The Rise of Local

Put four squares together & what do you get?

They’re more than coupons and more than games, so don’t treat them that way. They’re location-based social media. They’re what make where you are relevant to the social and mobile worlds.

I’ve always thought when anyone tells you “all the cool kids are doing it,” you should run in the opposite direction because that usually means you’re about to find yourself on the receiving end of a sales pitch. But with location-based social media, all the cool kids are doing it. And they are kind of fun. And they’re making people money.

The grand-daddy of all these services has got to be foursquare. They weren’t first on the map, but they are definitely at or near the top. They were the reason why Facebook introduced its “Facebook Places” function. They were also the reason why Facebook Places got itself killed off in August this year. You can still check in to places on Facebook, but it’s an anemic, generalized kind of experience compared to foursquare.

Foursquare does a few things well: it adds a competitive game layer to your experience, it ties in with coupons and deals, and it makes the experience social. The game layer comes in the form of a leader board, where each check-in gives you points that boot you further up the board compared to your friends. You can also get badges for different kinds of check-ins, such as at 10, 25 and 50 checkins, checking in on a boat, becoming a regular somewhere, etc. I’ll never forget when I got the “bender” badge for checking in at an eating drinking/establishment four nights in a row. Even though it was for checking in at a Starbucks. Hey – nobody said the system was perfect.

When you check in at a location, you can also see any available deals and coupons, and any recommendations that your friends leave, which makes it worthwhile to check in at a place, and not just some weird, geeky thing to do. For example, when your friend leaves a note that the cheddar/beer soup at the my local pub tastes awful, it’s probably not a good idea to give it a try. That’s one of my very own recommendations. Thank you. Thank you very much.

Finally, everyone has probably heard of becoming the “mayor” of somewhere. Check in at a place often enough and more regularly than anyone else and you can become the mayor, which can be worth something: becoming a mayor of a Starbucks location gets you a buck off a frappucino. Personally, I wouldn’t be caught dead ordering a frappucino or any other beverage that’s been mentioned in Zoolander, but hey – it’s something.

Foursquare’s just one of these services. There’s Gowalla, Facebook places, and then other location-based services like SCVNGR. SCVNGRhas a game layer, like foursquare does, but instead of checking in somewhere for the hell of it, you complete challenges to unlock rewards. This is especially useful if you’re an entertainment-type venue or an attraction, and you want people to play around, spend as much time (and money) as possible and maybe do a little free marketing for the place by letting their friends know about it.

If the word ‘game layer’ is wearing a bit thin on you at this point, then maybe you should fall back on something more practical, like Yelp. Yelp’s a review service that lets you check in to places and rate them, write a review, etc. Like the other services mentioned here, you can find deals, share with your friends and more – but unlike the others, it really focuses on rating the places you visit, which lends itself much more to commercial establishments such as restaurants and shops. It’s a little more practical that way.

Also, did I mention all the cool kids are doing it?