Friday, October 14, 2011

LBS, QR Codes .. what else is there?

So, for this week's assignment we were asked to "register on one located-based service, sign up for one discovery engine and download and trial a QR code reader). First of all, does Facebook Places count as a LBS? Does anyone know? If it does, I have used this feature on Facebook quite often, usually to share with my friends where I was at a certain time. Although, unlike Four Square the options and capabilities are quite limited. You can easily "check in" to a place, but unlike Four Square you don't get prizes or awards for the places you check in to. Therefore, I see the Facebook Place Application more similar to a Status Update, than a tool for companies to use.  Side Note: I think it would be cool for Facebook to add a 'photo upload' option to Facebook Paces, so when you check in to a location, you can also share an image with your friends.

Now, onto QR codes.This tool is actually quite interesting for my line of work. Just a few weeks ago, a lawyer in our firm came to me and asked whether we could put a QR code on his business card. What a great idea! I wish I came up with it first! Since prospective clients are usually accessing our firm's website to view lawyer profiles/resumes, why not have it accessible on their business card so that when you are meeting someone, they can easily zap in the code and see your entire bio. Now, as good of an idea it is .. we still have to jump through hoops to get it approved by "Global". I'll give you guys an update .. 5 years from now ;P

Discovery Engines -- wow! Can I just say that I think I have wasted way more time than I can afford on stumbleupon.com! After signing up for the website a few weeks ago, I must admit, I have been on there more than I thought I would. I think what makes it interesting and genuine is the fact that corporate comapnies currently cannot use it to "sell" their product. There's no easy way to determine how articles, links and videos get fed to a consumer. Once companies figures this out, stumbleupon will loose its uniqueness .. I think.

So, what are your thoughts about Facebook Places' lack of capabilities and whether it should upgrade to compete with Four Square or are they entirely different platforms?
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1 comment:

  1. AnonymousOctober 23, 2011 at 9:43 PM

    I think I would classify Facebook places as a location based service. Yes, there aren't incentives for "checking in" in the same sense that Foursquare, and the like offer, but Facebook already has a base of followers -- so I think "places" offers an additional upgrade as opposed to a monetary incentive. Facebook places offers an incentive by enabling people to check in to places to show their friends where they are -- that is their angle.

    It's possible at some point, Facebook places will start to implement different "upgrades" to better compete with other location based services, but I see them creating something new, as opposed to using an incentive method that already exists.

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