Recently there has been a lot of talk about location based social media services, with two companies in particular that have been getting the most attention. Gowalla and Foursquare are currently the “new big thing” in mobile social media, and it has everyone taking sides. The two companies are direct competitors that offer very similar features with a few minor differentiating twists. The competition for market share is said to be about neck and neck at the present moment, which is leading to heated brand loyalty battles for those that are picking sides and arguing which service is better.
The mobile based services are used by users on there smart phones, where you can check-in to places and be rewarded through activity and other “gamey” type features. In Foursquare for example, one of the main objects is to become the mayor of places that you frequent a lot. Only one person can be the mayor at a given time so it can stir up some heated competitions.
In addition to the fun aspects of Gowalla and Foursquare, those that catch on early to the unique business benefits that the services bring will cash in big time. If I was a retail business I would be going above and beyond to spread the word that I am pampering my mayors with VIP treatment and all kind of incentives. If you think about the competition for the mayorship that would ensue and how many repeat customer visits and new customers that would bring. Some businesses have already been smart enough to take advantage of this, but I know we haven’t seen anything because it’s going to get Gowalla and Foursquare crazy. Just wait until the masses catch on.
The hype behind these new companies and other location based services, is not all good. I’m not one to be very paranoid, but I do think it is necessary to use caution when using these services to tell the world where you are at, or where you always hang out. Besides the scary stalker issues, I foresee a lot of relationship drama stemming from people being where they shouldn’t be and so on.
I am currently giving Foursquare a serious shot and so far it has been kind of fun to be honest, but I am not sure how long I’ll think it’s cool. I guess we will see…
What are your thoughts on Gowalla vs. Foursquare, privacy issues, etc.?
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About JohnTodero:
Entrepreneur and Internet Marketer. Founder of DyVERSE Marketing Group.
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One Response to ““Location Wars” Continue to Heat Up”
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First of all great article. I am using Gowalla and it was great to read a comparison between Gowalla and FourSquare. I think both companies have to do some sort of tie in with local businesses for this to get really interesting (FourSquare appears to be pursing this more then Gowalla). I like using Gowalla and the virtual geocaching is neat. It is interesting to see who has held different items you have picked up and also where that particular item have travel from, though interestingly enough Gowalla encourages you to “vault” items and taken them out of circulation which to me really kills that whole virtual geocaching aspects. But both of these companies are evolving and hopefully they can morph into something that stays interesting after the novelty wears off.