It was supposed to be the Foursquare killer but I guess it never really took off. Facebook Places is no more. The idea was to let users “check in” at various places and collect special offers and coupons and such. But if people were really into that, they would just go to Foursquare or Gowalla.
It’s an age-old internet axiom but it keeps holding up:
STAY IN YOUR LANE.
Foursquare wouldn’t be able to launch a Twitter imitator, Twitter couldn’t make a go of a search engine, Google is struggling in social, Facebook can’t be Foursquare. IT’S THE CIRCLE OF LIFE.
Facebook apparently gets that and will keep having location information displayed, if you want to, in your status updates. So you might tell people where you are and see who else is there but it’s not a shopping thing and no one becomes mayor of anything, it’s just status updates.
There’s a lot happening in the world. Through it all, Marketplace is here for you.
You rely on Marketplace to break down the world’s events and tell you how it affects you in a fact-based, approachable way. We rely on your financial support to keep making that possible.
Your donation today powers the independent journalism that you rely on. For just $5/month, you can help sustain Marketplace so we can keep reporting on the things that matter to you.
