February 28, 2011 69 Comments

The Future of Location-Based Applications

My thinking on the future of location-based applications is that we’re not yet far enough along. We have two solid applications (GPS and announcement), and one reasonably developed one (geotagging), but we are lacking a few more things that I need. I shot a quick video, and then you can read my thoughts below. If you can’t see the video, click here. If you want to write a post and track back to this one, use the url http://chrisbrogan.com/futureoflocation.

Location Based Apps Need an Identity Register

It’s not enough to tell me what’s local. I want you to tell me what’s local that I actually care about. If I prefer seafood restaurants to sushi restaurants, I want Yelp to serve me those when I ask what’s around. If I prefer shopping to museums, then I want that. I want a “register” that adds functions to when I check in, so that it knows how I want to represent myself.

Location Based Apps Need Temporary Groups

I want to identify and be “seen” by local and temporary groups, but not announce my presence to everywhere else. Thus, when I’m at a conference, I want all conference goers to have a steady state knowledge of where to find me, without me re-checking over and over, but not flood or notify the rest of the world that’s not at an event. I want this by proximity, or maybe by hashtag. There are more ways to do this than I could imagine.

Location Based Apps Need Commerce

It’s great that you get coupons. Make actual currency transfer real, and then I can do things peer to peer and not just vendor to customer. This would enable a whole new level of commerce. The mobile payment tools are there. PayPal already allows for phone to phone transactions. I just want there to be a location-based tie-in, and/or I want the ability to “float” $10 in space somewhere for someone else to pick up, or pick up after a task is complete.

And You?

You’re smarter at location than me. What’s your take?

ChrisBrogan.com runs on the Genesis Framework

Genesis Theme Framework

The Genesis Framework empowers you to quickly and easily build incredible websites with WordPress. Whether you're a novice or advanced developer, Genesis provides you with the secure and search-engine-optimized foundation that takes WordPress to places you never thought it could go.

With automatic theme updates and world-class support included, Genesis is the smart choice for your WordPress website or blog.

Become a StudioPress Affiliate

Newer Comments →
  • LXLEE

    YES! That’s what I’m talking about. I agree with you completely, Chris! LBS need to have the identity registry so that it’ll know what you’ve been up to or where you been so it can push recommendations to you.

    Also, it’ll identify you if you’re a first-timer in that city/state/country, That way you’ll get all the 1st check-in rewards. I don’t think you’ll be able to enjoy most of the rewards in a new place since they require either you to be the mayor or a couple check-ins.

  • http://www.ivanwalsh.com Ivan Walsh

    When I was in China mobile users were able to scan in barcodes, say in the metro station, that they could then redeem at fancy restaurants and other stores. The idea was to get their info via the web and/or fron the bar code machines and then offer them discounts etc. The Chinese are VERY cost conscious compared to the US and really value these things.

  • Pingback: The Future of Location-Based Applications

  • http://raulcolon.net Raul Colon

    I think that using this post and another post by Olivier Blanchard on how Foursquare could get many things running by using their community can really take foursquare to another level. I mention Foursquare because is the one I mostly use.

    I think the identity register would work to the benefit of anyone who uses these service in seeing more value. The same as when you create a twitter list to help filter out the people you are more interested in reading on twitter. The temporary group function might be able to help people who are concerned about giving away where they are at all the time.

    On the payment side I think smartphones have to be a lot more user friendly when disclosing what they can broadcast coming from a security background and knowing how people use functions they don’t understand this can be a bit risky. For example people don’t realize that if you take a picture with your smartphone it might (if its activated) take the location of where you took the picture disclosing information you might want to keep private.

    Great ideas on how to improve LBS and get more people to use it. Thanks for sharing.

  • Christa Avampato

    Hi Chris,
    I agree with all of your points and am now working on LBS apps for my company. The other key piece is that the customization you mention at the beginning of your post has to be very easy to implement. Right now, customization in LBS apps takes quite a bit of time on the user’s part. In the interface design, we have to make this process painless as well as something that can be changed on the fly without being a hassle.

