Hotter, colder, hotter, hotter…

Posted on | February 10, 2010 | No Comments

Location. The most hyped of the final frontiers. Google finds over 40 thousand hits for the word combination “location based advertising”, but I have yet to see one location-based mobile app that would be widely applicable, well functioning and above all beneficial to the user (Yelp gets close but is no use in Finland). As a result location marketing at least here in Europe has remained a curiosity and a future promise.

This may change this year – again.

Naturally the march of user friendly mobile devices that are usable for more than voice and SMS is one key factor that has opened up the opportunity over the last couple of years. But what’s really been lacking is a service concept that would be highly engaging to the users. The U.S. based Foursquare has however caught my attention for five reasons:

Easy (at least via iPhone): Fire up the application and you’re instantly displayed by a few understandable options to choose from: check in to a lcoation, find places and services nearby, check out the tips in the area, shout like Twitter, or see what your friends are doing.

Social: More interesting to you than what you’re doing is what your friends are doing and where. Foursquare lets you see your friends locations, their tips, their statuses etc. The ultimate point is of course the ability to boost your own ego with stuff you do that’s visible to them – social media being very self-centered in the end.

Game: Expose people to supervision and watch their behavior change. The supervision with Foursquare is positive and game-like in nature. You get points for visiting places, adding content, and other activities, which swell your status and gain you badges. Badges are awarded for a constantly increasing array of categories, so ultimately any individual interest has the potential to earn a badge. This guarantees a constantly developing and enriching game content.

Rewarding: Content and promotion partnerships aim to offer Foursquare users something very tangible and beneficial to work with.A very intriguing detail is the Mayor status. Visit some place more than anyone else and you become a mayor in that location, and will receive more incentives to visit, such as VIP invites or promotions to deal to friends. I envision a future where there is a furious competition for Mayor statuses in e.g. nightclubs and fashion stores.

Facebook Connect: No more signing on to yeat another useless community. Your Facebook account handles this so you can focus on the content.

I’m sure that the recent surge in traffic is at least partly thanks to some or all of these features

We’ll shortly see if 2010 finally is the year of the location. Or will we say these words again next year.

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