Facebook has revamped the Nearby function on its app for iPhone and Android, making it a true impromptu discovery tool for local businesses and attractions.
Facebook, which claims it has 600 million mobile users, is venturing onto the turf first conquered by Foursquare, a location-based app that since July has been refocusing on its recommendation service and that claims to have 30 million users.
Facebook has added a rating system for venues, based on a five-star scale (not just a "Like"), putting it in competition with Yelp's app. (Last month, Foursquare added a 10-point rating system.)
Local businesses that don’t have a Facebook page with a location specified won’t be showing in the Facebook Nearby search results.
There are only 13 million Facebook pages for businesses now, with up to 70% of them inactive. So many marketers have work to do.
Easy to use
Click on "Nearby" and you will see a map of your location, plotted with local attractions, such as concert venues or museums. The listings you see are only listings where other Facebook users have checked in. If any of your friends have "liked" or checked in at one of those locations, that place will be promoted in your search results.
You can search by name ("Bertie and Boo cafe") or by category (such as "cafes" or "arts").
Says Facebook:
In addition to showing which friends have checked in at a particular place, Nearby helps people discover places near them based on their friends’ recommendations.
People can explore by category (ex: restaurants or hotels); connect to businesses directly from their phone (by liking, checking in, calling, or getting directions); rate the places they visit via a five-star system; and share their recommendations with friends.
It's been more than two years since Facebook began letting users share location check-ins made via their mobile devices. Now about one out of four Facebook users worldwide tag at least one of their posts by location each month.
Advice to businesses
Facebook has also redesigned Places Pages for mobile, because half of the visits to those pages come from mobile users. The company is upfront about what businesses need to do to take advantage of the changes.
- Update your Page to include all of your basic information, including your address, store hours, phone number, and details about your business in the About section.
- Update your category to make sure you appear when people are looking for your specific type of business.
- Encourage your consumers to like, check into, rate, and recommend your place.
The change to Nearby was built by the engineers that Facebook acquired last year from Gowalla, a since-closed, location-based discovery app. This week, it rolled out to mobile users, with no details on when a desktop version will be created.
It's part of a big mobile push in the past year.
In June Facebook added a self-explanatory Find Friends Nearby function to its mobile app. Last January, it began letting mobile users
add recommendations of places they like via its app.