  • http://twitter.com/VelChain Dave Lutz

    Very thought provoking post and video, Chris. Love the idea of temporary networks for conferences.

    For conferences or destination travel, I also like the idea of doing multi-level treks or scavenger hunts. SCVNGR has a really interesting model and seems to be a player to watch. Adding a gaming element with good rewards or bragging rights will be important to getting real adoption around conferences or destinations.

    There needs to be a lot more value delivered by these apps to make it worthwhile for suburbanites like me.

  • Pingback: Social Media Marketing HQ | Learn Social Media From the Industry's Brightest Minds » The Future of Location-Based Applications

  • http://twitter.com/susangiurleo susangiurleo

    OK, it’s early, that was techy, and I never want anyone to know where I am (I moonlight as a ninja) so I’m not up to speed. But my ears perked up at the end of the video when you mentioned loyalty cards plugged into the phone. YES…someone do that now, please?

    You also make the point, and I agree, that there’s a need for location based apps that don’t broadcast where we are at any given time. I don’t ever want that. Ever. And my guess is I’m not alone in that thinking. I do want to know where I am in relation to things that I need and want. So location app developers keep that in mind.

    And I love that t-shirt, Chris. At what location can I get one of those? : )

  • http://nateriggs.com nateriggs

    Really good thinking, dude. It seems to me that LBS companies and us marketing folks need to get a divorce. Everyone is so hung up on how LBS is going to help push product that they never consider the real life uses in terms of convenience, safety, etc. You’re ideas are dead on…

    • http://schneidermike.com schneidermike

      Remember what I said in my talk about wanting people to be able to get information and offers that feel like content versus interruptions? I meant that.

  • http://www.WhatDidEricSay.com Eric Miltsch

    Hi Chris,

    You’re spot on with what these LBS networks need…you’re talking about some very advanced concepts that the earliest scooters may be looking for as well.

    Before we get there, we still need more basic understanding and acceptance from the average user and more importantly, from the businesses using these offers to engage consumers.

    I love the concept of the temporary groups, or even the micro-targeted groups. This concept influenced my decision to create CarZar (http://budurl.com/CarZar) – people love to be associated with their group and their interests & the apps which can accomplish this will see greater traction…

    Nice post…

    • http://www.WhatDidEricSay.com Eric Miltsch

      Just noticed auto-correct changed my “earliest adopters” to “earliest scooters.”

      Maybe this can become the term for those who are earlier than even the earlier adopters.

  • http://www.WhatDidEricSay.com Eric Miltsch

    Hi Chris,

    You’re spot on with what these LBS networks need…you’re talking about some very advanced concepts that the earliest scooters may be looking for as well.

    Before we get there, we still need more basic understanding and acceptance from the average user and more importantly, from the businesses using these offers to engage consumers.

    I love the concept of the temporary groups, or even the micro-targeted groups. This concept influenced my decision to create CarZar (http://budurl.com/CarZar) – people love to be associated with their group and their interests & the apps which can accomplish this will see greater traction…

    Nice post…

  • Pingback: Don’t Make All The Decisions For Me | Reading Whitney

  • http://rickmanelius.com Rick Manelius

    So essentially an ‘open ID’ version of location awareness? I’d be down with that as long as they respected my privacy/security more than say facebook (for the commerce end of things).

  • http://efanpage.com Sebastian

    Awesome concept Chris!

    I often feel limited in the abilities of LBS with a simple “check in” here and there and need something more substantial. The ideas you have provided here seem to provide some insight into the possibilities of LBS networks. Though I am not totally sure of the technical overhaul it would take the concepts in themselves sound great.

    The idea of a customized registry based on previous check-ins is not farfetched and seems it should already be a part of our daily lives. I am weary of using the word “identity” because of the implications it may have for other parts of our lives (i.e. privacy protection). But defining this “new” technology as customization not only is line with current trends in social media but seems to capture the essence of the technology.

    Also I love the “temporary groups” concept—-what a way to build community!

