Local apps for local people

20th Nov 2009 A passion and truth by Scott

The one thing the digital industry never stops talking about is who is going to be the next big start-up. Take a look at Techcrunch - it’s the equivalent of Heat magazine for us digital folks.

It looks like the main contender for the ‘Next Big Thing’ could well be the US-based Foursquare – a location aware based mobile app. Foursquare’s investors include Digg’s Kevin Rose and Twitter creator Jack Dorsey - which hints at it’s potential for success. 

Foursquare combines your mobile phone with social networking, user recommendation and location tracking to create an online ‘game’ that is played out in the ‘real’ world.

The idea behind Foursquare is simple enough, explore your local city and get rewarded for it. These rewards come in the form of points and badges that you collect every time you ‘check-in’ at a venue. The more you venture into new locations the more points and badges you can accumulate. You can also connect with your friends and work colleagues, sharing venue recommendations and your own whereabouts.

Foursquare might sound like World of Warcraft meets the high street (just swap Ogres for Lattes) but it also opens up a huge opportunity for major brands and local businesses to build customer loyalty, and improve footfall in their stores.

What sets Foursquare apart from other social networking platforms is it’s competitive edge. Take the Mayor feature as a good example – Mayorships are awarded to those who ‘check’ into a venue more times than anyone else. Becoming a Mayor offers more rewards than just a title - you might also be offered special deals that are exclusive to your status. 

Even if you’re not worthy of the Mayor title you can still take advantage of offers by checking-in to your local venues. Current incentives include anything from free drinks to discounted travel tickets for regular commuters.

You can’t beat it from a business perspective. Foursquare enables you to track how many times a customer has visited your shop/bar/restaurant, and the frequency of those visits. You can also target customers both inside and outside of your venue making it a valuable marketing tool for promotions and offers.

And it’s not just businesses that can take advantage of this service. Foursquare have officially released an API so that developers can build their own apps that interact with the Foursquare platform (a move that was integral to Twitter’s success). My current favourite has to be the London Underground’s Oyster Card, which you can swipe to ‘check-in’ rather than use your mobile.

Foursquare might yet become the perfect accompaniment to our transient lifestyles. By combining social networking with location-based services we’re being offered a service that not only encourages us to connect, but also pushes us to explore our local environments.

It will be interesting to see how Foursquare matures over the next 18 months, and how brands and local businesses can develop the platform to creatively engage with their local customers.

Birmingham (my local city) has just been added to the Foursquare city list. You are welcome to ‘check-in’ at my local pub and celebrate my self-elected Mayorship. Cheers.

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Jeremy Merckel

Posted about 8 months ago at 13:55 on 9th Feb 2010

Interesting developments from Foursquare announced today:

Foursquare seals first national brand tie-ups

Domino's Pizza and Debenhams have begun to participate with the mobile social network and game Foursquare, marking the first inclusion of major UK brands on the service. Foursquare informs users about local shops and restaurants by utilising the GPS function on their mobile handsets.

Debenhams and Domino's are supporting the service by offering deals to Foursquare participants based on factors relating to their consumer behaviour. Debenhams' flagship Oxford Street store is offering free coffee to any user 'checking in' to the store via Foursquare on Fridays, while Domino's is offering a free pizza every week for users who become 'mayor' of its branches.

Foursquare is now expected to enjoy growth similar to that experienced by Twitter and Facebook, although some concerns have been raised regarding the potential abuse of the service as users are able to make negative remarks about products and services.

(Marketing magazine)

 

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