It’s now been nearly two years since Facebook purchased Instagram for a mere one billion dollars. Before the initial purchase (and in today’s current iteration of the app) users input their location of an Instagram photo by tagging the location from information pulled in by Foursquare. According to Fast Company, Facebook is now testing the integration of Facebook Places rather than Foursquare in a test — with the goal of bouncing Foursquare out of the app.
Facebook has been making a big push in the local space and leveraging their own property (Instagram) to push Places only makes sense. Not only would the integration give more visibility to Facebook Places but it would also be a boon for local marketers. Imagine that a user takes a creative photo at a local establishment then proceeds to tag the Facebook Place instead of tying in on Foursquare. There is an instant, user inputted, connection with that photo and the business on Facebook. If shared the user generated content can instantly be tied to that business.
The downside of the integration would be a disconnect for those users who enjoy the check-in aspect on Foursquare. Unless a Facebook Places/Foursquare tie-in is created (similar to the Instagram/Twitter translation) users may lose the instant Instagram/Foursquare check-in feature.
While this is currently just a test, we’ve learned that companies have a certain fondness of keeping their users on their own properties (see Google, Twitter, Facebook). This integration makes sense for Facebook not only from a business standpoint, but also due to the potential benefit for local businesses.
For more information please see the full article on Fast Company.
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