    Sebastian

  • http://ClimbingEveryMountain.com Mary E. Ulrich

    Chris, I hope you are doing strength-building exercises for your neck. With all these ideas, your head must weigh 100 pounds. LOL!

    This did make me think of that Technium article and Google doing in-your-head real time projecting.

  • http://www.thetrendjunkie.com Anonymous

    Chis – check out this cool GroupMe feature for foursquare for temporary groups based on location: http://groupme.com/foursquare – cool stuff.

    - Greg

  • http://twitter.com/suebecks Sue Beckingham

    A ‘new in town’ app would be great if you it could help you identify the nearest whatever this may be without you having to know where exactly you were at the time. Categorised to provide quickly searchable options such as medical (hospital, doctor, dentist, drugstore), restaurants (type of food) transport (train station, airport, car hire, bus station) entertainment (theatre, cinema, museum) sport, shops etc… would help locate the kinds of things you might be looking for if new to town.
    Then once you make your selection, tell you how to get there (by car/walking) complete with map and directions to view or listen to as audio.

    • Howard

      Try Localscope Sue – that might be well on the way to what you’re looking for! H

  • http://twitter.com/suebecks Sue Beckingham

    A ‘new in town’ app would be great if you it could help you identify the nearest whatever this may be without you having to know where exactly you were at the time. Categorised to provide quickly searchable options such as medical (hospital, doctor, dentist, drugstore), restaurants (type of food) transport (train station, airport, car hire, bus station) entertainment (theatre, cinema, museum) sport, shops etc… would help locate the kinds of things you might be looking for if new to town.
    Then once you make your selection, tell you how to get there (by car/walking) complete with map and directions to view or listen to as audio.

  • Anonymous

    Chris, sounds like your wishes for LBS are similar to what we’d like to see for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Meetup, online ads, tv, every other social network/technology service out there: Relevance, control, value.

  • Anonymous

    Chris, sounds like your wishes for LBS are similar to what we’d like to see for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Meetup, online ads, tv, every other social network/technology service out there: Relevance, control, value.

  • Anonymous

    Chris, sounds like your wishes for LBS are similar to what we’d like to see for Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Meetup, online ads, tv, every other social network/technology service out there: Relevance, control, value.

  • http://www.rootsinalpharetta.com Lee

    You’ve touched on something that bugs me about twitter. I follow some local businesses who are active in social networks. They will sometimes visit a conference and will tweet about it. This floods their followers with information about the conference, most of which isn’t pertinent to me as a follower. It would be nice if the tools were smart enough to filter the tweet (or checkin or whatever) to only those who are relevant.

  • David Siteman Garland

    I know where you got that shirt ;)

  • David Siteman Garland

    I know where you got that shirt ;)

  • http://damangmedia.com/ Matt Clark – Damang Media

    Hey Chris, I have found that I have been starting to use the location features a bit more while travelling but have not really relied on it due to concerns like you mentioned.

    What I would like to see is one of the existing platforms to hear this feedback and offer it. I like Rob’s input but it means yet another platform. Can we not develop this in some of the services that are already out there? Facebook, Yelp, Foursquare?

  • http://aremorch.com Are Morch

    Hi Chris..

    This is music to my ears.. Bring some personalized concierge service into location based service ;)

    Cheers.. Are

  • http://aremorch.com Are Morch

    Hi Chris..

    This is music to my ears.. Bring some personalized concierge service into location based service ;)

    Cheers.. Are

  • http://thoughtsaboutnothing.com @kylereed

    I would love to see coffee shops, restaurants, and retail shops… get into this area of loyalty reward cards through smart phones (you hit on this a bit in your video).

    I have about 10 different punch cards that I either lose or forget to get punched every time I buy a coffee, but if I had an app on my phone that did it for me that would make things easier and way cooler.

    I think Starbucks could really pave the way with this in how they are already allowing customers to use their phone to pay. I definitely think they could do more with their gold car rewards program that allows way more rewards. They have lost me as a customer because they have decent (if not crappy) coffee and their rewards are not enough for me to return. If they started to reward me more for being loyal through check-ins I would be very interested in returning.
    They have the technology, they just seem to be missing it.

