It’s been a long time comingbut Facebook may finally announce its location service tomorrow. Should Foursquare and Gowalla be worried?
According to All Things D, those third-party “check-in” companies can rest easy.
The new feature–the development of which has been the biggest open secret in the digital space–has been a long time coming, as Facebook has noodled on how to incorporate the hot trend that was pioneered by Foursquare and other start-ups.
But fear not–Facebook’s service is likely to integrate other third-party services and give developers on Facebook’s platform geo-location capabilities.
As we’ve discussed before, the Facebook location service will probably include the ability to add your location to your status updates on the go. This could include checking in but it should encompass more than that.
We know that Facebook wants to be a mobile platform and the location services could help achieve that goal if it opens it up to third-party developers. Foursquare and others already have some form of Facebook integration but the world’s largest social network could make these much more powerful.
For example, a coffee shop that sends you coupons when you’re nearby could be useful but it could also be quite annoying. But if you only get coupons for items your friends like, that could have much more relevance. Earlier reports suggest that the location service could launch with a partnership with McDonald’s – this would receive a massive marketing push from both sides and could help push this in to the mainstream.
We know that the social network recently acquired Hot Potato and this technology could help with the location service. I honestly can’t wait for this location service to launch but there could be some problems.
The biggest issue is privacy, as Facebook has already been taken to task over privacy issues, so it will be interesting to see how it dances around this.
Look for the announcement to happen late afternoon tomorrow (Pacific time) and you can be sure we’ll give you the latest news.
[Via All Things D]