On Wednesday, Facebook announced an initiative called Facebook Places, which allows its users to share their physical locations online. It paves the way for the start-up to become a player in the growing Web business of supplying local information and advertising.
The rollout of Facebook Places follows the launch of Google Places in April. Google Places, building on prior Google business listings, offers up Web pages dedicated to individual businesses, showing where they are located, street-level images, and customer reviews of services or products, be it Joe's Pizza or the dry cleaner. Businesses can also advertise through their Google Place pages.
With these services, both Google and Facebook are attempting to organize and provide information about any location, including schools, parks, and tens of millions of local businesses. And both want businesses to advertise online and potentially target ads in real-time to users of mobile devices, right where they are.
The launch of Facebook Places ratchets up the competition between Google and Facebook. Google, which thrived by selling relevant ads alongside its Internet-search results, faces challenges from Facebook as more Web users could rely on their Facebook friends—not just Google—to discover content or available products. Much of the content generated by Facebook's 500 million users is also invisible to Google's search engine.
Google has been scrambling to develop a social-networking-type service to rival Facebook's, people familiar with the matter have said.
Now they are both after local-ad dollars. So far, only a fraction of local businesses advertise online. But in an interview Wednesday, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg called the local market a "big space."
With these services, both Google and Facebook are attempting to organize and provide information about any location, including schools, parks, and tens of millions of local businesses. And both want businesses to advertise online and potentially target ads in real-time to users of mobile devices, right where they are.
The launch of Facebook Places ratchets up the competition between Google and Facebook. Google, which thrived by selling relevant ads alongside its Internet-search results, faces challenges from Facebook as more Web users could rely on their Facebook friends—not just Google—to discover content or available products. Much of the content generated by Facebook's 500 million users is also invisible to Google's search engine.
Google has been scrambling to develop a social-networking-type service to rival Facebook's, people familiar with the matter have said.
Now they are both after local-ad dollars. So far, only a fraction of local businesses advertise online. But in an interview Wednesday, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg called the local market a "big space."
Overall, small and medium-sized businesses with 100 or fewer employees spent $35 billion to $40 billion in all forms of local advertising in the U.S. in 2009, estimates BIA/Kelsey, a local-media advisory firm. Matthew Booth, a senior vice president at BIA/Kelsey, estimates that about 1.2 million small businesses in the U.S. already pay Google to appear in text ads alongside Internet search results.
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Jason Schneider Mr. Zuckerberg said Facebook and Google "will compete a little bit."
Google struck a polite tone about Facebook Places. "We always welcome additional tools that help put people in touch with information about the world around them," said John Hanke, a Google vice president of product management.
Google and Facebook aren't the only ones fixated on places. Twitter Inc., the microblogging service, earlier this year launched Twitter Places, which allows users to broadcast, or "tweet," their location, including at businesses, to followers of their messages. Over time, the company is expected to try to line up local businesses to offer deals to users in connection with the feature.
Google last September began creating Place pages for millions of public places, including businesses. Businesses that contact Google can lay claim to a Place page, gaining more control over the content on the page. They also can see the origin of Google users who visit their page and sign up to advertise their services to users of Google's search and maps.
Google, which for years has been amassing business listings, says more than four million businesses have a Place page and "thousands" have paid to have their listing highlighted in search queries and maps for about $1 a day, according to Mr. Hanke. He added that about 20% of Google search queries focused on local places. More than 10 billion search queries were executed through Google last month, according to comScore Inc.
Now Facebook is asking businesses to create a Place page on its site and is encouraging them to advertise their products to users. In addition, Facebook is letting users "check in" at public places using their mobile phones, which can pinpoint their location through GPS and other means. Checking in allows people to notify friends in their social network that they are at a bar, for example.
A host of companies have built mobile-device applications centered around the check-in concept, including Foursquare Labs Inc. and Booyah Inc. For instance, users of Booyah's popular iPhone check-in game, MyTown, are able to check in almost anywhere. The applications sometimes show their users ads from local businesses based on their location.
Google lets app makers such as Booyah tap into its database of 50 million places around the world. Booyah is using that Google data to expand MyTown into foreign countries. At the same time, Google is starting to serve MyTown users with offers from local businesses, said Booyah CEO Keith Lee.
Following suit, Facebook aims to amass a database of local businesses and give app developers access to that data.
Booyah has already jumped in: When Facebook told Booyah about its forthcoming Places product three weeks ago, the company built a new iPhone check-in game, InCrowd, in time for the launch on Wednesday.
Write to Amir Efrati at amir.efrati@wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703791804575439740544880692.html
Jason Schneider Google struck a polite tone about Facebook Places. "We always welcome additional tools that help put people in touch with information about the world around them," said John Hanke, a Google vice president of product management.
Google and Facebook aren't the only ones fixated on places. Twitter Inc., the microblogging service, earlier this year launched Twitter Places, which allows users to broadcast, or "tweet," their location, including at businesses, to followers of their messages. Over time, the company is expected to try to line up local businesses to offer deals to users in connection with the feature.
Google last September began creating Place pages for millions of public places, including businesses. Businesses that contact Google can lay claim to a Place page, gaining more control over the content on the page. They also can see the origin of Google users who visit their page and sign up to advertise their services to users of Google's search and maps.
Google, which for years has been amassing business listings, says more than four million businesses have a Place page and "thousands" have paid to have their listing highlighted in search queries and maps for about $1 a day, according to Mr. Hanke. He added that about 20% of Google search queries focused on local places. More than 10 billion search queries were executed through Google last month, according to comScore Inc.
Now Facebook is asking businesses to create a Place page on its site and is encouraging them to advertise their products to users. In addition, Facebook is letting users "check in" at public places using their mobile phones, which can pinpoint their location through GPS and other means. Checking in allows people to notify friends in their social network that they are at a bar, for example.
A host of companies have built mobile-device applications centered around the check-in concept, including Foursquare Labs Inc. and Booyah Inc. For instance, users of Booyah's popular iPhone check-in game, MyTown, are able to check in almost anywhere. The applications sometimes show their users ads from local businesses based on their location.
Google lets app makers such as Booyah tap into its database of 50 million places around the world. Booyah is using that Google data to expand MyTown into foreign countries. At the same time, Google is starting to serve MyTown users with offers from local businesses, said Booyah CEO Keith Lee.
Following suit, Facebook aims to amass a database of local businesses and give app developers access to that data.
Booyah has already jumped in: When Facebook told Booyah about its forthcoming Places product three weeks ago, the company built a new iPhone check-in game, InCrowd, in time for the launch on Wednesday.
Write to Amir Efrati at amir.efrati@wsj.com
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703791804575439740544880692.html
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