[Fogest]

There already are Facebook pages with locations on them so I don't see the need for beacons to already be able to do this. And Facebook also already likely uses users locations to pinpoint where they are. As it stands right now you already can get notifications if you have location services on that you're near a business and will ask if you want to "check in".

So I don't see how this changes anything. They already have this data, the beacon doesn't change that.

[mbq]

The fact that they want beacons suggests that the location information is not as accuracte or reliable as they would like to; quantitative changes also matter.

[Fogest]

Well this method can be faster and can encourage more businesses to take up a web presence as a device like this is free. Not only this but the physical device like this and notifications on the users phone can push more users to interact with the businesses. This seems to be being pushed forward in order to encourage a greater presence of businesses with more interaction through Facebook. The more interaction that Facebook can bring between the customer and the business the better for Facebook, but also the better for the business.