Location-Based Services

Location-Based services invaded all over the internet and everyday, more and more service are popping up,without forgetting the fierce competition coming from the big players like facebook, twitter and google who are also offering location check-ins and places.
The few that made big buzz when launched are foursquare and gowalla.

I still don’t see the usefulness of such services for individuals. Would I really care if you are having a burger at McDonald’s or sipping a coffee Starbucks or wherever you are now??? If you think I really care which badge you unlocked or that you became the mayor of banana land, then you are totally wrong?

But maybe I would care to know that the location/store/restaurant/supermarket/pharmacy/etc.. has a special promotion today on one of their products.

Which takes me to the conclusion that the so-called “lo-so” are more useful to businesses to attract more people to their locations, and these consumers to spread the word about their offers/promotions when they check-in using the location based services and in return to be rewarded more when they do so on social networks.

For example, take a look at the below graphic showing 15 check-ins. All of them are useless, putting more noise on the twitter timeline and taking us no where. Until now, I still did not see people checking-in and offering any value to their friends or to the location where they are (I am talking at least about the people I follow on twitter).

So businesses who believes in social media marketing, have a long way to cross.