Why Foursquare is not Social Media

October 23, 2010October 23, 2010 / Mark Brill / 4 Comments

The potential of mobile social media had been there for a while. But before Foursquare and Gowala appeared there was little to show the potential. In fact the only successful example was Flirtomatic. It is really more of a dating site than a true social media site. However in the Autumn of 2009, the US start-ups took a location-based approach to social media, and whilst its appeal seems limited to city-based media types, they have paved the way for Facebook Places. Mobile social media is now main stream.

Towards the end of last year I decided to play with Foursquare as everyone was talking about it. And it’s quite addictive. I added tips to my favourite local haunts, and ousted a number of people as mayor of said places. It dawned on me the other day that Foursquare isn’t social media at all. It’s a game. When I looked at how I used it, there was no social media element to it. I don’t use it to see where my friends are, I don’t use it to make new friends. I use the tips occasionally, but I’m more likely to use other apps for recommendations. In fact, some of my friends felt that Foursquare was ultimately pointless, and encouraged by poor technology, they ditched the app.

So why do I continue? My check-in’s have dropped from a few a day to a few a week. However, whenever I get an email to say I’ve been ousted as mayor of somewhere, then I start checking in again. If I’m in a new place, and especially if I have time to kill, then I’ll look around for venues to check in to. I was in north Wales a few weeks ago. I noticed that Caernarfon Castle didn’t have a mayor, so I check in there and won the status. I didn’t have much competition as no one in north Wales is interested in Foursqaure.

I’ve been asking around since then and most people I speak to stick with the social media app in order to win, or maintain their mayor status. A few people said they liked the tips. Not one of them said they used it because they could see where their friends were, or make more contacts/friends. The only conclusion I can reach is that Foursquare is not social media at all, but simply a game. I think the site has done great things with check-in offers by creating opporutnies for brands big and small. But it doesn’t detract from the fact that Foursquare is basically a game. It looks like a conclusion that Foursquare have also reached. Their only revenue at the moment seems to come from selling t-shirts and coasters with mayor badges.

Foursquare. Where’s the revenue model? Here it is!

August 10, 2010March 3, 2011 / Mark Brill / 4 Comments

-> Ten brands that are using the Foursquare check-in

It’s always a problem with these social media-type sites. Where’s the money? The model is usually one of building up a large base of users then either introducing advertising and/or selling it for a gazillion dollars to some big internet company (probably Google, or maybe Yahoo).

So far Foursquare, the social media location site, has relied largely on VC funding. Their only revenue has been in making deals with major brands, such as Conde Naste and Mark Jacobs, but they aren’t exactly raking in the cash. “Some are paid, some are exploratory,” as co-founder Dennis Crowley put it. So, we’re not talking large sums of money. This summer their business chief Tristan Walker said: “We could imagine something akin to a Google AdWords-like model, where merchants can have featured placement based on latitude and longitude, time of the day, or day of the week, we’re still exploring, and encouraging all retailers to get on our platform and help us find the product that we could actually charge for.”

The problem is that in spite of some successes with the likes of Starbucks and Dominos, the check-in offer is only known to just a few percent of people who use Foursquare. Why would retailers pay to be on something with such a tiny reach? In the meantime, Facebook Places is establishing itself. If anyone was going to benefit from brands paying for check-in offers it is likely to be Facebook.

Now, Foursquare are taking a new approach. Merchandising. I realise that it isn’t a serious long-term revenue model but hey, at least they can make some money now. They are selling badges and t-shirts of their famous icons which they hope their obsessive users will buy. In a way that makes sense. I’d previously blogged that Foursquare isn’t really social media at all. Yes it has those elements in the system, but when I look at how people use it, they don’t login to see what their friends are doing or make new ones. People use it largely to compete for mayor status and other badges. It’s not social media, it’s a game. Given that kind of engagement getting into the merchandising business is not a bad idea at all.

For those of you who can’t live without their Mayor’s T-Shirt, here’s the store.

Advertising and social media

March 21, 2009 / Mark Brill / Leave a comment

There is a problem with advetising and social media. A report this week by the DMA shows that whilst 50% of advertisers are embracing social media as a way to get their message over, at least 42% didn’t bother because they don’t understand it.

This may come as no surprise. For every social media savvy company, such a Skittles, there’s one who doesn’t have a clue!

The problem is one of the very nature of social networking itself. It isn’t an advertising medium. It isn’t like billboards, TV or even search marketing, where you can simply pay for an advert and promote your wares. Social media is, in many ways, at odds with advertisers. It is about people communicating, meeting and networking in an environment that is not commercial.

For an advertiser to find their way in the social media sector isn’t difficult. Take the recent T-Mobile ads. Their attempts at ‘flash mobbing’ were clearly an effort to create a YouTube buzz and a viral advert that would be added to numerous Facebook pages. However the whole thing comes over as highly contrived. Whilst I have no figures for the success of this ad, most people are able to see how these ads were thought up in an ad agency creative session designed to tick a number of social media boxes.

In some ways, it’s for a brand to engage with social media if they are considered cool. Skittles have long been the confectionary of choice for uber geeks, so their presence in the social media world is hardly surprising. But what if you aren’t a cool brand? Lets say you are an insurance company. Insurance is not cool, how do you engage with social media? Do you have to become a cool brand before you can enter this sector, or does social media contribute to your coolness?

It’s a chicken and egg argument that is impossible to resolve. The issue is that there will continue to be a split between t

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