Facebook Starts To Test Out QR Codes

A few days ago, it was noted that Facebook was testing putting links to QR codes on their main profile pages. It is now known that Facebook is doing some testing ahead of their location feature roll-out, which will utilize these codes. The purpose for these QR codes is to implement their plans for their mobile app. How it works is, businesses could potentially print out a QR code and place it at a convenient location at their store, this will allow users to scan it to check-in at that store. Facebook is expected to further unveil its location plans at its f8 conference, which is set to take place in late April.

For those of you who are unfamiliar with QR codes (short for “Quick Response"), they are similar to barcodes and they store information, which can be captured and interpreted by a mobile device by a way of camera on the device. Google, Microsoft, and others have been experimenting with usage of QR codes recently, and now Facebook is hopping on the bandwagon as well.

Facebook’s implementation is particularly interesting because it’s based around the hot check-in space right now. Other services such as Foursquare and Gowalla are quickly gaining popularity (still under 1 million users), while Facebook is coming in with over 400 million users. Recently, the social network has been testing out pulling data from both of those other networks, rather than trying to build its own location network fro scratch.

With a feature like this, it appears that you could use Facebook to check-in, and perhaps send the information back out to another network like Foursquare. The problem with Gowalla’s network is that their API is currently read-only, so checking in can’t be done through Facebook, it would require you to check in through their own service.

With the QR code links spotted the other day weren’t fully functional, it was clear that one would be able to link it to their actual profile page and also link it to a particular status update. Page owners will soon get the option to view them soon as well.

While Facebook’s location plans continue to unfold, what do you Facebook users out there think of it? With the popularity of smart phones and the applications behind them also increasing, this could step up the world of social networking amongst users. Share your thoughts and comments below.