When Facebook (News - Alert) launched its “Places” check-in feature last year, many thought that it would lead to the demise of established social location services like Foursquare (News - Alert) and Gowalla. After all, Facebook’s mobile user base dwarfs that of any other social networking platform.
However, Facebook has so far struggled to make Places a mainstream feature. As of late last year, only 6 percent of users had even tried out the check-in service. Meanwhile, competing offerings like Foursquare have continued to grow exponentially, adding as many as 25,000 new users each day.
So Facebook is scrapping the mobile-only Places feature, the company announced on Tuesday, and is replacing it with more general functionality. Instead of having a dedicated check-in feed, users will be given the option of adding their location to status updates, photos and other posts, regardless of what device they are on.
While a nice complementary feature, an optional location identifier is a far cry from a full blown check-in service. It’s is a nice win for Foursquare, but also a smart move for Facebook. By allowing users to tag (News - Alert) past photos with location information, Facebook will be able to broaden the deals service that it launched in conjunction with Places.
“If the Place is offering a Check-in Deal, the title of the deal will appear below the News Feed story,” a Facebook spokesperson told TechCrunch. “You’ll then be able to click on the deal title and will then be taken to the claim flow.”
Basically, the change will enable Facebook to offer targeted deals to all users – not just mobile ones – encouraging them to head back to places that they have already been.
The phasing out of Places was announced alongside a myriad of privacy policy changes aimed at providing more transparency over who sees a user’s content.
After hearing thousands of complaints from users, congressmen and consumer activists groups, Facebook has finally decided to bring its privacy settings into the profile page. Users can now control who sees each post via a dropdown menu with customized group-sharing options.
In addition, users can now approve or reject photos that they are tagged in – all without going to their settings page. Facebook is also allowing users to change who see their updates after they are posted.
The privacy modifications announced on Tuesday could be a response to pressure put on Facebook by Washington, but more likely it is a reaction to Google (News 
- Alert)+, which touts a feature known as Circles that lets users share their posts with specific groups of friends and colleagues.
Facebook product manager Kate O’Neill denied this claim, telling Business Insider that “we wish we could work that fast.” Google+ launched just two months ago.
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Beecher Tuttle is a TMCnet contributor. He has extensive experience writing and editing for print publications and online news websites. He has specialized in a variety of industries, including health care technology, politics and education. To read more of his articles, please visit his columnist page.
Edited by Jennifer Russell
