Foursquare enjoys lead in location-based social networking
If there is a way to nail several disparate things together into one product, American marketing will find a way to do just that, a way which will reach out to a niche group that never knew it existed before.
Foursquare, which describes itself as a location-based social networking Web site, is such a mash up. The company runs the Web site, provides software for mobile devices, and run a series of games based on location and social activities. Users “check-in” at venues using text messaging or a device specific application, available for iPhone, Android, and Blackberry. They are then awarded points and sometimes “badges.” Think of it, if you will, as a tiny Facebook with the addition of your local GPS coordinates. Facebook, of course, has noticed this and will be adding location-based antics to its service just as quickly as they can get it coded in. Other companies, such as Austin-based Gowalla, are doing their best to divide and conquer the location-based niche, according to CNN.com.
As one would expect, the places from which people “check in” are are heavy with bars, restaurants and local hangouts of all kinds. People are encouraged to check in as often as possible, which will give them a chance to become “mayor” of their tavern or Denny’s. If you are not high enough on the check-in list for that exalted position, you can also earn “badges” (think boy scouts) in categories as an explorer, a person on a “Bender,” a person who is “Crunked” (insider jargon for “blotto”), and even Douchebag, though we won’t go into what qualifies one for that particular award.
Foursquare is only a year old, and is celebrating its second anniversary at SXSWi in Austin. They claim to have 450,000 members, although as always it is not known how may of those are active, just how many have joined. By comparison, Twitter can verify more than six million active users in any given recent month, which sound impressive, but is not when compared with Facebook, which claims to have more than 400 million active users, roughly 1,000 times more users than Foursquare. Facebook, of course, also has many more (and much more varied) badges, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Like any such social networking services, it is possible to put Foursquare to good use in a business or community sense, though most users just think of it as a way to have fun, or maybe to meet someone new for a drink. It is, after all, in the “social” networking arena. And it is one of the few in that arena which, rather than cautioning users to be careful with private information, instead advises them to publicly broadcast their exact location and has some of them working for a badge as a Foursquare “Player Please!” which is a fellow who spends a lot of time in places where there is a lot significant variety of available women, and where is is possible to officially become a Douchebag.
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