Check-in Value!?
Check-in services need to find a way to deliver deep value to people beyond the check-in; http://eicker.at/CheckinValue
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Gerrit Eicker
Facebook Deals
Facebook goes local business, enables merchants to push deals out to existing and new customers; http://eicker.at/FacebookDeals
Gerrit Eicker
Check-ins: Individual vs. Automatic
Individually caused check-ins seem to be preferred over automatic location tracking; http://j.mp/dgknH3
Gerrit Eicker
Facebook Location Sharing
NYT: Facebook will allow its users to share their location, not trying to beat Foursquare or Gowalla; http://j.mp/bVkw99
Gerrit Eicker
Yelp Check-in
Yelp adds a Check-in functionality to its mobile apps, challenging Gowolla, Foursquare, MyTown; http://j.mp/7goSrw
NYT: “Facebook introduced a feature on Wednesday that will allow retailers and other merchants to offer coupons and special deals through its mobile application, intensifying competition in the market for mobile searches and advertising. – People who use Places, Facebook’s location feature, will see a yellow icon indicating that a redeemable deal or coupon is available nearby. They can then use the application to ‘check in’ at the store or restaurant and show their phone’s screen to an employee to claim their deal. … Mr. Kendall said Facebook would not charge businesses directly to list coupons and special deals through the mobile application. Instead, businesses can purchase advertising to publicize their offerings on Facebook, he said. … Facebook also plans to work with nearly two dozen major chains like H&M, 24-Hour Fitness and McDonalds for special offers. But eventually all merchants and small businesses with a Facebook Places page will be able to offer deals. Facebook’s deals program borrows heavily from location-based social networks like Foursquare, Loopt and Gowalla, which have long been experimenting with similar ways to offer rewards and deals on cellphones. … For retailers, the Facebook feature offers the chance to establish online connections with real-world customers and learn more about them.”
AF: “So far Facebook claims that the number of users who have used the Places application is multiples larger than any other location service. That would lead us to believe that well over 10 million Facebook users have checked in with Places. If enough brands begin to leverage the new Deals platform, this could clearly be a big win for Facebook. Most significant here is that Facebook doesn’t charge any companies to launch deals. – Contrast that with Groupon who goes through the laborious process of negotiating the cost of every deal that they launch with local businesses. While Groupon has an incredible email list of consumers who want to make purchases, Places based deals could prove to fill a much needed niche. While companies can’t ping Facebook users as they walk by their businesses, users can choose to seek out deals that are nearby. … To be clear, Facebook Deals is not the Groupon-killer that some had claimed when we leaked out information last week about the impending launch. Instead, this is a different business model where customers will have to seek out deals through businesses that they become a fan of. Fortunately, many of the companies don’t think it will be long before most Facebook users are seeking these deals out.”
IF: “The most interesting part of the product is that Facebook isn’t taking a cut of revenue for these discounts, posing a challenge to smaller competitors that use deal revenue as part of their business model. On a business’ Places page, they can set up an offer. There are four kinds: Individual deals, which reward a customer if they check-in once. Loyalty deals, which reward customers for a certain number of purchases or check-ins. Friend deals, which reward customers if they bring in extra friends. Charity deals, which allow businesses to donate to charity for every check-in they attract.”
VB: “The social network’s executives said in a press conference that they won’t charge businesses for the deals. – That’s pretty surprising, since deals are seen as the main way for check-in services like Facebook Places (which includes the deals service), Foursquare, and Gowalla to make money. … Update: A Facebook spokesperson just emailed and said that although the deals are free for the program’s initial launch partners, the pricing could change in the future. … Facebook chief technology officer Bret Taylor said that Facebook didn’t create the feature to increase advertising. ‘The main thing is to improve the user experience around our Places product,’ he said.”
pC: “It’s not clear how many people are using its check-in feature, called Places, right now, although if this catches on it will clearly give users a financial incentive to use it. Places was introduced in August. Asked about usage, Zuckerberg only said it was ‘multiples larger’ than other similar services. – Zuckerberg did use the event to provide an update on Facebook’s overall mobile usage, saying that the company now has 200 million users who access the social network ‘across all platforms,’ a figure that has tripled over the last year.”