Librarian in Black Blog – Sarah Houghton-Jan

Facebook has announced that next month it will be launching location-based services.  This is likely in response to the very popular location-based services Gowalla and Foursquare (which I have some really weird ideas about for libraries).  Location-based features connect the virtual with the physical, through people’s mobile devices.  For instance, letting you know who else nearby you is a Facebook friend, or seeing who in your neighborhood is Tweeting.

Yelp tried adding the “check in” feature to its mobile platform, but that hasn’t caught on yet.  Will Facebook fall to the same fate?  Or will it take over this area of services, Goliath trouncing the poor little Davids in our story, Gowalla and Foursquare?  Only time will tell.