The Blog

Geo-locational media has been hailed by some as ‘the next big thing’ in social networking.  Alternately, its usefulness has been called into question.  Its full impact remains to be seen, but it’s clear that this is a trend with legs.

Now, at this point, some of you might be wondering what geo-locational media is, or what all the fuss is about.  Basically, geo-locational media is a platform that lets users use their smartphone to ‘check in’ to locations.  These check-ins can be pushed to Facebook and  Twitter so that the user’s friends know where to find them.

Foursquare, one of the more popular geo-locational services, makes checking in to places into a sort of game.  Users can collect points and badges, and the user who checks into a place the most is made the ‘mayor’.  Some businesses even offer incentives to the ‘mayor’, encouraging users to compete for the most check-ins.

Facebook also has its own geo-locational service, called Facebook Places.  It does basically the same thing as Foursquare, allowing users to check-in and post their location, but without the badges and the incentives for checking in multiple times.

Alright.  Now I’ve established what geo-location media is.  So, really, what’s the fuss?

For one thing, geo-locational media has huge marketing potential.  Foursquare allows users to leave ‘tips’ about whatever location they’ve just checked into.  The real-world value is this:  users’ friends see what businesses they are patronizing and how they feel about it.

So a business which offers incentives to Foursquare users not only attracts them as a customer, but also creates an opportunity to give their business some good publicity.  Plus, since this kind of publicity comes from a trusted source (a friend) as opposed to a commercial or news brief, people are more likely to find the recommendation genuine.

It seems like currently, we’re just on the tip of the iceberg in terms of tapping into this kind of marketing potential.  But more on that in just a bit – geo-locational media also has enormous potential benefits to consumers.

First and foremost, geo-locational media offers perks to loyal customers, like the above-mentioned incentives to Foursquare users, especially those who become ‘mayor’.  The ‘mayor’ generally gets the best incentives (think a free coffee, free pastry, and the like) but other customers using Foursquare who can show that they’ve checked in often receive incentives as well (something like 10% off their purchase seems to be pretty typical).

As businesses start to see more traffic driven by users hoping to earn the most points and the best incentives, they in turn will have more incentive to offer those incentives.  Keeping customers happy = giving them what they want, and you as a customer will reap those benefits.

Secondly, as Foursquare, Facebook Places, and other geo-locational services like Gowalla, SCVNGR, and Loopt become more and more popular, users will benefit from the reviews and tips left by other users.  Looking for the best coffee in Seattle, or the tastiest bagel in New York? Simple – whip out your smartphone and see what other customers had to say when they checked in to nearby coffee shops and bakeries.

Ok.  Now I’ve established the basic benefits of geo-locational media, both for businesses and consumers.  Anastasia Kolobrodova details many of these benefits, as well as ways that geo-locational services impact large chain businesses vs. local mom-n-pop enterprises, in this interesting article.  So – it’s time to tackle the question of what this all bodes for the future.

Remember the marketing potential that I mentioned earlier? Time to go back to that.  Using geo-locational media as a marketing tool can hugely change the way businesses advertise.

Buying traditional ads (think newspapers, radio, TV, and the like) can get very expensive, very quickly.  There’s also the chance that those ads won’t reach the target audience.  Plus, for small businesses, competing against the large chains with all of their advertising muscle can seem futile.

But geo-locational media is cheap and spread from consumer to consumer.  A long-time, dedicated customer using some kind of geo-locational service can check in, see the business’ information – and special incentives, if they offer any – and then spread that knowledge via word-of-mouth to their friends, relatives, and colleagues:  the people who are also likely to patronize said business.

This kind of ‘viral advertising’ also has the benefit of spreading exponentially.  One person might tell ten other people, who in turn tell ten other people, and so on.  Businesses can potentially reach huge numbers of customers just by creating a Foursquare or Facebook places account.

Even if customers don’t actively go out and tell other people about the business, and the incentives they’re received, other geo-locational media users can still see where they’ve checked in.  The more people that frequent a location, the more others will assume that it is a good place to go.

So, the more people who check in to your business, the greater the chance that others will be drawn in as well.  Which means an increase in foot traffic and presumably also an increase in profit – all for a minimum of advertising cost.  What’s not to like?

Additionally, the potential customer base to be reached via geo-location media is HUGE.  Facebook Places has yet to catch on the way Facebook itself has, but the user base is enormous.  Once Facebook Places finds a way to replicate Facebook’s overall popularity, it has the capability to spread like wildfire.  Jeff Gibbard offers up some ways that Facebook Places may be able to attract more users in his January 10 article.

You may be wondering why, with all of these benefits, geo-locational media hasn’t exploded onto the scene.  Unfortunately, like any technology, geo-locational media has its drawbacks too.

A first and foremost concern for many people is the potential loss of privacy.  Checking in to places reveals a lot of personal information.  Ari Herzog shares some stories on his blog of people who have had bad experiences because of this.

Secondly, giving people your location at all times might open you up to victimization.  It makes a robber’s job a whole lot easier knowing you are across town at that hot new Italian restaurant instead of parked in front of the 50” flat screen TV he wants to steal.

While the chances of these occurrences are pretty remote, that possibility still does exist.  So please, embrace the new technology of geo-locational media – but do so with caution.  We all know to set our privacy settings on Facebook and limit the reach of our Tweets; what’s to stop us from doing the same with our favored geo-locational service?

Still, despite the potential drawbacks, geo-locational media has huge potential to grow.  The benefits to both users and businesses far outweigh any drawbacks.  Geo-locational media holds advantages for everyone; this is one kind of technology to watch.