    • http://untether.tv Rob Woodbridge

      Kyle – you nailed the biggest problem about what’s going on right now. Companies are rewarding people for the WRONG reasons. Just because I check in once at your location doesn’t mean that I deserve a discount or a free latte. It’s the person that is there every single day that deserves special attention and most businesses – if not all of them – are focused on the single visit not the loyal customer.

      The loyalty card issue is a bigger fish. Most brands don’t want to be “in” someone else’s app at this moment, they want to have their own because it is part of their brand and something they control. I can see this point of view for now so you might get your wish of having the cards in digital/mobile format but you may also have to endure having 10 apps on your phone – one for each of the cards. The trick is that the brands have to make it worthwhile to keep your business and their app on your phone.

      • http://thoughtsaboutnothing.com @kylereed

        exactly, they have to make it worth it. And to just give me a free drink for showing up for two weeks straight is not cutting it.

  • http://www.savvyb2bmarketing.com Heather Rubesch

    I would like to be able to set my TripIt, Yelp or other location based apps to basic settings like business trip, personal trip, have rental car, using public transportation, etc. I also want the ability to filter out chain stores. When I travel and I am looking for local businesses that are unique to the area and not resturants and retail locations that are big box chains that also exist in my hometown. If I wanted Applebee’s I wouldn’t have to fly to Columbus, OH to eat there!

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_KLPL42KES5BPIFYDPTY5FQB6ZE BW

    Location-based is still young. I totally agree. Here are some ways it could grow up a little:

    - Why not have an app that reads your location and your Google calendar? So if you’re out of town and your work calendar is full it will recommend “worky” type stuff – like where to grab a quick lunch, local dinner specials, cocktail hours, etc. If it’s your personal calendar that is full, why not suggest vacation stuff? So, now it might promote the zoo, a local museum, air boat ride, scuba diving, etc. Then have it link in to GroupOn to find specials that would apply.

    - Why not have an app that links in with EverNote so that when you create your shopping list it automatically prices those items and nearby stores, factors in your time and gas getting to that store, and then spits out where you should go shop and what your total will be, down to the penny. Even better, link it with Epicurious so you can do one-touch recipes to your “shopping cart” as well. But hey, while we’re at it, if you already know what you are going to get, and where you are going to get it, why not have a “Buy It Now” button that lets you purchase your groceries BEFORE you get in the car and have them waiting at the curb for you when you pick them up. (Or pay a nominal delivery charge)

    The real challenge of location-based is not to figure out where you are, or even what is nearby, but really it’s to facilitate you spending more time where you want to be, even if that means home! So, smart location-based apps will help you avoid going where you DON’T want to go (i.e. – the grocery store) by bringing services to you instead of helping you get to the services.

    Just my two cents. Great post Chris! (As usual)

  • Wine Tom

    Great stuff, Chris. Hey, AskLocal was a hit at MacWorld. It allows you to anonymously geopost location based questions or comments and set the parameter of how far from the location it can be viewed. There were a lot of typical convention city questions asked and even a few very specific to MacWorld. However, given how quickly use dropped off after the convention, it seems the combination of anonymity and lack of reward make for a non sticky experience.

  • http://twitter.com/lollywould Lol Williams

    Awesome piece thanks Chris really ties in with my newco : ).

    Agree with BW comments still early days for location but this year things will go bannanas with location. I think those that know are all exposed to the same tech so sure this year some of the stuff you covered will be picked up, it’s on our roadmap for sure. Looking forward to your next post @Lollywould

  • http://invisibleinkdigital.com Invisibleinkdigital

    How about flipping the argument on it’s head and asking whether we, as the social consumer, know what we want from LBS? Much in the same way as Twitter took it’s time to find it’s steam, I can’t help but feel the LBS’s need to find their audience above and beyond early adopters.

