Facebook may start QR code frenzy

Friday 19 March 2010 | By Heidi Scott, Gosh! Media Copywriter

Tags: Facebook, QR Codes, Social Networking

The on-line media blogs have been buzzing this week with news that the social networking giant Facebook is trialling the use of QR (Quick Response) codes. Although they resemble barcodes, QR codes can carry significantly more data - such as links, videos, text, photos and other content - and they don't require a scanner to read them, as most modern mobile 'phones can do this using their cameras (hence the 'quick').

QR codes are best described as 'doors' to digital content, with readers on smartphones acting as the 'keys'. By allowing consumers to access dynamic content - anywhere and any time - QR codes hold all kinds of possibilities, such as connecting users with geo-based reviews and tours, green ticketing, brand promotions and provision of exclusive media content. Brand owners dream of churning out QR-coded stickers, T-shirts and other ephemera to promote their digital identity, connecting their real and virtual worlds. But, until now, lack of understanding among consumers has stood firmly in the way.

Eagle-eyed visitors to the Gosh! Media news pages will recall that we featured Google's promotion of QR codes through its 'Favorite Places' campaign in December last year. Now that Facebook seems to want a piece of the action, media pundits are predicting that the interest of the world's most popular social networking site will be the impetus that QR codes need to propel them into the consciousness of consumers.

On-line gossip about the possibility that Facebook will enable its users to generate personalised, two-dimensional codes began on Tuesday, when the technology blog TechCrunch reported tip-offs from Facebookers that the menu options 'View QR barcode' and 'Generate status QR barcode' were appearing on Facebook Fan pages, although they were not functioning and merely transitory.

The on-line grapevine was alive with speculation. Lost Remote, the local on-line and mobile media site, painted a picture of digital dating:

"Imagine that you're walking around a bar. Everywhere you turn you see people wearing shirts emblazoned with checkered barcodes. No one is talking to each other. Instead of dancing and conversing, the majority of the establishment's patrons are taking camera phone pictures of those around them. Pictures aren't being taken of people's faces, but rather of the QR codes on their shirts."

It could happen. If Facebook - with 400 million users worldwide and now officially the most popular website in the US - gets on board, QR codes could really take off. And today, Friday 19 March, the rationale behind Facebook's interest in QR codes became a little clearer.

TechCrunch reported earlier today that Facebook is set to rival Google's 'Favourite Places' service with plans for a location feature of its own. It is reported that the QR codes will be integral to the next version of Facebook's mobile app. Facebook is expected to launch this service at its f8 conference in late April, giving businesses the opportunity to print out a QR code, place it on a counter or window in their premises and allow users to scan it to 'check in'.

While similar services from Foursquare and Gowalla are quickly gaining popularity, both still have fewer than one million users, so they are dwarfed by the mighty Facebook, which has allegedly been testing the scraping of data from these established networks, rather than trying to build its own from scratch.

In response to queries from TechCrunch about the QR codes testing earlier this week, Facebook gave an unenlightening response:

"We're always testing various features on the site, but we have nothing more to share at this time."

So, we will all have to wait and see how Facebook's plans unfold, but it seems clear that QR codes are destined to play a more significant role in our lives - provided, of course, that more of us adopt smartphone technology.

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