BNET Commentary: Foursquare's Core Purpose, The Personal Satisfaction of Checking-In, and Other Services
In a very interesting read fascinating read, Chris Dannen from BNET includes several points about Foursquare that have not been mentioned in other stories. and a new
The error here is the assumption (which many similar rants share) that Foursquare’s core purpose is connecting you with friends nearby. The reality is: it isn’t.
I know this because I’ve spent a lot of time analyzing the way the Foursquare interface works in writing this book, for which I interviewed both co-founders, Dennis Crowley and Naveen Selvadurai. One of the challenges they’ve had is the tremendous variance between the way that users actually use the service. As with Facebook in its incipience, no one entirely knows what Foursquare is best for
Here notes that a some use Forsquare the way we assume it's used.
But there are entire swaths of people for whom the “game” elements (badges, points and mayorships) are self-motivational. Whether it’s checking in at the gym or visiting a favorite bar, there are plenty of people aren’t so concerned with what their Foursquare friends are up to; they merely want the satisfaction of the check-in.
But that's not all.
Dannen goes on to introduce let us know that a sub-culture of users are want the data Forsquare generates about them and that can be visualized.
Foursquare lets you aggregate your check-in data on its website, showing where you’ve been over the last few months of activity. Crowley and Selvadurai have hypothesized that many of the most useful applications of Foursquare lie in slicing and dicing its data “firehose” — that is, the raw stream of data that shows where users are going and when. They’ve made this data available to a few select developers, and might make it available for all developers at some point in the future.
Dannen asks, why do users want to see their ow Foursquare data? He correctly answers is query with, "who knows." It appears there is a lot of interesting research from sociologists, psychologists, and others to come.
He continues and mentions Swipely and Blippy where you can publish your credit card info with personal info removed from public view.
Swipely provides a secure platform for consumers to recommend purchase experiences, discover new places and products through trusted friends, save money, and have more fun shopping. Our vision is to reinvent how people shop, share and save by adding value to every swipe.
-- Swipely Web Site
Blippy is a community of people helping each other discover interesting things by reviewing & discussing almost everything we buy.
-- Blippy Web Site
We haven't ready the privacy info or terms of service are would like to know if these companies are selling the data to manufacturers, research companies, and the merchants where people are using Swipely and Blippy. Our guess is they are. The data these services generate is worth big money and since Swipely and Blippy are free to users, the selling of the data (with personal info removed) is a very lucrative revenue stream.
To learn more about how your business -- large or small -- can benefit from participating in Swipely's community, drop us a line.
The question that has us thinking is how is this different than using an affinity card at the local drugstore or supermarket so they can track each of your purchases, (approx. time and day you were shopping), what you purchased (ex. the size of the box of cereal), etc. and in exchange you get coupons for money offer various products? In essence you're giving up some of your privacy for the opportunity to save money. In fact, Swipely mentions it in their intro that users can save money.
Btw, both sites have brief videos that are worth watching.
Finally, Dannen touches on Mint.com, a web-based service to track your personal finances and the growing success of Chase's Blueprint service that he wrote about on Wednesday.
Blueprint is interesting because it suggests that commercial banks, while not as agile, are indeed making plans to compete with Mint, Amazon (AMZN), Facebook and startups like Swipely and Blippy, all of whom are chasing some of the most valuable consumer data in history: what people want to buy, and when.
We love data and the ability to spot trends, identify new products and services, etc. with it.
What concerns us the most is the possibility of some or all of our data being compromised. Sure, it can happen at the restaurant where we had dinner last night, the Shell Oil where we purchase gasoline, an airline where we just purchased a ticket. Perhaps the only difference is the fact that many of these companies (and companies like Amex, Visa, MasterCard, etc.) have years of real world, real time experience handling this data and these startups do not (note Google article linked below). Perhaps our feelings will change over time.
See Also: Blippy Privacy Page (We Couldn't Find Something Similar on Swipely)
They mention that if you are a security researcher and find a problem, "we promise not to bring legal action against researchers in response to a disclosure," if they don't disclose it to the public and others without giving them time to take a look, don't harm Blippy, or view, modify, or damage data belonging to others."
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