    Getting momentum or groundswell in how mass numbers use LBS will determine their evolution.

  • Pingback: Best of Today’s SEO–2/28/2011 | SEO Assistant

  • Stroutmeister

    Chris – love that you’re thinking about the future of location based services. It’s funny because I remember you, Bryan Person, myself and a few other people started using BrightKite back in 2007. We were like, “this is cool… but I’m not 100% what to do with it.” Obviously that’s now changing but I 100% agree that it’s the “roaming” or more “passive” checkin/awareness that will make LBS great. I think there are more things happening now that take advantage of some of what’s cool about LBS (Where, Bizzy) but certainly much more to come!

    Aaron | your buddy & co-author of Location Based Marketing for Dummies (just writing this so your peeps will know that I am spending more than just a few minutes of my time thinking about this stuff as well). =]

  • http://dannybrown.me Danny Brown

    You’d probably be interested in some of the apps we’re beta testing for hotels, restaurants and holiday resorts then, sir. :)

  • http://schneidermike.com schneidermike

    Chris – great to hear you talking about the convergence of location and well, everything.

    As you know, we’re still in the early days of location-based marketing. You may have read the future of loyalty whitepaper that Anne Mai Bertelsen but if you didn’t, here are our collective thoughts on a few activity streams that we see converging: [and because I'm not here to move people away from your site, I'll put pseudo-URLs] bit dot ly slash hbrloyalty bit dot ly slash loyaltywp.

    Another that you hit on was location-enabled commerce. Spot on. In 2005-6 I started talking to one of the very companies that you mentioned in your video about putting RFIDs in aisles in stores to capture where people are going in the store so that they would capture more information about where you actually like to go in the store whether you bought stuff or not. This could then be combined with the information they already collected in the loyalty program to give them offers that they might actually “pass by” in the store. They laughed chuckled nervously like I was naked in the meeting. (of course now Stop N Shop has the technology and Shopkick is working on it.)

    Mobile commerce is another topic that is near and dear to my heart. I too want you to be able to go someplace and buy something when you check in. I also want to be able to capture what I bought and share that with everyone who wants to see it so that they have a very clear picture about what I like. It has to be more than the transaction total, I want it to be itemized.

    You might be surprised to see that WHERE has an application that collects preferences and actually uses the data to make recommendations. It also has a cool thing that they recently put out there called “Perfect Places” that my partner in LBS crime, @AaronStrout alluded to about 40 comments ago. It is awesome and a clear indication that some companies get what you are talking about. It uses dimension reduction to take your preferences and mine, build an intersecting data set and then pick a place we’d both think was great based on our preferences – and we don’t even need to know one another.

    Keep on talking and dreaming. We need more influential voices like yours demanding things that will make location more useful. I hope we can discuss this further over coffee, lunch or beers sometime.

    SM

  • http://twitter.com/Nectarineimp Peter Mancini

    I can’t agree more. I said something similar to a colleague a few months ago. Location Intelligence is currently backwards. What I mean by that is:

    Your location is unimportant to me. My location is unimportant to you. The guy I “friend-ed” a few months ago because we share a mutual interest in late 60′s Fender amps shows up at a shoe store in Madison, Wisconsin and announces he’s there, bored with the “ball and chain” as he puts it. I don’t really give a …. and I shouldn’t. Neither should you.

    We are all a collection of interests and relationships. Each of us has this massive set of people and things that interest us; lets call it an association index. I want to be able to see when I have a “friend” near by. I want to be alerted when a real friend is close by. I want to be informed when I am near a historical site – I love them. I want to quickly be able to discover I’m near specific restaurants I know I like, chains I like, types of establishments I have an interest in… in that order of sorting,

    My location isn’t the interesting data point. What is around me and connects to my association index is.

    The trouble is, I have to trust some organization and expose that index. Do I trust Google and their “Don’t be Evil” unofficial motto? Do I trust Facebook? If I don’t trust them how to I keep control of my own data and yet allow it to interface with other services like Yelp? I don’t think that part has been figured out yet. Eventually someone at one of these places is going to realize that location is inverted and will start to work that problem.

