Perhaps I should begin with a brief explanation of what Foursquare is and how it works for those of us outside of the know. Foursquare is a relatively new service, essentially oriented around users checking in and telling the network where they are, then providing tips or advice concerning their location. For example, I might "check-in" and say "Come to McDonald's and get a Big Mac. An icy cold coke is the perfect complement to your burger!" I then get a point for checking in (plus maybe one point for my first stop of the night), and five points for adding a new venue (if the McDonald's I'm eating at is not already in their database). I could also get a few points if I'm checking in at that McDonald's for the first time.
If users "check-in" at one location numerous times, more than anyone else who checks in at that location, they become the "mayor". For example, I happen to have eaten at Polkadots, which is a cupcake bakery across the street from my apartment, twice in the last week, and since other people seem to rarely check in there, I'm now the mayor. When another Foursquare user checks in at Polkadots more than twice, they will oust me and become the mayor themselves.
As you continue to "check-in" at various locations, you unlock badges based on how many points and check-ins you have. Badges range from "newbie" to "explorer" to "overshare".
For more information, there's a blog post I wrote earlier this semester on the Texas Tower PR blog exploring Foursquare and its potential, wondering how it will utilize the capabilities it has for promotion and possible advertising, among other things.
What's new for today is how Foursquare is hoping to make points count towards charity.
Foursquare is hoping to help turn points into money to benefit a program called CampInteractive. For one week in December, each check-in on New York City's Foursquare network will be worth $0.03, donated by a business partner. Foursquare began looking for such a partner today. In exchange for their donation, Foursquare will allow this company to re-brand the network's iPhone app during that week, giving them a great potential number of impressions for an estimated donation of around $4500.
This essentially throws the doors wide open for Foursquare's potential as a marketing and communications tool. I'm curious to see what kind of business partner Foursquare finds and how this kind of promotion will be used in the future. Obviously, if the skin of Foursquare's iPhone app is constantly being redone, the brand or advertising won't have a great effect on the network's users. Still, it could be interesting to watch brands turn to this new medium for communicating with their customers.
My guess would be that in the future, when Foursquare users "check-in" at a location, the location will have sponsored information embedded in the application. So when I "check-in" at McDonald's, sponsored information will show up telling me what the special of the day might be. If I were to become Mayor of McDonald's, I might be sent a particular code to use when ordering for a 20% discount, or some other kind of customer reward.
What else do you all think brands will use Foursquare to do for their consumers?
UPDATE: Foursquare has released their API, which reveals a lot more about their actual usability. View Mashable article.
After my last comment failed to post, I'm going to attempt this again.
ReplyDeleteI think that Foursquare has great potential if more people start utilizing it. Additionally this service has incredible potential for public relations usages. In the CampInteractive example, this would be an incredible value to marketers. For a small price, they are able to skin the iPhone App, which would create a large number of impressions for the company.
Also, Foursquare would be a great way for marketers to reach certain target markets, usually 18-35 people that are tech savvy.