Will Foursquare thrive? According to my previous post, no.
But businesses could help this location-based social networking app attract new users and gain greater presence. In case you’re lost, here’s a quick recap on what was discussed previously:
Foursquare, with its addictive badge collection gameplay and strong ties with several renowned social media founders, is speculated to be the next Twitter. But I argued that its pokemon-style sparkle is going to be short lived; you would just get tired of it quickly. Even if Foursquare could pull this off, its business model might not.
Businesses could change it
But all this could change if businesses are actively using Foursquare, creating a need for users to check-in religiously. Foursquare is a perfect, cost-free platform for businesses to engage in location-based advertising (check out the post on mobile trend). Imagine Starbucks were to give away a free coffee passport for the mayor of the month. I bet there would be a surge in check-ins.
In fact, there are already a list of businesses that are leveraging on this opportunity.
It’s all about adding value
The idea is simple. Whether Foursquare can be successful boils down to what users can gain from it. Checking your friends’ location and collecting badges are just some peripheral reasons why we use Foursquare. If the business world decides that Foursquare is the way to go, and starts offering promotions based on location and mayorship, we can safely predict that most of us would be on Foursquare very soon.
A larger user base would trigger a snowballing effect as more people join because their friends are on it. Like most games, the more the merrier!
How can they make money
The ways businesses make money online are evolving quickly. If Twitter can make $25 million from having its tweets indexed on Bing and Google, Foursquare could do the same too. Indexing what people say about certain location on search engines could bring value to people. Likewise, could Foursquare be the next “Google” and monetize each impression or check-in?
I would say there is a fair chance for that to happen.
