Is "checking in" the next tweeting? So say the tech cognoscenti, adherents of a new breed of online social service called "geolocation." When members visit their favorite restaurant, bar, or laundromat, they use their smartphone (in most instances) and a site such as Foursquare or Gowalla to tell their friends where they are. Foursquare, which is racking up at least a million check-ins a week, prods its users to keep coming back by turning ordinary life into a kind of game. Users earn points each time they use the service; the most ardent fans keep checking in at the same locations over and over, eventually winning the prestigious title of "mayor" of, say, Happy Hamburger.
What's the point of telling everyone you're at the dentist? That's a
bit like asking why anyone would use Facebook, or, in an earlier time,
the telephone. Novel social applications seem useless -- until they
cross the Rubicon and begin to be indispensable. Foursquare, which
launched in March 2009, has been surging, thanks largely to the iPhone
and other GPS-enabled mobile devices. Media outfits such as HBO, Zagat,
and Bravo TV have joined Foursquare's game, enabling Top Chef
fans to win points for going to restaurants that appear in the show and
Zagat readers to get tips and unlock a "foodie" badge.
Marketers too are wondering if consumers are finally ready to tell them where they are so they can be offered in-the-moment specials. "Our growth curve no longer looks like a hockey stick," Foursquare recently tweeted. "It looks like a skateboard ramp with 4 feet of vert."
To read the full, original article click on this link: Tech Edge: Hollow Point | Fast Company
Author: Farhad
Manjoo
