What about Foursquare?
Whether mobile maps will be Google's ‘in' to social networking success remains to be seen, but mobile users are certainly clamouring after location-based mobile tools
Another player in the space, Foursquare, which incorporates location ‘check-in' and gaming elements could now be perceived to be under-threat from Facebook Places.
However Foursquare's co-founder Dennis Crowley tweeted the company, which already has almost 3m users had seen its biggest amount of signups in one day, stealing some of Facebook Place's launch day thunder.
Crowley has previously told Social Beat that Foursquare has not made up its mind as to whether it will integrate with Facebook Places. Instead of being scared about being pushed out of business, Crowley said Facebook Places will get more people interested in using location-based features...and it appears he is right, at least for now.
Facebook Places currently seems to be acting as a platform for services like Foursquare which allow users to push their check-in info to their Facebook news feed, which should catch the eye of some of Facebook's 500m user base.
However commentators now expect Foursquare and peers such as Gowalla to look to the future as Facebook will likely refine its Places service, adding new features to become a viable alternative to the exciting smaller, more developed offerings.
Under pressure to evolve, Crowley told The LA Times Foursquare has a different appeal to Facebook Places as it lets its users compete to be ‘mayor' or certain locations by frequenting and checking in to them the most, unlike Facebook which currently out the emphasis on people sharing their location with friends.
In fact, Foursquare is reportedly in the midst of redesigning its iPhone app, which will focus on users following other users' tips and sharing to-do lists with them. The company will also roll out new features on its website.
Foursquare was rumoured to be in acquisition talks with Facebook earlier this summer but instead took $20m investment from a venture capital firm, which valued the company at $115m, perhaps sharing the company's vision that location sharing will become more mainstream.
