Yes, Facebook Is Talking To Foursquare
Recently we heard from sources close to Facebook that the company was in conversations with Foursquare about a potential acquisition and/or some form of partnership. Unfortunately the details have been slim but Kara Swisher is also hearing things as well. The most apparent thing about these conversations is that Facebook has yet to finalize their plans for location.
One thing that’s clearly appealing about Foursquare is their ability to already monetize. The company has launched branded partnerships with the History Channel, Bravo, MTV, VH1, Zagat, the Wall Street Journal, and more. Facebook wants to be able to help improve their small business marketing portfolio and location is increasingly going to play a role in this space.
Whether or not Foursquare will play a significant role in Facebook’s Location product is unknown but the volume of buzz about Facebook location is significant. However it’s not clear what the future will hold aside from it being guaranteed that Facebook will at some point play in the location space. Facebook has been somewhat open about their intention to continue operating as an open Platform, which means other location services should be able to play in the space.
With Accel Partners’ recent investment in Booyah, the developers of MyTown, one would assume Jim Breyer’s (on the board of Facebook and Booyah) investment was made with knowledge of Facebook’s location plans. Then again, Booyah is doing just fine without any location product on Facebook. At this point details of Facebook’s location product seem unclear aside from the fact that location is in the works and that Foursquare has been in a variety of conversations with the company.