    Great piece.

  • http://twitter.com/Nectarineimp Peter Mancini

    I can’t agree more. I said something similar to a colleague a few months ago. Location Intelligence is currently backwards. What I mean by that is:

    Your location is unimportant to me. My location is unimportant to you. The guy I “friend-ed” a few months ago because we share a mutual interest in late 60′s Fender amps shows up at a shoe store in Madison, Wisconsin and announces he’s there, bored with the “ball and chain” as he puts it. I don’t really give a …. and I shouldn’t. Neither should you.

    We are all a collection of interests and relationships. Each of us has this massive set of people and things that interest us; lets call it an association index. I want to be able to see when I have a “friend” near by. I want to be alerted when a real friend is close by. I want to be informed when I am near a historical site – I love them. I want to quickly be able to discover I’m near specific restaurants I know I like, chains I like, types of establishments I have an interest in… in that order of sorting,

    My location isn’t the interesting data point. What is around me and connects to my association index is.

    The trouble is, I have to trust some organization and expose that index. Do I trust Google and their “Don’t be Evil” unofficial motto? Do I trust Facebook? If I don’t trust them how to I keep control of my own data and yet allow it to interface with other services like Yelp? I don’t think that part has been figured out yet. Eventually someone at one of these places is going to realize that location is inverted and will start to work that problem.

    Great piece.

  • http://www.ann-sense.com/ Ann Marie van den Hurk, APR

    Like with every platform, it comes down to the value it gives users. Location-based applications are still young in their development and should evolve based what the users want or will be replaced with the newest shiny object.

    In the beginning, it was a way for friends to “run” into each other while out and was also a game. I don’t know many people who use it that way anymore. And once you’ve earned badges or become a mayor, there’s nothing else.

    Currently, they are not really providing value to users or venues. That is slowly changing. But will it be enough?

  • http://twitter.com/Nectarineimp Peter Mancini

    I should also state as a follow up to my previous comment that the key inversion here is not only is my location unimportant but what I really want is discovery, not search. I can already search and find things. That aspect of information science is complete. Discovery tools help me find things by pushing their prominence up, according to what appears to be a good fit for me. Discovery tools are the opposite of search. Discovery with location makes going someplace new a better experience.

  • Pingback: Where To LBS Applications? | Matters of Location

  • http://twitter.com/jkimlosangeles John C Kim

    Chris:

    I haven’t really heard you speak about location-based applications for some time. I am glad you are jumping back into the mix. I love your thinking on this topic so far. The most popular location-based use cases today: friend finding and treasure hunting are fun but limited. Many location-based applications have focused on these use cases in order to bootstrap check in behavior. Consumers needed reasons to check in that were simple to understand. The industry needed proof that this behavior could gain traction. So now that we are collecting check-ins, the question is, “for what greater purpose?”

    In the 90s, the Internet started allowing people to create websites. Simple use cases emerged. People could publish content, find information, and chat. The GREAT technology disruptions of that decade were models based on data that the world had never seen before: online behaviors called clickstreams. What emerged were marketplaces (eBay), new retail models based on recommendations technology (Amazon), new advertising models (Overture) and game-changing ways to organize and find information (Google).

    Fast forward to 2011. This year, smart phone penetration will hit 51% by Q3. We are on the brink of seeing the next generation of GREAT technology disruption. The same areas – marketplaces, retailing, advertising and information discovery – that were disrupted in the 90s are now again ripe for disruption today. This opportunity is enabled because we can now collect data that we could never capture before: footstreams, the physical world equivalent to clickstreams.

    You are absolutely right, location does not equal relevancy but the great location-based applications are NOT trying to just capture your location. They are trying to build models based on your footstreams to connect you to your passions, tastes, interests, brands and other people in game-changing and more relevant ways.

    Check out Whrrl and see what we are doing with your footstream.

