Jan
19

Guest Post by David Gallant

If I Owned Foursquare…

If you have not heard of the checkin mobile service called Foursquare, well check out http://foursquare.com.
The fact that they can compile social habits of their users and their friends could be potentially worth a large amount of money to a few types of people. My background is in the nightlife industry, and being able to predict which sorts of people will end up at a venue at a certain time would be worth alot to high bidders promoting nightlife events.

Here is an example of this expensive data. Boy takes girl on date. They begin by checking into a tapas lounge, followed by drinks at a tourist bar where checkin number two occurs. Finally, they check into nightclub number three where their final checkin occurs. If a nightclub promoter could target market all of the users who checked in to tourist bar number two who may have overheard our couple talking about the club, more patrons were just created.

While target marketing has occured in the past, social media allows for inbound and passive advertisements. Foursquare could also be used to create a ‘three of a kind’ special where checking into three locations(coincidentally owned by the same restauranteur) will create a discount, promotion, or upgrade. This promotion would also be promoted through the foursquare network, which would increase the number of patrons to the location.

I am waiting for Foursquare, or any of the other locational applications to finally find a way to use their immense databases to monetize a previously weak industry.

Jan
12

Geographic Portability of Social Media

Going somewhere? Geo-locate it on foursquare!

Have a good/bad review of a restaurant or business? Post it on Yelp.

Want to post a funny video? You Tube it!

Need to post a new photo album from your phone? Log onto Flickr.

Then there is Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, and LinkedIn to connect more personally with friends, family, co-workers and they can be linked to the above sites for further sharing of information.

With the evolution of the smart phone, all of these capabilities are so easy to do. When I am out somewhere, I can easily update my Facebook status, check for friends on AIM, look up an e-mail, watch a You Tube video, and check on the status of my blogs on WordPress. It is amazing what smart phones can do today, and since Generation Y consumers are always armed with their technology 24/7, all of this is easily possible.

Generation Y also prefers to communicate via text message or e-mail much more than the traditional telephone call. It is amazing to think that just a few years ago, we were so used to picking up the phone and dialing the memorized number of our friend or family member. I guarantee most people don’t even know their best friend’s cell phone number anymore. We have become so dependent on our phones and computers to save and process everything for us.

Generation Y consumers are the fastest growing segment of people in the workforce today, reaching above 70 million in number. This offers a great opportunity for marketers since this niche thrives on portable technology 24/7 and is entering the workforce, therefore earning some disposable income.

Companies are capitalizing on the need for more technology and apps because of the significant increase in its usage. Since there are already many applications being added to smart phones that can relay messages to Twitter, will Twitter then become just a platform where other applications post their collected data? It seems that technology is heading that way.

Other social media sites have been recognizing significant changes in the past few months. Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg announced this week that Facebook’s security is becoming less of an issue with the emergence of people openly posting information on the Internet. Twitter is realizing that their account numbers have been dropping since 2008 and they may need to rethink their strategy with the emergence of related technologies. LinkedIn is finding ways to get members more involved with the site since it has traditionally been a background social network site that professionals rarely checked. With all of these changes, I think we will see significant developments and transformations with social media even within the next year, and be certain that Generation Y consumers will be the first to try it and spread the word.

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