Funny how some things don’t mean the same thing to everyone.
Take the word Location – To a realator location is about the physical place and how prices vary based on desirability of the property. Generally it is about the financial viability of the location for a business to get customers – busy street, visible place etc. . To a new media guru location is about the new Location based services. Or the word Foursquare – To someone who is of a certain age, foursquare was a game played with a ball, chalk and, of course, four squares.
Today Foursquare and Location based services such as these can make your head spin! Location based services work like this: People sign into 4square showing their location and a list of nearby bars and restaurants appears, along with a list of people you know who are there. Sounds crazy doesn’t it. But suppose you are Sally and you just had a terrible break up with Johnny because he is seeing Suzy. And before you walk into the local hangout you check in and find they are both there. Save yourself an embarrassing moment or prepare yourself for the confrontation. In other words, know before you go.
The restaurants and bars like these apps because it helps them recruit clients, reward loyal clients and generally develop their fan base. Foursquare had an application that ranked locations by number of check-ins, so social ‘heat’ was defined as lists were populated. And nerdy digital merit badges were handed out for checking in at various locations.
Digitally, Location Is Where It’s At By DAVID CARR in today’s New York Times tells how this worked at the conference recently in Austin.
There is also a great deal of information on Mashable and the article HOW TO: Make Your Small Business Geolocation-Read. It is clear that moving forward, businesses will not only have to be search engine optimized, social media optimized, but now also geographically optimized.
Slow down world!!!!
- Geolocation Map
