Foursquare at CES & Beyond
Foursquare has always been an confusing concept for me. The basic premise is understandable, but I could never understand WHY? Why would anyone care where I am at a given point, and how would Foursquare ever be relative to business? I quickly re-evaluated my questions as I remember having similar hesitations about Twitter…which have since been proven dead wrong.
What triggered my ‘AHA’ moment with Foursquare was this recent picture from @SocialJulio at CES this week.
This photo quickly unveiled an Intel partnership with Foursquare for the event. All of a sudden, Foursquare, at least it’s geolocation feature, seems to have opened endless possibilities:
- Taking tradeshows further – The clear example used here is likely to be emulated by additional partnerships and sponsorships at events in the future. Expect to see this concept integrated into more apps and utilized by exhibitors as well as show organizers.
- Retail Environments – A concept that is probably not in the too distant future, this technology will likely be adopted by the retail environment, particularly malls and condensed territories, to announce discounts, features and promotional items.
- Blue Sky – As GPS becomes accurate to inches, instead of feet, imagine an app dedicated to your grocery store ventures. Pre-organized listed items can be served up in reminders as you enter the very aisles they are housed. Couple that with additional product discount alerts and you’ve got one handy shopping assistant.
What are your thoughts on this form of geolocation utilization and what other forms do you see it taking in the near and distant future?
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I really like your line of thinking. As for Foursquare, I am confident that 2010 will be a definitive year for them. With the addition of new users, new venues, and added visibility within the business community, I am excited to see the opportunities for all parties involved (customers, businesses, and organizations)! The possibilities are endless: if you are close to a blood drive, maybe Foursquare can let you know that as you check-in. If you are near a business partner, they can give you their specials or quick pitch when you are in the area!
Is the next step where businesses are able to pay a small fee to get featured in such a way?
Eric:
Glad it’s starting to spark some ideas in your mind. I love the alert bubbles that come up on my mobile device when I check into a venue and a friend has left a tip or a recommendation of a nearby venue. And, I trust my friends to steer me in the right direction, so I often follow their suggestions.
I’m also seeing local venues here in Dallas offer discounts or free meals to Foursquare mayors and their friends. And, when you see a “mayor alert bubble” pop on your mobile device using geo tagging, you’ll get really excited.
The example you used is a perfect illustration of how to use it in an event. I could also see a customized event Foursquare badge, a badge for checking into 5 event workshops, a badge for networking sessions, etc.
Every new communication mechanism brings with it the risk of overwhelming the target with excessive or inconvenient information, in other words, spamming. It’s not easy for the user to be selective and the tricky thing for the businesses trying to communicate with their customers is about dramatically enhancing the preciseness of the message. In this context, geolocation is one more variable in the equation and it has to be combined with marketing precision tools to achieve good results and positive reactions.
Ok Eric, your post convinced. I’m giving it a try!
Eric, interesting post! Thanks for sharing. This makes me think of contests/gimmicks that numerous shows use to encourage booth traffic. Many shows give attendees a card and asked them to have it stamped by a certain number of exhibitors. Once complete, the card is entered into a drawing. I could see traffic generating gimmicks like this move to a mobile GPS device that attempts to help the attendee further engage with the show. Gaming is big, especially when trying to engage younger members.
It’s going to be interesting to see it “play out”!
Dave Lutz – @velchain