I’m sure you’ve heard the news - it
is Facebook after all – that Facebook has acquired Glancee for an undisclosed amount of moolah. Speculation is still stirring on what they plan to do with the ‘friendly stalking’ app, but it’s quite simple. And while Instagram was purchased because its popularity and skyrocketing user base was starting to scare the social networking giant, Glancee has been gliding relatively under the radar since its inception in 2010. Let’s take a look at some numbers…
- Facebook = over 840 million users
- Instagram = over 35 million users
- Foursquare = over 10 million users
- Glancee = over 20 thousand users
Facebook vs. Instagram vs. Google+
By acquiring Instagram, Facebook eliminated its largest mobile competitor for photo sharing. Since one of the cardinal reasons people use Facebook is to share photos and creep on others’ albums (I didn’t just say that…), it only makes sense that it would buy its main competitor in that arena before it was too late.
Although Google bought photo editing site Picnik back in March of 2010, it has just recently fully integrated it with Google+. Now, while Facebook is still unclear on what they ultimately plan to do with Instagram, here is what I’m guessing.
- Add photo editing (lens adding) options to photos when you upload them to Facebook.
- Make Facebook the default sharing option for Instagram.
- Create overall seamless integration between the two networks so that people can easily connect with and navigate between them and thereby have all social networking (Like, Share, Comment, etc.) and photo sharing options in one convenient location.
If Facebook ends up doing these, they will essentially be eliminating the need for anyone to go on Google+, because most of what people do on social networks will be available in one place. Granted this is not counting the obvious
search engine optimization and
social media optimization requirements that will motivate businesses to maintain Google+ activity, but it is definitely important to note.
Oh, and for those who still believe Google+ is going to somehow take off and one day overturn its dictatorial adversary, here’s another thought. While it’s fun hanging out on Google+ and all, can anyone say Facebook-Skype integration five times fast?
Facebook vs. Foursquare
Okay this isn’t as epic as Facebook vs. Google, but this is where Glancee comes into play. With Foursquare, you need to check in to different places to earn points, win awards and ultimately become mayor of that location. With Glancee, however – the ‘friendly stalking’ app – you don’t need to check into anywhere. Instead, while you don’t even realize it (Facebook Privacy issues, anyone?), Glancee finds people with similar interests in your area based on Facebook and Twitter profiles and let’s you know who’s around.
Not only is Facebook making a clear statement of its intent to improve both its strength and reach in the mobile world via the acquisitions of Instagram and Glancee, but it’s also looking to reverse the downfall of Facebook Places and ultimately become the most relevant mobile app for connecting similar people in similar locations. There is no word on whether or not Facebook will include a points system based on ‘check-ins’, but regardless – this is a major step for the social media gargantuan to corner the mobile market and truly be the all-inclusive social network, a statement that seemed practically impossible two years ago.
Ajay Prasad is the Founder and President of
GMR Web Team, a leading healthcare digital marketing agency. He guides small and medium size healthcare practices/businesses in customizing their online marketing strategy, focused on building a loyal base of patients and improving their patient acquisition. Ajay believes in an improved patient experience as the key to successful healthcare business, which can be accomplished with the right marketing plan in place.
