EducaTech

Location Based Apps Taking Off and I’m Finally Getting On Board March 16, 2010

With SXSW taking place right now, the location wars are in full swing and Foursquare and Gowalla are going at it. With the wars heating up I thought I’d give it a shot also and I’ve started checking in on Foursquare, Gowalla and also occasionally on Yelp! in order to check out these systems. So far, Foursquare and Gowalla are very similar and it seems like they are both getting heavy usage down in Austin this week. The one feature I like about Gowalla right now is that it uses GPS data to guarantee a person’s location and not allow false check-ins. This keeps someone from checking in at places they have never been and getting a bunch of undeserved mayorships. I’m not really sure the intrinsic value of checking-in yet, that’s still something I’m trying to figure out. However, I have noticed that I’ve been finding some good deals from bars, restaurants, etc. for people who have checked in. I’m also waiting for these companies to start making more money, they have certainly started with major partnerships starting to line up-I’m just curious to see if these are lasting and continue to expand. Not to mention will these services continue to be successful if Facebook and Twitter roll-out similar location based services…why add another app if you can just do the same thing on Facebook. If location services are implemented similarly on Facebook or Twitter, either of these platforms may be able to seriously damage the traction of Foursquare and Gowalla…I guess we will see.