Posted by Ricky Potts, January 21, 2011

Where am I? Well, if you were using a location-based service like foursquare, Facebook Places, or Gowalla, you might already know the answer to that question. Location-based services are popping up everywhere, and millions of people all over the world are lining up to share his and her locations with the World Wide Web. Are you using any of these popular location-based services? Which one is your favorite?

I wanted to spend some time talking about a few of these popular services. I also wanted to talk about the different features that each one of these services offers to the typical user. I will start with the most popular service of them all, foursquare.

*Please note that to get the most out of these location-based software, you will need to be using a mobile device that has accurate GPS.

Since foursquare is the most popular one, let’s just start with that one.

Foursquare

Foursquare is a privately held company, and is headquartered in New York, New York. The company was launched on March 11^th, 2009, and has only thirty-two employees.

The concept is simple. When you go out, check in. It’s as simple as that. Well, it’s a little more complicated. The point of foursquare is to check in when you go to locations, mainly businesses. So, for example, I go to the local coffee shop, say it’s a Starbucks Coffee Company. I get there, I check in telling all of my friends where I am.

With each check in you can add unique content. It is highly recommended that you add unique content with every check in. The main reason you want to add content is to add value to your audience. If you check in at Starbucks that does your friend list no good. But if you check in, are meeting a buddy from work, and are ordering a tall Pike Place coffee, tell us.

Foursquare does allow you to link your check in to Twitter and Facebook. I don’t do this very often, but the option is there. I especially dislike when people check in, link it to his or her Twitter account, and do not add unique content. This is literally defeating the purpose of foursquare all together. I couldn’t care less that you are at McDonald’s. Tell me what you are doing there. Then I care.

What the User Sees

Let’s take a look at what the user sees when he or she goes for the check in. First, you will see an automatically populated list of locations nearby. Usually, if the location already exists, it will appear at the top (or near the top) of your list. Select the location you wish to check in to.

Here you will see the name of the location, the address, a large green “check in here” button, and further detailed information about the actual location. You will be shown the mayor of said location (I will explain that in a moment), see a wide range of tips left by yourself and by other users, and even be able to access a map of the location, contact information, and more.

The more information includes the Twitter account of that location as well as Tweets nearby. This is a goof way to stay connected on Twitter in and around the places you frequent. The map, also located under more information, will show you your actual location using the GPS on your phone or other mobile device.

Each location on foursquare has a mayor. You see, foursquare is a game. There is a leader board and you get points for checking in and leaving tips. The more places you visit, the more points you have. We will take a look at the leader board here in a moment. But each location, assuming a mayor has met all of the requirements, has a mayor. There is really no benefit to the actual mayor, nothing more than bragging rights.

To become the mayor of any one location, simply check in more than anyone else has at that location in the previous two months. You must have checked in at least twice over more than one day. This is reset every two months so while you might be the mayor of Starbucks Coffee Company this month, you might not be next month.

When you click on the mayor of that location, you will see her or her picture, their last seen location, their total number of mayorships, their badges, their tips, and all of his or her friends on foursquare. There really is a lot of information within the service itself on these mobile devices.

Let’s Check in Already

When you go to check in, after hitting the “check in here” call to action, you see the title of the location, the address, and a place to add your unique content. Thanks to services like Twitter, you have a 140-character limit here. Note that if you go over 140 characters, the check in here option will be inactive until you shorten your message. With a recent foursquare update, you can now add a photo as well.

You have the option to share with your friends, to share with Facebook, and to link it to Twitter. All of this is right at your fingertips. Once you have checked in, you see a notification confirming your check in. You get reminded of the mayor, and are shown how many days before you become the mayor. By days, you must check in and it be still within that previous two month time frame.

At the bottom of the check in you see your total number of points for that specific check in. speaking of points, lets take a quick look at the leader board.

On the leader board, you can see My Friends (showing you how you stack up to all of your friends on foursquare) or you can search by All Location, meaning the city you live in. Mine is currently set to Indianapolis. So I click All Indianapolis, and I can see how I stack up to the rest of the city. Unless you are a power user, chances are you are going to be well outside of the top 100 in the city you live in.

What Else can I Do?

After you have checked in, there are several other things you can do. You can add additional photos, each allowing you to add unique content to share with your audience what the image is of. You can add tips, which are a great way to share tips and tricks with anyone and everyone that checks into that specific location in the future. You can even add a to-do if you have done something that you want to suggest others to partake in.

For example, lets say that at your favorite Starbucks, John Doe is your favorite barista. If that’s the case, and he makes the best cup of Joe, then leave a top and tell all of the other foursquare users who check in there to ask for John. The next time someone checks in at that location, your tip will show on his or her screen.

You can also flag the venue to notify foursquare of any inaccuracies within the location. You can flag individual venues the following:

• Incorrect name/address
• Misallocation on the map
• Venue is closed
• Venue is a duplicate

Once you do this, foursquare will get a notification that information is incorrect and will look into this in a timely manner. That is all you can really do from your mobile device, the rest is up to foursquare.

You can also share the location with your friends who might not be on foursquare. You can share this information by email or by text message.

Reaching Super User Status

When you get home, jump onto foursquare.com. As a registered user, you can edit the venues that you have created on the website itself. As a matter of fact, it is encouraged that you add content on a regular basis on the website as you can eventually reach Super User status. Once you have reached Super User status, you can then edit venues that you did not create.

Let’s say you are out, and you check into Starbucks. The location you are at is not listed on foursquare so you decide to add it. You don’t know the address, nor their Twitter information, let alone the phone number and zip code. So you add it, skip the address part, and check in anyway. You get the points just the same. But you are expected to go home and add this other content.

You can then log in, change that information, and make the content as accurate as you can. But while looking for that specific Starbucks Coffee Company, you notice another location that is misrepresented. As a Super User, you can go in and edit that content. I make a habit of doing this on a daily basis.

As you can se, there is a lot going on with foursquare. Although it is new to the market, some five million people have jumped on and started checking in everywhere they go. Are you checking in on foursquare?

Next time I will talk about Gowalla, another location-based service that is very similar to foursquare but offers a lot more control over what you add as well as a much better graphical user interface. Until next time, I hope to see you checking in at a location near you!