As the popularity of social networking continues to grow, we are left to wonder what lies ahead for this booming industry in 2010. We saw Twitter, the 2009 “darling” of social media, reach extraordinary heights by hitting the 27 million user mark in November, a sure testament to its popularity. So what is the next big thing to hit the social media scene? It is virtually impossible to predict which social outlet will catch on and resonate best with networking aficionados, but industry experts have their eye on one up-and-coming application in particular, Foursquare.
So what is Foursquare?
Foursquare takes social networking to a new level by integrating real-life interaction with the most popular online social media outlets. The site provides users with a livable gaming experience and creates a playground for exploration that meshes online networking with the real world.
Dennis Crowley, founder of the application explains, “What we wanted to do is turn life into a video game. You should be rewarded for going out more times than your friends, and hanging out with new people and going to new restaurants and going to new bars–just experiencing things that you wouldn’t normally do.”
What Foursquare Provides for Users
The idea is that each user earns points based on how many new places they visit, how many stops they make per journey, and who else has already been to the location they are visiting, making it an adult virtual tag game of sorts. The basis of the concept is to use social networking sites to propel the game, while at the same time, encourage real-life, human interaction.
To keep participants connected, the Foursquare application encourages users to find their friends by way of maps, texts and Twitter updates to communicate location. The app also provides an outlet to find suggestions for fun and interesting activities based on where users are at any given moment. Additionally, it allows players to keep track of tips they find along the way using a “Top 12 List,” and the things they aim to accomplish using a “To Do List.”
And there are more features that promise to entice the competitive networker. Foursquare users can be deemed “Mayor” of their favorite hotspots if they visit them often enough and they also have the chance to rank on a Leaderboard, taunting their skills to other users. For additional flare, users can earn badges for their adventures that indicate interests and activities, such as a “Bender Badge” for going out on the town for four nights or more in a row.
The Opportunity for Businesses
As the popularity of Foursquare increases, businesses stand to reap the rewards as well. Because this application is so highly location-based, local hotels and destinations can get in on the game and use this tool to tap into adventurous travelers seeking new experiences. In a move to further increase the value of the site to marketers, Foursquare also recently debuted the addition of an API, or application programming interface, that allows third-party developers to build anything they desire on top of Foursquare’s location saavy network. This factor provides a “sky’s the limit” atmosphere for branding and customization.
The company also unveiled “Foursquare for Businesses” as a platform for retailers wishing to offer special deals to Foursquare users. For example, a hotel could offer a discount to users that visit more than one of its brand’s locations.
An important point to note is that Foursquare revokes points for participants that visit the same places repeatedly week after week, as the game is centered on adventure and discovery. This indicates that users will be consistently seeking new locations, providing hotels and destinations with a unique opportunity to become the next favorite spot, as well as create a draw for a range of onsite amenities at different hotel properties or destination partner locations.
Hand-in-Hand Networks?
It’s apparent that this gamer app serves as a springboard for already thriving social sites, such as Twitter, which is tied to the game like a homing device and allows friends to keep tabs on fellow adventurers’ whereabouts directly through their mobile phones. To further fuel the buzz around the site and its proximity to Twitter, Jack Dorsey (founder of Twitter) has already made an angel investment in anticipation of the application’s popularity, joined by other big players such as the founders of Digg and Delicious, and famed angel investor, Ron Conway.
The parallels with Twitter are raising eyebrows across the industry. Robert Scoble, early technology adopter and popular blogger, observed in September: “Go back three years ago. Twitter was being used by the same crowd that is playing with Foursquare today.” Is this a possible sign that the same windfall of Twitter fanatics will follow suit on Foursquare? The competition is fierce between similar apps such as Gowalla, Loopt, Brightkite and Google’s Latitude. While these players look to be a threat, they also seem to be less successful in developing the qualities necessary to hook users in the manner that Foursquare thus far has accomplished.
Only time will tell how this concept will unfold. Stay tuned for updates.
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