January 29, 2010

Will foursquare survive? I'm not sure I want it to.

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

January 27, 2010

My Town, the foursquare killer? I'm beginning to hate them both.

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/AR2010011403377.html

January 11, 2010

Taking Foursquare and Gowalla to the next level. Can you say Gowalla Dollars?

Yesterday, I read an interesting post by Gustav Söderström (@GustavS) on why Foursquare and Gowalla are kicking Google's butt. (Read the full post here http://bit.ly/7yD21j).

And as a more than occasional user of both services--probably to the consternation of some of my friends, I can verify that that he made a number of excellent points: we do the work of creating places (brilliant), we take the action to check in (it's not automatic) so we are clear about what we're doing, the GPS on our phones is very accurate (for the most part) and getting better.

But I think he missed a very vital point about these services which will help them achieve the tipping point of widespread adoption very soon: The Gaming Element.

Here is what I posted to his blog:
I agree that these services will take off in 2010.

They align perfectly with the social media model of sharing..the new form of ambient intimacy.

But I think the "gaming" element is of major importance to the adoption rate and has been instrumental in helping these tools reach their adoption tipping point.

People are proud that they have earned a certain status, whether it be a founder on Gowalla or Superstar on FourSquare. I constantly see twitter posts about attaining these levels.

Personally, I feel neither tool has begun to leverage the potential there, though I did see Foursquare offer me a discount at a nearby restaurant when I checked into Emporio in Nolita last week--very smart.

I'm thinking special offers, discounts, even Gowalla Dollars! It has a nice ring to it. It's got to be more than silly bags of swag, or badges. I'm sure restaurants, supermarkets, auto rental places..you name it..would be ripe for offering goodies to frequent visitors. Basically, the model would be Gowalla Honors or Foursquare Members Points.

I bet you'll see that very soon. Too bad I don't work there; I'm sure the stock options will be very valuable shortly!