Unless you’ve been stuck in a bunker for the last six months, you might have noticed that social geo-location has become quite a big deal. In fact, apparently, it’s the next big thing. Services have been integrating ‘geo’ or location based information (twitter has begun geo-tagging tweets with latitude and longitude information) and new platforms such as Foursquare and Gowalla have emerged, allowing users to ‘check-in’ to venues and places across the word.
But what’s the point?
Who cares where I am? Who cares what I’m doing (and where i’m doing it)? Probably no one. This for me is the big problem with the likes of Foursquare and Gowolla. There doesn’t seem to be a huge benefit to ‘check-in’ to venues, other than being awarded a little badge for doing so (I am in fact, a ‘Barista‘, ‘Photogenic‘ and a ‘Super Mayor‘ on Foursquare, which is nice), or seeing if my ‘friends’ are nearby (they aren’t my real friends). Maybe once these services reach a critical mass where everyone is using them I might see a benefit here, and I can proudly show off my Crunked badge to all my inevitably jealous mates.
Geo-location does have its place though, and I think this is in locationally-contextual information. If I want to see a movie, I want an app to tell me the nearest cinema that is showing it today. I need a product from Argos, tell me the nearest store that has it in stock. I’m a tourist, tell me the top ten things to see in my vicinity. Here, there is immediate benefit to the information being given to me. Foursquare has taken strides in this direction, by promoting when there’s a deal at a venue near me, which, if i’m the current Mayor (most checked-in user) of the venue, I can redeem. Problem here is that that critical mass hasn’t been reached and there are very few deals that are of interest.
It’s really interesting to see new apps and services jumping on this bandwagon – and I’m sure we’ve only seen the beginning of innovation in this area. At Latra, we’re looking at internally developing some ideas that relate to providing information to people visiting specific places or attractions (think museums, theme parks etc), and also helping our clients provide locationally-contextual information to their customers where there is a distinct benefit in doing so. Get in touch if you think we can help you in this area.