    @jkimlosangeles

  • http://twitter.com/jkimlosangeles John C Kim

    Chris:

    I haven’t really heard you speak about location-based applications for some time. I am glad you are jumping back into the mix. I love your thinking on this topic so far. The most popular location-based use cases today: friend finding and treasure hunting are fun but limited. Many location-based applications have focused on these use cases in order to bootstrap check in behavior. Consumers needed reasons to check in that were simple to understand. The industry needed proof that this behavior could gain traction. So now that we are collecting check-ins, the question is, “for what greater purpose?”

    In the 90s, the Internet started allowing people to create websites. Simple use cases emerged. People could publish content, find information, and chat. The GREAT technology disruptions of that decade were models based on data that the world had never seen before: online behaviors called clickstreams. What emerged were marketplaces (eBay), new retail models based on recommendations technology (Amazon), new advertising models (Overture) and game-changing ways to organize and find information (Google).

    Fast forward to 2011. This year, smart phone penetration will hit 51% by Q3. We are on the brink of seeing the next generation of GREAT technology disruption. The same areas – marketplaces, retailing, advertising and information discovery – that were disrupted in the 90s are now again ripe for disruption today. This opportunity is enabled because we can now collect data that we could never capture before: footstreams, the physical world equivalent to clickstreams.

    You are absolutely right, location does not equal relevancy but the great location-based applications are NOT trying to just capture your location. They are trying to build models based on your footstreams to connect you to your passions, tastes, interests, brands and other people in game-changing and more relevant ways.

    Check out Whrrl and see what we are doing with your footstream.

    @jkimlosangeles

  • Pingback: The Future of Location-Based Applications | Get FB Ads Free - My Review

  • http://www.toyotapartscenter.net/ OEM Toyota Parts

    This could then be combined with the information they already collected in the loyalty program to give them offers that they might actually “pass by” in the store.

  • http://crowdbeacon.com/how-works.aspx Rachel Patterson

    Location base apps have tons of potential and you are right that the next giant step is to make these apps more personalized and to provide utility. But I think many companies are aware of this and going forward to more information/service rather than the “I’m here! Look at me!” It can be expanded further into commerce. I know that businesses that sign up with Foursquare can provide coupons/deals for certain members but what if we expand that as well? Why not cater the coupons to real time trends? For example, if many are looking for tuna sushi in x neighborhood specifically, Sushi restaurant who sign up to X geo-location service, realize what the people want and offer a discount for tuna sushi at that time. It would be a win-win. Te restaurant gets more traffic and the people who are in that area get their tuna sushi fix at a cheaper price.

  • http://crowdbeacon.com/how-works.aspx Rachel Patterson

    Location base apps have tons of potential and you are right that the next giant step is to make these apps more personalized and to provide utility. But I think many companies are aware of this and going forward to more information/service rather than the “I’m here! Look at me!” It can be expanded further into commerce. I know that businesses that sign up with Foursquare can provide coupons/deals for certain members but what if we expand that as well? Why not cater the coupons to real time trends? For example, if many are looking for tuna sushi in x neighborhood specifically, Sushi restaurant who sign up to X geo-location service, realize what the people want and offer a discount for tuna sushi at that time. It would be a win-win. Te restaurant gets more traffic and the people who are in that area get their tuna sushi fix at a cheaper price.

  • http://www.freightbrokering.info/freight-broker-ground-transport.html Frieght Brokering

    Really good thinking…. It seems to me that LBS companies and us marketing folks need to get a divorce. Everyone is so hung up on how LBS is going to help push product that they never consider the real life uses in terms of convenience, safety, etc. You’re ideas are bang on…

  • http://www.tcpalm.com/news/2008/sep/30/gaston-cantens-face-facts-and-dont-blame-sugar-all/ Gaston Cantens

    It’s not enough to tell me what’s local. I want you to tell me what’s local that I actually care about. If I prefer seafood restaurants to sushi restaurants. I just want there to be a location-based tie-in, and/or I want the ability to “float” $10 in space somewhere for someone else to pick up, or pick up after a task is complete

Newer Comments →
GetSocial