Repost: 4 Ways Foursquare Can Survive in the Facebook Places Era

Cross-posted from the Ignite Social Media blog, where I blog occasionally. You can read the full post there.

In case you hadn’t heard, Facebook launched yet another category-redefining feature last week. This time they shook up the still-emerging world of geo-location services, where buzz-worthy startups like Foursquare, Gowalla and Booyah (MyTown) had been steadily and somewhat quietly testing models, adding features, and building user bases.

Not anymore. While the jury is still out on the long-term impact of Facebook Places, one thing is clear: in one shot, Places took the idea of ”checking in” and made it both universal and effectively generic. With instant access to 500 million active users and near ubiquity on smartphones everywhere, Facebook Places has turned checking in from a cool and unique feature into a utility on par with sharing or liking.

Does that mean Foursquare and all the other pioneers who also offer geo-location check-ins are headed for Friendster status? Not necessarily, but it is clear that just offering a service to say  “hey I’m here!” or even “I was here more than anybody else!” is no longer sufficient to make users stand up and care enough to keep using your service.

Read more…

Related posts:

1. Foursquare and the University of Oregon
2. A Perfect Match: History Channels Meets Foursquare
3. Facebook Makes Us All Social Media Novices Yet Again