Check-In War: Foursquare Has Headstart Over Gowalla

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Foursquare and Gowalla: These are the 2 location/check-in based social apps that most people are familiar with. If you have tried both, it shouldn’t come surprising to you that we hear more about Foursquare than Gowalla.

The chain effect – Foursquare has a flatter learning curve, causing it to be adopted by more people, businesses are hence, more attracted to work with Foursquare, leading to more users and awareness.

Or am I just assuming Foursquare is better? I made a check on their web traffic.

Both web traffic are on the rise, which could imply that location-based social apps are the next big thing. Comparing them, the difference between Gowalla and Foursquare is huge; Foursquare has almost 4 times more unique visitors than Gowalla last month!

Now, isn’t it obvious that Foursquare has the headstart?

Is it all lost?

The Gowalla team has to crack some brains to match Foursquare’s success. I strongly believe businesses (big or small) will provide the needed incentives for users to use these apps (catch my thoughts here) and Gowalla should leverage on that.

Foursquare has brought in a couple of big corporate partners. Likewise, Gowalla could move towards the same direction. Before roping in big partners from all over the world, working with multiple smaller businesses that together, cover an entire city or state might be a wiser choice. It causes more impact and adoption would spread out faster.

The key here is to provide value. I’m excited to witness how both companies would shape this new check-in industry.

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Image from MickMel