I just finished reading an interesting post by Dave Allen called The Problem with Location Technology is Us. This is a good discussion of the pros/cons of LBS services and as an early adopter of Foursquare, Gowalla etc., I can see why they have not been roundly adopted by the general populace.  Besides the real privacy concerns (read this interesting article from the Guardian UK about a reporter who stalked a woman he’d never met through her 4sq checkins), there doesn’t seem to be a compelling justification for using it...at least not yet.

The funny thing is that it used to be that brands would be one of the last adopters of new technologies...and social media is a prime example. It was only last year we were having to justify every dollar spent on Twitter or Facebook, whereas now there is a rush to participate, and although metrics are important, they are not paramount to execution.  I remember saying the new meaning for ROI was not return on investment (because positive financial gain could not be proven) but risk of ignorance (because by not participating an intangible negative value could be proven).

Now it seems brands feel like once burned, twice shy. And there is a rush to be the first to latch on the the next big thing.

I was quite surprised at French Connection using ChatRoulette within the first few months of that rather unconventional product launch. And big brands, such as Hotels.com and Stella Artois, have already jumped on the Augmented Reality bandwagon. Not to mention, Pepsi has signed up to use Sticky Bits which is a very new company that turns barcodes into threaded conversations around objects....how’s that for edgy?

However,  I believe LBS services, in particular, will  provide tangible ROI as mainstream adoption grows,  and I think that is inevitable as rewards and premiums will drive user adoption. With the ability to offer promotions for checkins  from any brand type--  whether clothing, dining, electronics,  or travel  (Gap just offered 25% to anyone checking into any Gap store across the US for 1 day only) --combined with the increasing reliance on our mobile devices, it would seem to me it’s only a matter of time till we reach the well known tipping point for LBS.  And I think Shop Kick in particular with its ability to offer rewards for just walking into an establishment has huge potential.

As Clay Shirky says, “tools become socially interesting when they become technologically boring”. And once everyone’s friends are using these tools, the fear will subside and the rewards will drive adoption.

Thanks to the Joy of Tech.

http://blog.zagat.com/meet-the-mayor-of-huckleberry-cafe-and-bakery

The mystery is gone. http://whenwillibemayor.com/home

Naveen Selvadurai, co-founder of Fourquare, talks about how the app has changed people's behavior, from karaoke crawls to losing weight. And in the meantime, he gives tips on how to get the coolest badges. I always wanted to know how to get the Andy Warhol badge!

http://blip.tv/file/3582091/

The early adopters in my network have all heard about Foursquare, and Gowalla and My Town. Launched in March 2009, it was called the "breakout mobile app at SXSW by Mashable (http://mashable.com/2009/03/16/foursquare/), the adoption rate has been astounding, first by users and now by brands such as Bravo and Zagat.

And I'm sure that trend will continue, notwithstanding the fear of advertising that your home is empty and can easily be robbed (http://pleaserobme.com/). More and more people will soon be getting sucked into what Peter Shankman states in his post, "2010--The Year of FourSquare?", the "black tar" that is Foursquare.

However, I have noticed e-tailers are lagging behind, and I have a great solution for them. Just recently I added a few books to my wish list at Amazon, and I thought it would be great to share that on Twitter and Facebook. To do so, I had to open a new tab, copy and paste the link to the book and type the text that I just added such and such to my wish list.

It's really a no brainer that there should be a share button on that Amazon page, and similar pages from all e-tailers. Why not share that you added a movie to your netflix queue. Or that you just purchased new boots from Zappos. Of course in the vein of http://www.pleaserobme.com, I would not recommend tweeting you just purchased a 50' LCD television or brand new Rolls Royce.

Continuing with that model, power users---not just appointed bloggers-- would get badges and discounts, and tell their friends/followers about great deals 

Leveraging brand advocates to reinforce their loyalty and spread the news is what social media is all about. Seems like a no brainer to me, and it's not necessary to forge an alliance with Foursquare, as they already have large customer bases.   Just saying...

Robert Scoble points out all the great things about these geo location tools (http://bit.ly/bO6Pgz,) which is why I started using them a few months. And this week, one of my favorite people, @zenaweist, posted through foursquare that she was staying just a few blocks from me in NYC. She lives in Kansas, I in LA, and we would have not had the chance to meet without foursqure. That's where it's brilliant. But it's becoming less rewarding as more and more people use these tools. I am overwhelmed with folks checking in, lists of places are not alphabetized, places are duplicated due to misspellings. Currently, the negatives are overtaking the positives. Once they work out these annoyances, these will be very vaulable services-- both to users and advertisers. And whether it's foursquare or gowalla or facebook, this type of activity will only become more valuable. So please, figure out how to make it work well, and soon.
Thanks

With over 500,000 users, and 6 check ins per second, as opposed to foursquare's 1 check in per second, this come from behind geo location app may over take foursquare. After playing with it for a few days, it's basically Farmville for the phone, a most odious idea. At this point, with my inbox stuffed with emails from Twitter, Facebook and now foursquare and Gowalla, the last thing I need is another tool telling me where someone is. Read more here; http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/14/AR20100114033...