Foursquare Not So Square After All

Erin — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 11:17:17 +0000

There has been a lot of talk about Foursquare lately. People are saying how the new location-based social network is going to change the world; how it’s redefining what it means to be just a Joe Shmoe establishment; how it’s pioneering a “deeper connection” between patrons and place. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Me? I’ve been on the fence. I’ve seen my friends Foursquare “check-ins” and have wondered…. what’s the point? Do people really want to know where I am having lunch or getting coffee?

Yesterday, I discovered that the answer is yes. While my average Twitter and Facebook followers could care less about my whereabouts… businesses care.

In fact businesses care so much, Foursquare has created a new dashboard that will soon be rolling out to business owners across the country.

The dashboard is still an alpha product… but word is that it will be able to make the distinction between staff and customers, and track check-ins on a daily, weekly, 30/60/90-day or all-time basis.

The new Foursquare business data will also include:

-Total check-ins

-Unique visitors

-Male-to-female ratio

-Social media-sharing (i.e. showing how many users are sending their checkins to Twitter.)

-Top visitors

-Check-in time breakdown

Foursquare reps have also confirmed the possibility of correlating check-ins with weather patterns, a feature that may prove beneficial to businesses that offer rainy day incentives.

I think this all sounds very innovative… and it will certainly help put some small businesses on the map (emphasis on the word some). I don’t see Foursquare doing much for companies like Stature Software, or even big businesses like McDonald’s or Wal-Mart.

I mean, c’mon, why would you ever want people to know that you’re shopping at Wal-Mart?

We’ll have to see where all of this goes at Foursquare. My gut says though that it’s a flash in the pan.

Stature Software Blog » foursquare business dashboard

Foursquare Not So Square After All