The Lowdown on Location Based Services

The Players: There are 5 relevant services:

The Lowdown: In 2009 you saw Twitter explode onto the mainstream audience. In 2010 you will see either Foursquare or Gowalla take the clear lead in the “Location war” There is a third option, Google or Facebook could get into the war and destroy both of these services. (More on this later)

Why they Matter: They allow businesses and individuals to connect via their physical location.

  • A business can set criteria that gives discounts to people who check-in and share to their friends where they are.You check into a bar in New York City. You get a notification that there is a happy hour at a bar acrossthestreet. The only reason you know about this is because you checked in at your original location.
    • Ability to discover new places.
    • Loyalty programs.
  • An individual can see where their friends have gone to find new places. They can also meet up with a friend if they happen to be close by.
    • People love to tell others that a certain place is their spot, there is no better way of claiming a location than becoming a mayor. Everyone instantly knows you are the most loyal customer.

Why You Should Care: You already ask your friends advise about restaurants, movies, and shopping. Now you are able to actually see where they have eaten or gone shopping. In many cases they leave a comment to let people know how their experience was. This makes for a seamless way of finding out about cool new places.

What Service Should You Use: There really are only two that matter. So try out foursquare and gowalla and see which one you like better. My favorite is foursquare.

Nice breakdown provided by Mashable. The link is at the bottom of the post.

Much Needed:

  • An app that will let me update all geo-location services at one time.
  • More businesses on board.
  • More people using the services.
  • More Cowbell.

Apocalypse: There is a scenario where all of these start ups become irrelevant overnight. If Google and Facebook release features that incorporate it into their sizeable user bases.

  • Google has stepped into the game with Buzz. The only problem is that it kind of sucks. There are privacy issues, does not have a stand alone app (Still not great). Multiple steps to check into places. There are more issues, but I think you get the idea. They did not make this into something that is ready to take down any of these start ups. They seem to love being “Always in Beta”
  • Facebook has not done this but if past actions are any indication they will copy foursquare and have the exact functionality.
    • History Lesson: When twitter became hot, Facebook was quick to add their own “stream” that looked and acted exactly like twitter. Don’t be surprised to see the same thing happen. They also bought friendfeed, which was a more advanced twitter that no one used.

Update: April 16th will be interantional Foursquare Day

Please leave me feedback and let me know how wrong I am on any of my points.

Related Links: http://mashable.com/2009/12/25/foursquare-gowalla/

March 30, 2010 1 Comment Short URL