Is Foursquare's Future in Jeopardy?

Nov 04

Is Foursquare’s Future in Jeopardy?

Today, The New York Times published an interesting article discussing the popularity of location-based Web services like Foursqure or Gowalla – highlighting the fact that the percentage of people using them has dropped to only 4%. According to a recent Pew Research Center study, this number consists of early adopters and are most often males between the ages of 18-29 years old.
Using Foursquare - location based services.jpg
The article goes on to describe that many marketers are including location-based Web services into their strategic planning for brands, but with such a low user base, I find this strangely humorous. Speaking as a marketer myself, I find it interesting that in efforts to stay competitive, we’ve missed the mark completely.

Or, are we simply preparing for what many feel will be a mainstream adoption of yet another social networking tool and technology? Of course, in the end, the real question becomes what value do these technologies bring to the consumer (as well as that of a brand), and how are they integrated into their existing routine of connecting with friends online?

I’ll leave you with a couple last questions. What role will Facebook play in web-based technology and how will this impact the user experience? Can they do it better than current platforms like Foursquare or Gowalla?

What then, is the real impact of location-based services on our culture, given concerns and blogs like Please Rob Me which mock this kind of information sharing?

Photo Credit:
http://www.guardian.co.uk

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