Foursquare Ponders Future While Google Preps
ADOTAS – Those who thought Facebook’s introduction of location-based check-ins through Places might signal doom for FourSquare, the leading mobile social (moso) network, were proven wrong pretty quickly as FourSquare rode a wave of new users thanks to the launch of places. The network recently celebrated its 200 millionth check-in by… Crashing. Twitter probably sent them a card reading, “You’ve really made it now, kids.”
Cofounder Dennis Crowley sat on a social networking panel NYSE Euronext/Wall Street Journal Executive Marketing Summit at the New York Stock Exchange yesterday to ponder the future of Foursquare as well as the moso arena in general. Apparently the company wants to offer local store owners the ability to boost their marketing power by offering incentives to users that check-in every time they visit.
Some local shops already offer deals to mayors and checking-in visitors, but going through Foursquare itself would certainly streamline the process. Larger brands like Starbucks and McDonald’s have rolled out such campaigns with good (but not mind-blowing) results.
Crowley also got into some shaky ground (from a privacy standpoint) by discussing soon-to-arrive technology that links credit cards to Facebook and other social networks, facilitating consumer tracking through purchases, check-ins and interests. There you might have crossed the line into cyber-stalking…
But look behind you, Crowley — Google is making moves to show it’s serious about location-based networking as well. Melissa Mayer, who earned a lot of praise for her role in building Google into the search giant, is changing positions from vice president of search product and user experience to lead Google’s location-based and local services. Apparently she’s been very active on Foursquare lately — even checking in at the hospital when her husband needed stitches. (Could hospitals capitalize on offers through Foursquare? “Check in while delivering your child and the father gets a free vasectomy!”)
BI’s Nicholas Carson vaguely suggests that many of the former Googlers at Foursquare could find themselves returning to Mayer’s domain — through poaching or acquisition. Coincidentally, Crowley sold his last company — Dodgeball, which was basically an SMS-based Foursquare Jr. — in 2005 to big G. In 2009, Google replaced Dodgeball with its Latitude moso network, which has proved less popular as Foursquare and its ilk.
However, Latitude just launched a dedicated website that maps out where your fellow users are showing up. Previously Latitude was only an iGoogle widget or a mobile device app — incremental progress, but progress nonetheless, especially considering that Google is socializing all its core products to transform its empire into a social network that will rival Facebook.
Latitude could then become a true rival to Facebook Places, and possibly make Foursquare sweat.
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