Are Facebook and Foursquare toying with a merger?

We're not usually ones to speculate without the facts in hand, but something hinky was most definitely going on today with Facebook and Foursquare.

We currently have a 300-location Facebook Deal running with McAlister's Deli as part of the annual Tea Town USA promotion. Today, we were pulling numbers from the Facebook Place pages for a weekly update (Deals reporting leaves much to be desired), when we noticed that several of the Facebook Places weren't working.

Specifically, they were redirecting to Foursquare pages for the same locations.

It wasn't many of the Places — just two out of the 300 or so. But here's how it looked:

Nothing too strange about that....just a usual Foursquare page. Except that I got there by typing in this Facebook Place URL. Several of us tried it from multiple computers, always with the same result.

An hour or so later, the link took to you to an error screen — still on Foursquare:

So to recap, we've got two Facebook Places redirecting automatically to Foursquare pages (for the right locations, even). Then we have a mysterious Foursquare crash systemwide. Meanwhile, 298 other Facebook Places in my client pool worked just fine.

Are Facebook and Foursquare experimenting with a secret tryst? And if so, why would it be spilling out into the public eye?

Speculation aside, would YOU want Foursquare and Facebook to partner up? Let us know in the comments.

David Griner is the Director of Digital Content for Luckie and Company and contributing editor for Adweek’s blog, AdFreak.com. You can reach him by e-mail or on Twitter.

Comments

[Jason McCay]

There appears to be some acknowledgement from FB on the issue: http://www.allfacebook.com/yes-facebook-is-talking-to-foursquare-2010-06

[dani]

seems like it would have been smarter for facebook to merge, rather than creating its own Places program in the first place.

[David Griner]

Jason, thanks for sharing the link, but looks like that was from a year ago. Maybe the plans to launch Places without Foursquare didn't go quite as hoped?

[Tom]

I don't use Foursquare myself but from what I am told, it's much better than Facebook places. Only reason I've not signed up for a 4sq account is because I am generally stuck at a PC in my office!

That aside - I feel it'd be good to see them partner up.

The one thing that puts doubt in my mind however, is that from the screenshot in this post, I see Google maps being used... Pretty sure Facebook won't have that :)

Oh, and I clicked the link to the Facebook place you have linked to, and yes - it directs me straight to the foursquare page also. Something's definitely going on.

Interesting.

[Sarah Ostman]

I'd love it. I personally love Foursquare, but most of my friends aren't early adopters; if it was linked to Facebook, I think they'd definitely be more likely to check in.

[Jay Thornton]

Personally, I'm all about the two joining forces. A standardized book of locations would be handy for future app development. They just need to keep the API's open and usable.

[Szczepanik]

I can't wait to become mayor of Facebook.

[Brooklyn Cole]

Wasn't this the plan all along?

[Martin Weigert]

For me, http://www.facebook.com/pages/McAlisters-Deli/129938440411789 is still redirecting to https://foursquare.com/venue/673065 (can't be cached, is the first time I'm opening that URL)

[Ben Thoma]

No!!! As a foursquare enthusiast, I don't want Facebook mucking up the works. I like the single-mindedness of the foursquare platform, and not being on Facebook (on purpose), I would hate for the two to be one and the same. They serve different purposes, and we don't need one app for every social thing on the web. Diversity of apps will be stronger than one stop shopping.

Plus, Facebook is evil.

[Burst Marketing]

Foursqare and Facebook merging would be a great idea. I'm sure it would easily bring people who have experimented with facebook places into the larger community of foursqare.

[Silva]

Great post
congratulations