// Fad or future: Foursquare
01.02.11
When talking about geolocation based services or applications within web 2.0, Foursquare is one name that’s been receiving a lot of media attention since its launch in 2009; but is it warranted and more importantly is it a fad or is it the future?
Last week the mobile service showcased its usage through a pretty info-graphic. The headline stat read 3,400% growth in 2010, which is huge, but should brands be focusing their new media budget on it?
What’s it all about?
Geolocation based services like Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt and Brightkite encourage customers to engage with brands in real-time via a mobile site or application.
Users then create content in the form of check-ins, tips and product recommendations and in return they get rewarded with points, badges, special offers and deals in the offline world. The main goals being to encourage loyalty, footfall, brand engagement and most importantly to cash in on that social currency earned through peer recommendation.
Foursquare has received more than 380million check-ins from every country in the world and one from outer space, but the majority of its regular users are found in North America and its peak traffic happens around 7pm when people are searching for bars and restaurants.
Food and drinks brands lend themselves well to the service and giants like McDonalds and Starbucks have the highest check-in rates across all platforms, but the service could offer much more than helping me find the best coffee in Soho!
Given the press columns associated with Foursquare you would be forgiven for thinking it ruled the roost, but actually in the grand scheme of things it has a relatively puny audience (2 million).
Enter Facebook Deals, which successfully launched in the US last November and this week announced its launch in the UK with a host of partners ready to test the platform, including Debenhams who are offering free mascara and makeover for the first 1000 people to check-in to a store. Mazda are offering people who check-in the opportunity to win a car and other money-off deals, plus Alton Towers, O2 and Starbucks are all lined up to test the service.
Far from being US-centric , 70% of Facebook’s 605 million site users are outside America. Brands such as Coca-Cola are already seeing higher levels of traffic to their Facebook page than direct traffic to their own website, which means the social network giant could prove the perfect eco-system to pick up where companies like Foursquare have left off.
Facebook Deals appears far more likely to deliver the kind of volume brands need to make investment in the channel viable, but this isn’t a space Google is going to ignore. They may have failed with Groupon but they’ll be back!
2011 looks like it will be an interesting year.
