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Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Mobile Evangelists via FourSquare

  • People are mobile and people are local. That's the power of Foursquare. That and a little bit of gaming thrown in for good measure. No wonder then I've been obsessed with obtaining the mayorship of Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium in anticipation of ECU's 2010 football season! I earned it today, but no doubt I'll keep checking in to ensure my rule continues. In this article from Ad Age, you'll see why FourSquare is catching on rapidly and how marketers can use it. 

    tags: FourSquare, smm, location, gps, mobile, network, AdAge

    • Foursquare bills itself as 50% friend finder, 30% social city guide, 20% nightlife game. Basically, you tell it where you are (a bar, a park, a museum, whatever) by "checking in" (via iPhone app, SMS or mobile site). The service then tells your network of friends, recommends things to do in the area, and awards you points and badges for your activity. It also lets you recommend things other people should do and track what you have done yourself.
    • Co-founder Dennis Crowley puts it this way: "I think Foursquare found some kind of sweet spot between the intersection of social utility (Hey, I know where my friends are), sharing/oversharing (I log everywhere I go/everything I do) and gaming/rewards (every check-in gives you a little piece of candy)."
    • "There are a ton of branding and marketing opportunities and we're approached by people all the time -- sponsored badges, sponsored mayorships, etc.," Crowley told me. "What [co-founder] Naveen [Selvadurai] and I feel really good about is building two things at once -- things that make it easier/more fun for our users explore the city (tips, finding friends, badges) and things that make it easier for venues to reach out to their most loyal/vocal/early-adopter users.

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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