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Posts Tagged ‘location-based services’

Are Consumers Ready for Location-Based Services?

Despite the buzz around location-based services, I have been ambivalent, if not skeptical about the technology.

As much as social media has encouraged people to share information, I have not been convinced there is the same amount of enthusiasm for broadcasting your location.There’s the issue of privacy, as well as few “rewards” for telling the world your location.

In many respects, however, being unconvinced about the potential of location-based services has been like a Don Quixote-like experience, particularly when you’re an enthusiastic member of the social media community. The idea that you don’t really buy into the next new thing seems almost sacrosanct.

It was interesting and, to be honest, encouraging to read Joshua Brustein’s column in yesterday’s New York Times about whether the excitement surrounding location-based services is being driven by technology companies and investors, while consumers only seem modestly interested.

Brustein’s column came on the heels of a Pew Internet and American Life Project survey that discovered only 4% of Americans use location services like Foursquare and Gowalla, compared with 5% last May. Even among smartphone-toting 18 to 29-year-olds, only 8% use location-based services.

It may just be that location-based services won’t be widely embraced. Or it could be that location-based services have yet to find their sweet spot. However you want to explain it, the reality is location-based services have failed to live up to lofty expectations as social media’s next hot thing.

Perhaps Facebook’s entry into the market will change things, particularly if consumers are attracted to the link between the company’s Places and Deals services.

Or maybe not. It could be that most people have no use for location-based services despite the best efforts of companies and investors.

After all, you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make him drink.

By Mark Evans - November 8th, 2010 - No Comments »
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Posted in Social Media, Technology

The End or the Beginning for Foursquare?

Foursquare has been one of those social media “baubles” that are shiny and glittery but, for whatever reason, has never been wildly embraced despite a lot of attention and more than $15-million of venture capital.

Once thought to be the next Twitter, Foursquare was supposed to catch fire a couple of years ago the popular SXSW conference but it flamed out instead.

Sure, it has two million registered users but who knows how many of those are active. Heck, I have a Foursquare account but it’s been collecting dust for months.

There has been a lot of conjecture about Foursquare’s future in recent months over whether it is anything more than a novelty that lets people broadcast their location. The biggest weakness has been that Foursquare has no other features. It’s a one-trick pony.

Heck, if you want to use a service that makes Foursquare interesting and useful, check out our Fourwhere service that shows comments from users on a map in cities around the world. For what it’s worth, Fourwhere also displays comments from Gowalla and Yelp.

If there were clouds on the horizon about Foursquare before, then it’s fair to suggest dark clouds are now rolling in as Facebook has launched a new service that lets people broadcast their location to friends using a mobile phone.

Facebook’s service looks and smells a lot like Foursquare. Facebook is even using the term “check-in”, which has been Foursquare’s catch-phrase.

The question now is whether Facebook’s move into the location-based services market is the beginning of the end for Foursquare. Given Facebook’s dominance and Foursquare’s precious foothold, it could see many of Foursquare’s users flee to Facebook. After all, why use a service with a single feature when there’s another option with multiple features.

The other school of thought is Facebook has now validated the location-based services market, which means that Foursquare and other start-ups such as Gowalla could thrive based on the rising tide lifts all ships theory.

My take is Foursquare’s prospects have become a lot more dim.

If Foursquare had been enjoying Twitter-like success, Facebook’s entry into the market would be significant but not earth-shattering. The fact that Foursquare is still a small player likely means it is about to take a major hit as people migrate to Facebook in significant numbers.

By Mark Evans - August 19th, 2010 - 9 Comments »
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Posted in Social Media

An Uncertain Future for Location-Based Services?

In theory, Foursquare and location-based services should be all the rage these days within social media.

Much like Twitter was enthusiastically embraced by the digitally-savvy before it burst into the mainstream, Foursquare and rivals such as Gowalla were expected to follow the same path.

But unlike what happened at the SXSW conference in 2007 when Twitter exploded on the scene, Foursquare stumbled out of this year’s conference with little buzz.

Sure, Foursquare has two million registered members and recently attracted $20-million in venture capital but there doesn’t appear to be much excitement about it or the location-based services market.

The tepid approach was illustrated earlier this week when Forrester issued a report that only 4% of online adults in the U.S. have used location-based mobile apps and that only 1% update these services more than once per week.

Forrester also discovered that 84% of respondents said they’re unfamiliar with location-based services, which is not the most encouraging news for anyone who believes location-based services have the potential to become more than a niche market.

The big problem with location-based services is their struggle to provide more value than simply giving people the ability to “check-in”. Once the novelty of broadcasting your location to the world starts to wear off, there’s no compelling reason to use Foursquare, et al.

This is not to suggest location-based services will evolve and find ways to engage with large amounts of users but there doesn’t seem to be any indication yet that they will anything more than niche services.

In an ideal world, Foursquare will provide consumers with access to lots of value-added information, including promotions from retailers looking for ways to reach consumers with the right offer at the right time at the right place.

While it’s probably still early days for location-based services, the jury is still out on whether they will become solid members of the social media landscape or whether the hype is unjustified.

By Mark Evans - July 30th, 2010 - 6 Comments »
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Posted in Social Media

Introducing FourWhere: Start Discovering the World Around You

A growing number of people are using location-based services such as Foursquare and Gowalla to tell the world where they’re visiting, and offering “tips” about these places.

But how do you easily find the information being provided?

The answer is FourWhere, a new and free location-based social search service from Sysomos that mashes-up locations and comments from Foursquare with the Google Maps API.

FourWhere is simple to use; you start by providing your location (city or address), and then right-click on the map to see the places where Foursquare users have been and any tips and comments they’ve left about particular places. (There’s a screenshot of FourWhere at the bottom of this post.)

“Creating FourWhere was a natural move for us given that Sysomos is a leading player in the social media analytics market, while Foursquare is emerging as one of the fastest-growing social media services,” said Nick Koudas, chief executive and co-founder with Sysomos.

“More people are using location-based services such as Foursquare, Yelp, Twitter and Gowalla. Today’s launch of FourWhere is the first step in bringing the local buzz together.”

After the initial release, we’ll continue to enhance the service by adding content analytics. We plan to add more real-time information from other social media sources using Sysomos’ extensive content database.

FourWhere is a public service so there is no need to register or sign in. Just visit http://fourwhere.com, and start discovering all the fun places you never knew existed and see the buzz about them.

By Mark Evans - March 9th, 2010 - 31 Comments »
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Posted in Social Media, Technology

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