with discounted tickets, based on a specific Broadway show a users Facebook friends have attended oeliked or recently. Facebook, however, has been pretty mum on the topic. oewe are working on location features and product integrations, which well be launching in the coming months, and well share more details when appropriate, Facebook spokesman Larry Yu told CNET. Back in early May, Facebook test marketed a special location-based campaign with Mcdonalds which allowed users to post their location within a status update where a free offer for a Big mac could appear in the post. Earlier in the year, I speculated that oecost-per-check in would become the new ad model for location-based services (see oecost Per Check in: Has initiated Foursquare A New Ad Model?.According to ad sources, while it was noted that Facebook was not directly charging Mcdonalds to build the app (since Facebook doesnt normally charge developers to build on its platform), there could be a oecost per check in transactional fee built into the media buy. CNET also reported that Facebook has partnered with Localeze, the local-search company that powers Twitters oeplaces directoryhich lets Twitter users attach a location to their tweets if they are posting from a location-enabled deviceo provide a business directory infrastructure for the forthcoming geolocation product. If Facebook can get past its privacy issues and once they are able to corral and integrate both Localeze and Hot Potato into its mobile platform, there will be no stopping this social network from virtually dominating the location-based service space before the years out potentially leaving Foursquare, on the outside of the check in looking in! Via Inventor Spot Share Thissubscribedel. icio. usfacebookredditstumbleupontechnorati c

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