Are We Headed Towards Checkin Fatigue?

Facebook Places is here and the net is once again abuzz with a flock of new happy users who are experiencing checkins for the first time.  But for the rest of us, the diehard early adopters who have been checking in for years, Facebook Places is just another fish in an already crowded sea of location-aware applications.  Maybe a little too crowded.  Personally, this author is now juggling 16 applications, including Foursquare, MyTown, Yelp, GetGlue, Loopt and Loopt Star, Gowalla, SCVNGR, and newcomers shopkick and Facebook Places.  I must admit, this is a bit much even for social media mavens such as myself.  It can take me between 10 and 15 minutes just to check-in at a location, often standing outside or rudely doing so in front of my companions.  Trying to manage this plethora of services, it's no wonder users are beginning to show signs of check-in fatigue, resulting in fewer check-ins, going off grid and abandoning less popular or newer services without giving them a chance to grow. Worse yet, if early adopters are suffering from fatigue, it won't be long before the average user does too, with more severe results.  There must be a better way to navigate this check-in process.  In this article we'll take a look at possible solutions by analyzing the following questions:

1. What types of check-in applications are out there?
2. Is it possible or necessary to check-in everywhere?
3. What is check-in worthy and what can we pass on?
4. How do we prioritize which applications we check-in through?
5. Is it possible to narrow down the playing field?
6. Is there a better solution for managing them all?

Types of Check-In Applications


There are three principle categories of check-in applications: social, rewards, and entertainment.


Social


Social checkin applications operate by allowing your social circle to know where you are and either join you, comment, or read your reviews of the location.  Primary players in this realm are Loopt, Facebook Places, Yelp, and Brightkite.  With the exception of Loopt, these apps function by telling the device you are currently located at a specific venue chosen from a list determined by your GPS location.  The application does not update your location again until you manually change it.  Loopt has two added features.  In addition to venues, Loopt gives you the option (read: you can turn it off!) to check in to a street corner and it can continue to track your location via GPS even after you close the app, the added benefit being that people can find you if you leave the venue.


Rewards


Rewards-based checkin apps aim to provide users with monetary or discount-based promotions in return for visiting select venues.  Most rewards applications contain a social element as well and many even started off entirely as social applications and later added reward elements.  Principle rewards-based checkin applications are Foursquare, Gowalla, Loopt Star, SCVNGR, WeReward, Whrrl, PlacePop and shopkick.  Business owners can register their business with these applications and choose to provide users with special offers based on completing certain criteria: being the person who visits the venue the most often (mayor), visiting the venue for the first time, visiting the venue a certain number of times (every ten visits), completing challenges, or scanning products.


Entertainment


Entertainment checkin applications are completely different in that rather than checking in to a physical location, you check in to a specific form of entertainment such as a movie, television show, video game or book.  The most prominent entertainment checkin applications are GetGlue, Philo and Miso.  Like social applications, users can write reviews and people can leave comments.  The benefit to using these applications comes from professional and social recommendations.  Users can rate the media they consume and receive recommendations based on their likes and dislikes.  In addition, users can collect badges and awards (although they possess no value) and aid water-cooler talk by letting your peers know in advance what you've been watching.


As can be seen, in addition to several types of checkin tools, there are multiple contenders in each space.  How do we know which ones to use, when and where?


Finding a Balance


To find a balance in our checkins, we need to analyze two things, our own lives and the checkin playing field.  While the former may seem more complicated, the latter is out of our control and thus requires more constant vigilance and risk.  However, the following guidelines may help to keep things in order.

1. Does your network of contacts use social checkin applications? Dedicated apps like Loopt and Brightkite require your friends to sign up for the service as well in order to receive any benefit.  If your network doesn't already use these apps, consider using Facebook Places, where your network already exists.  Our judgement: If realtime tracking matters, use Loopt.  If not, consider Facebook Places.
2. Entertainment checkin applications seem fun, but they're just a formal equivalent of posting what you're consuming on Facebook and they mirror the functionality of better services like Amazon.com.  Our judgement: if you're experiencing checkin fatigue, start trimming the fat here.  Just like what you're doing in Farmville, your network doesn't need to know every TV show you watch either.
3. How long can you hold out? As we previously mentioned in our post on Facebook Places versus Foursquare, new open APIs may allow for a single checkin to register with multiple applications.  SCVNGR has already integrated the Facebook Places API for read and write, bridging social and reward-based checkins.  Similar integrations to these are guaranteed to come in the near future.  Another solution is services dedicated to multi-site checkins.  Mobile site m.check.in has been around for a while now and currently has grown to function with Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite and Whrrl.  When you check in through the website, it automatically syncs with all four services.  This trend will continue to grow as well.  Our judgement: give m.check.in a try and hold on as long as you can.  Things are going to get easier soon.
4. What brands do you like? Your brand preference may play a role in your checkin behavior.  Gap, for example, has partnered with Loopt Star, giving users 25% off on every second visit.  AT&T is working with SCVNGR, Best Buy with shopkick and Starbucks with both Loopt Star and Foursquare.  This is just a minuscule sampling.  Our judgement: continue to support your favorites brands across your favorite checkin apps.  If you build it, they will come.  If you deliver the checkins, you will be rewarded.
5. Tired of hearing about every time a friend goes to the gym, grocery store, bank, or work? So are your friends most likely.  Furthermore, these locations are unlikely to yield you rewards.  Avoid the mundane checkins that don't benefit you or your contacts.  Our judgement: only check in to locations that will be interesting, like vacations, or potentially reward you with special promotions, like restaurants and retail outlets.
6. The last tip is for those business owners who are reading this article.  There are some applications that function better than others.  PlacePop is an amazing app; a beautiful example of tracking multiple visit rewards.  It never gets noticed, though, because none of the major brands have partnered with it.  Our judgement: do your homework.  Know which services are out there and what benefits they offer you and your customers.  Then, let your customers know about it!!

