2:23 AM
Kakrona Chan
Today SCVNGR, a relative newcomer in the mobile location-based game space, is releasing a Facebook Places application that businesses can use to highlight their SCVNGR rewards and challenges on their Place Page.
The application is the first of its kind and positions SCVNGR as the only third-party — as well as the only location-sharing service, period — to release something so tightly integrated with the Facebook Places experience.
The app is a Place Page add-on for businesses using SCVNGR. Once installed, it will sit prominently in the left-hand menu section of the Place Page. Visitors can then click it and tab through three sections: Rewards, Challenges and How to Play. For businesses using SCVNGR, the application is a no-brainer to install — literally just a click of a button — that promises reach to millions.
The install also guarantees greater harmony between Facebook Places and SCVNGR. SCVNGR has mapped all user activity — checkins, challenges, rewards and photos — back to the Facebook Place Page, rather than to the SCVNGR Place Page.
“Because SCVNGR has all this premium activity (challenges, not just checkins), our location-based activity items get surfaced far more often in Facebook’s activity algorithms, meaning that we get more placement, comments and likes,” says CEO Seth Priebatsch.
When coupled with SCVNGR’s previous Facebook Places integration features and do-it-yourself rewards system, the application completes the loop and turns the Place Page into something much more than a repository of checkins.
“Since traditional Facebook Pages are already getting more hits than most companies’ own websites, I’m pretty sure that Facebook Place Pages will be equally (if not more) important. Local businesses tend to have pretty weak websites and with all the inbound traffic Place Pages will get, I’m predicting that Facebook Place Pages will become the canonical online representation of most local businesses. And SCVNGR’s Facebook Place Page widget really improves those pages,” explains Priebatsch.
Watch This Startup
Google-backed SCVNGR, while still young — just like its 21-year-old CEO — has the potential to become a huge mobile hit. We’ve been closely tracking the company since its consumer launch (SCVNGR operated in stealth mode going after enterprise customers for more than a year) and have been impressed by the Boston-based company’s agility, its brand partnerships and its ability to stand out in a very crowded market where Foursquare rules as mayor.
But SCVNGR is picking up serious steam. Recently, the startup garnered 100,000 mobile downloads in just 48 hours, which is no small feat. As such, the company’s profile is starting to rise in both tech and mainstream media circles. On Sunday, SCVNGR and its CEO were profiled extensively in a piece that made the front page of the Sunday New York Times Business section.
Perhaps when it comes to location, it still is anybody’s game.
[via mashable
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