• Ad Age, Gawker, Thursday, August 19, 2010 11 AM

In announcing its new check-in service, Places, on Wednesday, Mark Zuckerberg stopped short of discussing monetization plans but left them on the table for another day. In her report, Irina Slutsky talks with Tom Bedecarre, CEO of AKQA, about ideas for the marketplace.

Bedecarre compares Places to Foursquare and sees the former creating "another level of engagement with the consumer. If you check into the Gap, let's make a special offer for you," he hypothesizes. "If you check in at 3 p.m. near a Starbucks, it's 'Hey, do you want a special on this latte?' We see your favorite movies on Facebook, and the movie theater nearby can say, 'Hey, this movie is playing here, come in now and we'll give you a free popcorn.'

Places is, in some ways, a reach extension for marketers, writes Slutsky. When people check in from a venue, they essentially broadcast their presence at that spot to their Facebook network -- as well as way to attract new visitors through the discovery feature.

Meanwhile, Gawker humorously comes up with examples of why you might not want people to know where you are ("You are having an affair with your wife's sister. Your wife's sister checks into her home and says 'Having awesome sex with [your name here]'. Your wife sees this on her sister's wall and divorces you.") and offers explicit instructions in how to reset important privacy controls .

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