Gowalla Steadily Moves Past The Check-In With City Pages, Business Listings And More

It’s no secret that both Foursquare and Gowalla are expanding their location-based social networks past the check-in, developing other incentives for consumers to use the services. Gowalla, in particular, has focused on adding innovative features to its platform to make the social network more interactive, through photos and comments. Most recently, the startup added local highlights, which allows users to essentially tap into their social graph to not only see what’s popular in a particular location, but also provide contextual information around what are the best sights, places, restaurants and activities in a particular locale. Today, Gowalla is adding a few more features for businesses that help the network move beyond the check-in, including City Pages, Verified Businesses and Venues; and the Stamp Calendar.

via techcrunch.com

Posted via email from Social Persuasion - The Social Media Marketing Agency Blog

Facebook Buys Social Check-In Network Hot Potato

Hot Potato combines the news feed aspect of Facebook with the location features in services like Foursquare. You choose a verb (like "attending") and a location (like "the Super Bowl") and Hot Potato will post this from your account. The idea is to connect with other friends who might be doing the same thing, or to keep friends updated about your activities. Friends can then comment on what you've posted. For those friends not using Hot Potato, you can push your updates to services like Twitter and Facebook. Hot Potato also offers rewards, much like Foursqare's mayorships and badges.

It's not immediately clear how or if Facebook will integrate Hot Potato with its site. Earlier this week, Facebook unveiled Places, which allows users to "check in" to certain places from their Facebook accounts.

via pcmag.com

Posted via email from Social Persuasion - The Social Media Marketing Agency Blog

Facebook Places Launches - Check In Service Similar to Foursquare and Gowalla

Starting today, you can immediately tell people about that favorite spot with Facebook Places. You can share where you are and the friends you're with in real time from your mobile device.

 

 

Checking In with Friends

 

Ever gone to a show, only to find out afterward that your friends were there too? With Places, you can discover moments when you and your friends are at the same place at the same time.

 

You have the option to share your location by "checking in" to that place and letting friends know where you are. You can easily see if any of your friends have also chosen to check in nearby.

 

To get started, you'll need the most recent version of the Facebook application for iPhone. You also can access Places from touch.facebook.com if your mobile browser supports HTML 5 and geolocation.

 

Go to Places on the iPhone application or touch.facebook.com site and then tap the "Check In" button. You'll see a list of places near you. Choose the place that matches where you are. If it's not on the list, search for it or add it. After checking in, your check-in will create a story in your friends' News Feeds and show up in the Recent Activity section on the page for that place.

 

Example of a Place page on the iPhone application.

 

Places is only available in the United States right now. But we expect to make it available to more countries and on additional mobile platforms soon.

via blog.facebook.com

Is Facebook places going to force some of the Foursquares, Gowallas and the Yelps of the world to check out because they can't compete with the budget, might and userbase of Facebook? Have you tried any of these location-based social networking games yet? How much harder will it be to become the Facebook Places version of "mayor" of your hometown Starbucks now?

Posted via email from Social Persuasion - The Social Media Marketing Agency Blog

New: Facebook Places - Facebook introduces check-in feature similar to Foursquare, Gowalla

Social-networking giant Facebook has entered the check-in world.

Facebook executives on Wednesday announced the launch of Facebook Places, which -- similar to services such as Foursquare and Gowalla -- will allow people to use the GPS on their mobile phones to let friends know exactly where they are.

Facebook Places is available immediately in the United States through the latest version of Facebook's iPhone app and, for other advanced mobile phones, through the company's site for advanced mobile devices, executives announced at Facebook's headquarters in Palo Alto, California.

via cnn.com

Posted via email from Vancouver Internet Marketing Social Media Marketing Consultant Canada

ShopKick - Score Loyalty Points for Walking in a Store - No more bogus Foursquare / Gowalla check ins?

Shopkick is an app, which will be available in the next few weeks on the iPhone and later for other kinds of phones, that retailers can use to track when shoppers have entered a store and reward them with points or discounts.

Other location-based apps, like Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt, also function as virtual loyalty cards. Shopkick says it is different in a few critical ways.

The other apps use cellphones’ GPS signals. That means that someone could stand on a street corner and check in to a place to earn points without ever setting foot inside. Foursquare’s new automatic check-in service, for instance, checks people in when they are within 300 meters of a location.

“Check-ins are a really nice start, but unfortunately, most of them are fake,” said Cyriac Roeding,  a founder of Shopkick.

But users of the other services say they are encouraged to check-in to where they actually are, since the point is to alert friends to their location.

Still, Shopkick wants to reassure retailers that they are only rewarding actual customers.

Instead of relying on GPS or Wi-Fi signals, Shopkick installs small devices in stores that send out an inaudible noise. Cellphones with the Shopkick app pick it up with their microphones.

via bits.blogs.nytimes.com

No more bogus Foursquare / Gowalla / Yelp check ins?: Sounds good.
I actually get points I can use across several online and offline brands, including making charity donations: good. It’s only on the iPhone: not so great, but it'll likely work on Android soon I'd guess. There aren’t enough retailers to make it a must have: also not good - especially here in Canada - but maybe one day Shopkick will arrive in Vancouver...

Posted via email from Social Persuasion - The Social Media Marketing Agency Blog

FourWhere = Gowalla + Foursquare + Yelp (by Sysomos)

FourWhere helps you to find comments, tips for venues left by Foursquare, Gowalla and Yelp users. FourWhere automatically retrieves and aggregates user comments and visualizes them on the map. To use FourWhere, provide your location, and then click on the map to see venues (locations) or tips (comments written about a particular place).

