20 Aug 2010
Why Foursquare Is and Will Be Fine (vs. Facebook Places)
I’ve always been a huge Foursquare fan, and now that I’ve tried Facebook Places I wanted to explore why Foursquare has a big advantage and will, in my opinion, maintain a competitive edge.
Not only is Foursquare seeing a surge in signups due to Places, but also its users are starting to extract significant value from it (free concert tickets!) beyond the convenience and fun of knowing where one’s friends are or earning badges.
Foursquare’s advantages over Places:
1) Location and gaming silos are good
I find any more than a few location or game-based updates in a newsfeed — Facebook or Twitter — to be annoying. (Farmville updates, anyone?) Foursquare is a repository for both, and that’s important to me, which is why it’s earned a place on my main iPhone home screen.
Facebook could, however, innovate ways to separate check-ins from other updates, but so far I haven’t seen evidence of its willingness to do so for any other category of update.
2) Foursquare friends are more intimate than Facebook friends
Foursquare users curated their Foursquare social circle more carefully than they did their Facebook friend list, knowing that Foursquare friends would have access to their real-time locations. I have 147 Foursquare friends, but 983 Facebook friends (I know, I’m SO popular); some of this is, of course, because Foursquare is not ubiquitous the way Facebook is, but I routinely decline Foursquare friendships and seldom Facebook requests.
While I think people use Facebook lists more and more to target their status updates etc., it’s incredibly difficult and time-consuming to go back and categorize Facebook friends in different buckets. This is a major advantage to Foursquare.
3) Foursquare’s badges are unique and compelling
I love Foursquare and its partners’ badges: I’ve got 24, and am particularly proud of the Zagat badge. I’m actively hunting the Wall Street Journal Lunchbox badge.
Sure, Facebook can roll a similar feature out, but do people want that on Facebook (see #1), especially when you have hundreds of friends (see #2)? I think that’s an uphill battle.
What Foursquare can do to bolster its position
- Roll out more badges: people are always looking for new things to accomplish and add to their collection
- Find more ways for users to display their badges: think virtual (or real) trophy case. Binds existing users to Foursquare, evangelizes for new ones
- Give me something to do with my check-in points: Shopkick’s “kickbucks” seem like a logical example to explore
- Let me intern for you guys this year — ideally in audience or business development, but I’ll do whatever to be involved. Qualifications here and here
