Aug 13, 2010

Digital Marketing Headhunter Update: Continued growth of location based Social Networks

Posted by Wendy Weber

Any loyalty marketing professional who isn’t aware of the relevance of location based social networks should read this piece regarding Foursquare in the Wall Street Journal: click here.

I talked about the explosion of location based mobile networking in an earlier blog post, and its use has been growing at an impressive rate. Foursquare alone has 2.4 million users globally, and is growing 30% to 40% a month.

On Foursquare, many businesses encourage repeat visits by rewarding customers with freebies on their fifth or tenth check-ins. “The good thing about Foursquare versus Twitter and Facebook is it’s tied to a location, and, essentially, it can be a digital loyalty card,” says Allison Mooney, vice president of emerging trends at consultancy MobileBehavior LLC, a unit of Omnicom Group Co. “It’s closing the loop between digital social media and the actual point of sale.”

I have been an occasional user of Foursquare ever since I saw its founder, Dennis Crowley speak at an industry conference earlier this year. I became intrigued.

It has not been without its technical glitches. Every so often I find myself unable to “check in”, and have to follow a series of commands to reset my Blackberry. Also, I am waiting for my contemporaries to adopt it. I’m certain I’m on the older end of the demographic for Foursquare users, and just as I waited patiently for my colleagues and friends to adopt Facebook and Twitter, it may be a matter of time before my network of contacts embrace location based social networks. I am still waiting for the day when I unexpectedly connect with a friend through Foursquare at the airport or the coffee shop…but I think it will be great fun!

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