FourWhere is public service so there's no need to register or sign in. All you need is your web browser. Go ahead, start discovering the world around you.

FourWhere is built by Sysomos using the public data from Foursquare, Gowalla, Yelp and the Google Maps API.

via fourwhere.com

Got your basic all in one geo location gizmo we've all longed for. Foursquare, Yelp & Gowalla

Posted via web from Vancouver Internet Marketing Social Media Marketing Consultant Canada

From Addiction to Apathy: The Five Stages of Foursquare (and Gowalla) Use

Foursquare, the smartphone app that gives you points and badges for "checking in" at clubs and convenience stores, is about to reach the one-million-user mark. That's a big deal. But it's also a reminder that, try as we might to cover its every move, most of you haven't tried Foursquare yet. (Or you're using its scrappy archrival, Gowalla.) Here's what to expect when you do:

via fastcompany.com

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It doesn't take long to get to stage five on Foursquare or Gowalla without an active network of friends using the same social application. Even then, with just getting virtual stamps, mayorships and virtual goodies it might get boring quick. What's next to keep people checking in? Find real money or songs or tv shows or movies or movie tickets or coupons instead of virtual goods? Become the real mayor of a town for a day after 250 check ins at city hall? Move to Rally Up http://www.getupandrally.com to cut down on the stalking and frequent home break-ins when you broadcast to the world you're out of town?

Posted via web from Vancouver Internet Marketing Consultant - Brent Purves

From Addiction to Apathy: The Five Stages of Foursquare (and Gowalla) Use

Foursquare, the smartphone app that gives you points and badges for "checking in" at clubs and convenience stores, is about to reach the one-million-user mark. That's a big deal. But it's also a reminder that, try as we might to cover its every move, most of you haven't tried Foursquare yet. (Or you're using its scrappy archrival, Gowalla.) Here's what to expect when you do:

via fastcompany.com

It doesn't take long to get to stage five on Foursquare or Gowalla without an active network of friends using the same social application. Even then, with just getting virtual stamps, mayorships and virtual goodies it will get thin quick. What's next to keep people checking in? Find real money or coupons instead of virtual goods? Become the real mayor of a town for a day after 250 check ins at city hall? Move to Rally Up http://www.getupandrally.com to cut down on the stalking and frequent home break-ins when you broadcast to the world you're out of town?

Posted via web from Vancouver Internet Marketing Consultant - Brent Purves

Rally Up is a Location-Based Network For People Who Like Privacy

A new geolocation app for the iPhone was released today called Rally Up. What differentiates Rally Up from the likes of Foursquare and Gowalla is that it has a strong focus on privacy and content sharing. Rally Up bills itself as “a social network for real friends,” letting users share messages and photos with the people they trust.

To this end, Rally Up takes a very different approach to friends lists and friends management from other social applications. For instance, Rally Up doesn’t integrate with Twitter (). What?! I hear you gasp. As the saying goes, “It’s not a flaw, it’s a feature.”

via mashable.com

Posted via web from Vancouver Internet Marketing Consultant - Brent Purves

Facebook vs. Google: The Billion Dollar Battle to Be Your Default Social Profile

“What’s next in social media?” It’s among the most popular questions out there. But while most folks currently answer with “location-based services” (i.e. Foursquare (), Gowalla ()) or “group purchasing” (i.e. Groupon, Twongo, Living Social), the real battle may be between Facebook () and Google ().

The fight between these two Internet giants to become your default social profile has been brewing for a long time, and the prize is an enormous potential revenue stream. Let’s take a closer look.

via mashable.com

Posted via web from Vancouver Internet Marketing Consultant - Brent Purves

Facebook vs. Google: The Billion Dollar Battle to Be Your Default Social Profile

“What’s next in social media?” It’s among the most popular questions out there. But while most folks currently answer with “location-based services” (i.e. Foursquare (), Gowalla ()) or “group purchasing” (i.e. Groupon, Twongo, Living Social), the real battle may be between Facebook () and Google ().

The fight between these two Internet giants to become your default social profile has been brewing for a long time, and the prize is an enormous potential revenue stream. Let’s take a closer look.

via mashable.com

Posted via web from Vancouver Internet Marketing Consultant - Brent Purves

Gowalla + Foursquare + Brightkite + Yelp + Google Maps=Checkin Mania

Location-based social networking just got itself a tidy little mash-up. Checkin Mania uses Gowalla, Foursquare, Brightkite, and Yelp and displays all the places that the networks' users have been checkin' out. There are diddy little icons to mark the maps, and you can click on the users' names as well as the places to find out what they think.

via fastcompany.com

Posted via web from Vancouver Internet Marketing Consultant - Brent Purves

Why MyTown Is Bigger Than Foursquare & Gowalla ( MyTown Iphone app not available in Canada )

Location-based social networking services like Foursquare and Gowalla may eat up a lot of techie mindshare, but they still have very few users — roughly 150,000 and 50,000, respectively. However, by virtue of product design and social norms, users are discouraged from cheating when it comes to the services’ social gaming elements, so the value of their information is high.

On the other hand, an iPhone app called MyTown, which also features a location-based check-in system game, acquired 250,000 users within just two weeks of launching earlier this month.

via gigaom.com

( MyTown Iphone app not available in Canada )

Posted via web from Vancouver Internet Marketing Consultant - Brent Purves