Places nearby: Facebook as a location-based social media platform. (November 2014)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Wilken, Rowan
• Other Names: Lincoln Siân guest-editor.; Robards Brady guest-editor.
• Is Part Of: New media & society. Volume 16:Number 7(2014:Nov.)
• Page Start: 1087
• Page End: 1103
• Publication Date: 2014-11
• Subjects: Facebook -- Glancee -- Instagram -- location-based social media -- Nearby -- Places -- WhatsApp; Mass media -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Mass media and culture -- Periodicals; Information technology -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; Internet -- Social aspects -- Periodicals; 302.2305
• DOI: 10.1177/1461444814543997
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1461-4448

Abstract

This article examines the growing importance of Facebook as a location-focused platform. Facebook's approach has been cautious but deliberate. However, following the strategic acquisitions of location-sharing start-ups Gowalla and Glancee, Facebook has ramped up its location-based services: they launched their Nearby feature in December 2012, and adjusted their application programming interface (API) in early 2013 to enable 'seamless' location-sharing across third-party applications. These, and more recent acquisitions, are part of ambitious, longer-term moves that reposition Facebook as a local recommendation service (taking on Foursquare and Yelp), and, significantly, establish Facebook as a key local, and increasingly mobile-centred, advertising portal (taking on Google).