Unlike most of my friends, I’m still living under a rock and have a standard flip cell phone that’s served me well for the last, ummm…4 years? Crazy, I know! So when Facebook came out with Facebook Places I didn’t really pay much attention. Then I started to notice more and more of my friends using the application. Status updates like, “Betty Sue is at Subway” started coming up in my News Feed. I was then able to click on Subway and find out which one exactly Betty Sue was at and get directions to it!
In a way the Places application is pretty cool. Your friends are able to see that you went to dinner at P.F. Chang’s, went shopping at Macy’s, and are now having a beer at your favorite bar. You can also check in other friends that are with you (probably those who do not have a smart phone, like me). But if you really think about it, does everyone really need to know where you are at? I see this becoming a little bit of a stalker problem for some.
On the other hand, Facebook Places has great marketing potential for companies. Now that the application is available for Blackberry users and Android users I see it taking off even more. I see promotions like “Be the 10th person of the day to check into Bally Total Fitness and win a sports water bottle” happening more and more. Gap already used the application to give away 10,000 pairs of free jeans! The sky is the limit, especially since this is such a new social media feature.
For now, I’m torn. The marketer in me thinks that Facebook Places has great possibilities. On the other hand, I don’t think all of my 500+ friends need to know that I was at a bar last night…Good thing I still have my old flip phone so there’s no way I can check in!
What do you think? Facebook Places: cool or creepy??
