Here’s a little iPhone app I’m now using that I think is pretty cool.
Instagr.am is a new image sharing service (currently just for iPhone) that enables you to take a photo, or use an existing photo from your iPhone photo library, and share it. There is also a decent choice of interesting filters you can quickly apply to each photo and preview before uploading.
I think the really handy things about this service are that it’s really easy to use, and that you can crosspost the images to Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and Tumblr if you so desire – greatly increasing the sharing aspect. You can also locate a photo using Foursquare before you share it. As Foursquare doesn’t yet have image uploads the way Gowalla does, it’s a welcome addition.
It’ll be interesting to see how this service develops, if it develops. Surely they’ll be adding platforms other than iPhone, if they have the funds to do so.
If you’ve used Instagram, what do you think of it? Good enough to keep using? If you haven’t, do check it out.
In Silicon Valley just a few hours ago, Facebook held a event to announce the launch of the much anticipated Facebook Places. The embedded video is a full launch video replay from the live event, if you’d like to see what was said by Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the Facebook Places team and various partner companies.
For international users, it should be noted from the outset that Facebook Places will only be available in the US at first. Users outside the US will be able to see US Places posts on the web.
Amongst others, partner companies include Gowalla, Yelp and Foursquare. A representative from Gowalla detailed how Gowalla posts will be integrated into Places via the Places API. You can choose to attach an image to a post, as you can in Gowalla now. You’ll also be able to see Gowalla stamps in posts.
The Foursquare representative was less specific about how Foursquare will be integrated, to say the least. In fact you’d have to say he looked a little less than enthusiastic about the whole thing. But hey, how can you refuse to participate in having access to a location-based service that has access to a user–base of more than 500 million users, right?
It was explained at the launch that it is hoped that Facebook users will begin to discover serendipitous moments by checking in to places and finding that other friends are at the same location or nearby.
At first, Facebook Places will only be available on the Facebook application for iPhoneand can also be accessed by “advanced mobile browers” (meaning those supporting HTML 5 and geolocation) at touch.facebook.com. Mark Zuckerberg said at the launch that there are not Android or Blackberry apps available yet. There are plans for these but no timeline.
In fact, Zuckerberg stated that there are quite a lot of things they aren’t doing with Places yet, including integrating Places with Facebook Events, which seems like a very obvious thing for them to do, especially as they have recently acquired Hot Potato. Zuckerberg said that they want to get things right before launching additional apps and features.
Facebook Places seems to be quite focused on including images and being able to tag friends who are with you when you check–in. You can also post a text update along with your check-in, as you can with most other location–based services.
There’s not a lot that’s new here, but it’s not really about that, is it? What’s significant is that it’s Facebook launching this location-based service. It’s going to be interesting to see just how many of the hundreds of millions of users start using this regularly. Not everyone has an iPhone or a mobile device capable of using the service, so there will be limited numbers to begin with, but still, Five. Hundred. Million. Users, and still growing.
For a full run–down of the features, check out Facebook’s blog poston the subject.
The long anticipated geolocation feature from Facebook will be launching very soon. Apparently, “multiple sources” have told CNET this is the case. We have heard this before, from as far back as May, but surely it must be on its way now.
Word from said sources is that it will take the form of an Application Programming Interface (API) for other location-based services to be able to plug-into.
Mathew Ingram at Gigaom has pointed out that it’s likely to be more than just a check-in API, as Facebook has said previously that it thinks of places as more than just a way to add location information to a status update, or to ‘like’ a café or bar you visit.
Indeed, I too wouldn’t be surprised if Facebook Places launches with the ability to associate photos, videos and comment-style reviews. I’ve said before that the ability to upload images and associate them with venues in Foursquare would be a welcome additional feature. I’m sure they’ll add it sooner or later. Yes, I know Gowalla fans, Gowalla already has this feature, but Foursquare has the momentum.
Facebook has partnered with Localeze to provide a business directory infrastructure for the new location feature. This is the same company that powers Twitter’s Places directory. In addition, Facebook recently acquired Hot Potato, which is a service that focuses on user check-ins to events rather than locations. It remains to be seen how Facebook Places will be integrated with Facebook Events, but I’d have to say there must be a big opportunity there for that to happen. It could work out quite well.
Will Facebook Places be a Foursquare killer? What are your thoughts on that? Personally, I doubt it but it’s bound to attract a lot of users. Even if the percentage of Facebook users who take it up is reasonably low, with 500+ million users, it’s still bound to be a huge number!
Back in March I wrote a post about the battle for venue checkins between mobile location–based services Foursquare and Gowalla. Since then there have been some developments that certainly point to the rise and rise of Foursquare.
Now Foursquare founder Dennis Crowley has gone and landed himself on the cover of Wired UK, although Josh Williams from Gowalla is also featured in the article within.
Click on the image to go to Dennis Crowley’s Flickr stream for the back story, ‘So this happened. (Wired UK, July 2010)’.
In addition, Mashable, one of the world’s most popular blogs, is partnering with Foursquare to give Foursquare users tips and recommendations on social media venues, tech gatherings, startup headquarters and some of their own dining picks.
Last year in a CNN post, Next year’s Twitter? It’s Foursquare, Mashable’s founder Pete Cashmore argued that Foursquare was already aligning itself to become a mainstream hit in 2010. His post alone would have done no end of good for the service, and now this.
Furthermore, at the Mashable Media Summit, it was revealed that Foursquare is fast-approaching 1.6 million members and is now experimenting with CNN Cup badges. The new badges are a move towards addressing “badge fatigue” by attempting to add more value to badges. For example, once a badge is unlocked it will guarantee the holder priority entrance into specific parties and events. It’s the equivalent of a VIP program.
Above is a Google Trends comparison between the search terms ‘Foursquare’ and ‘Gowalla’ over the past 12 months. It’s based on the average search traffic of each search term. This doesn’t reflect user growth, but I think it certainly gives a good indication of the buzz surrounding Foursquare, which you’d have to agree is a big factor in encouraging users to at least try the service. What’s clear is that there is certainly no shortage of interest. Foursquare is going from strength to strength.
As Business Insider points out, the battle may now be between Foursquare and bigger companies such as Facebook, Google and Twitter. Do you agree or disagree? Still sticking with Gowalla?
I just noticed this tweet from Foursquare in my Twitter timeline, which states that they are now achieving 10 or more checkins per second! They don’t say whether that’s averaged out over every timezone, or if it’s just in US timezones “right now”. It is Thursday afternoon/night in the US now, so it would make sense that it’s right now, when people are moving around and going out for the evening. 10 checkins per second is 600 per minute, 36,000 per hour and a substantial 864,000 per day.
That’s starting to be a lot of checkins! I wonder how many Gowalla is getting right now? Also, I wonder how many checkins Facebook will get when it launches its location feature? With over 400 million existing users, I’d say they would easily be able to achieve a million checkins a day with not too much effort at all. No doubt Facebook has been too busy dealing with the much talked about privacy issues to consider launching another potential privacy minefield this week.
Are you using Foursquare yet? Yesterday on Twitter I mentioned that I’ve become a little bored with it, after using it for months. I’d really like to see them implement image uploads and replies, like Gowalla has. Being able to pin images to locations is kind of like a user generated streetview, or venueview, and makes things a lot more interesting I think. Having said that, I’m still using Foursquare daily.
Do you think you’ll use the new Facebook location feature when it launches? If so, can you see yourself using more than one location service at the same time?
