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Foursquare Is Here and There For GoodApril 15, 2010 – 1:21 pm |
 Abdul Fattah Ismail |
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Foursquare, a location-based social network, wants people to live vicariously through your actions. As a result, it has generated a lot of negative feedback. In a world where Big Brother and Little Sister are watching you through smartphones, social media, and The Patriot Act, it is understandable. You can go too 
far with viral voyeurism. Pearl Oyster Bar has been critically acclaimed for its seafood. Do I really need to know that you spilled pieces of lobster roll on your Christian Lacroix heels? No.
On the flip side, Foursquare provides value to business owners through some new platforms. The site will offer a free analytics tool and dashboard to help business merchants track customer behavior. Statistics generated offer the chance to tailor promotions in real time, enticing new patrons and keeping regulars at status quo. Bits, the New York Times technology blog, asked some executives about the test.
Shelley Bernstein, chief of technology at the Brooklyn Museum, sees promise in the Staff pages. “Basically, the new statistics tools give us the ability to promote a personal face for our staff so we’re not just seen as an institution,” she said. “We’re wrapping all of this into our Web site through Foursquare’s A.P.I.’s, and we allow people to interact with staff and have the opportunity to engage with them in new ways.”
Lastly, The History Channel is using Foursquare to drive their latest campaign, “America: The Story of Us”. Users will get historical tidbits to their mobile application about visited sites across the country. They must “check in” for those tips, the key metric to measure web traffic. According to ClickZ news, those that check into St. Paul’s Cathedral here on Wall Street learn that George Washington worshipped here on Inauguration Day in 1789.
For more information about the campaign, click here.