Is Check-In Here to Stay?


Unlike Google, Facebook's efforts tend to stick around.  So if Facebook decided it was time to enter the location game, chances are it's here to stay.  What that means for you the consumer is that things are bound to get more complicated before they get easy.  Your diligence will be rewarded in time, solutions will surface, winners will grow and losers will fade away.  In the meantime, manage your checkins using our guidelines.  If you're feeling fatigued, take a short break, drink some water and get plenty of rest, but don't jump ship.  These services are here for your benefit and early adopters will be the first to reep the rewards.

Will Facebook Places Grow or Destroy Foursquare?

Location-aware applications like Foursquare have been a hot topic across the web, especially on this blog, and although Foursquare has passed over one million check-ins per day, location-aware apps are still considered early adopter technology. Now, with the introduction of Facebook Places, location-based check-ins stand on the brink of mainstream acceptance. With the world's largest social network, boasting over 500 million users worldwide, the most recent addition to the location arena, it stands to reason that a giant percentage of the social media population is about to be exposed to check-ins for the first time.


There are still limitations, though, that must be considered. First is the ever present paranoia (sorry for the brief outburst of personal bias) regarding security. Checkins = privacy concerns = security breaches, no matter how strong Facebook's privacy controls are. That will remove a large portion of the potential user base. Second, location-based check-ins must be executed through Facebook's mobile site, meaning only smartphone users can partake in the fun. Once again this cuts down the potential user base. Finally, only the iPhone's Facebook app currently supports Facebook places. All other smartphones will need to access places through Facebook's mobile site, not the native app. For most smartphone users, this will require a deviation from current behavior to access Facebook through their mobile browser rather than the app. This deviation may too shrink the number of potential users. However, out of the remaining set of users who do use the new service, what will the introduction of Facebook Places do to their relationship with other location-based applications like Foursquare? We imagine two strong possibilities.


Facebook & Foursquare Play Nice


The first outcome is that Facebook and Foursquare form a beautiful symbiotic relationship and fuel the growth of one another.  This may sound like a pipe dream but it's actually possible.  How?  Facebook actually appears to be interested in this outcome.  Facebook is opening its Places API (the background set of codes that allow check-ins) to third party developers so that a check-in on Foursquare would equally result in a check-in on Facebook.  How this will actually play out though is still hypothetical as nothing has been released yet.  There are three possible tiers: good, neutral and bad.  The good outcome, for both Facebook and Foursquare, would be that the integration of the Facebook API to Foursquare's application increases the value of check-ins vs check-ins through Foursquare alone, resulting in either better deals and services for businesses, more rewards and badges, or a smoother, streamlined interface on the two apps.  This would potentially encourage Facebook Places users to adopt Foursquare because of the inherent advantages.  The neutral outcome is that nothing changes, for better or worse.  Foursquare still works the same, Facebook Places works the same, but a check-in through Foursquare now results in a check-in on Facebook as well.  This is still a win for both services, although not as enticing as the good outcome.  The bad outcome is that the integration makes using either service tedious or cumbersome.  This may mean the process has more steps, is slower, or results in excess spam or clutter on your wall.  This seems like a less likely possibility because one would hope that neither service would rollout an update that would hinder the user experience; however, it wouldn't be the first time and so it remains a possibility nonetheless.


One caveat, regardless of which of the three tiers plays out, is that the Facebook Place API is an open API, meaning it's available for all location-based applications to use and integrate.  Even if Foursquare creates a winning integration, Gowalla, Loopt, Whrrl or a dozen other apps could do the same thing.  On the contrary, Foursquare may create a wining integration while competitors don't, or vice versa.  The point is competition will still abound.  The silver lining is that Facebook and other location-aware apps playing nice together has a high potential to promote an increase in overall check-ins and and location-aware app use.


Facebook & Foursquare Battle it Out


The second, and less favorable option, is that two brands decide to fly solo and attempt to win the location battle based on their own merits.  Truthfully this will be a decision made entirely by Foursquare as Facebook has already committed to releasing its APIs.  If Foursquare decides they don't need Facebook to succeed or that a partnership with the social networking powerhouse would not benefit their users, they may decide to put faith in having the superior product and trust that new users interested in location-based products will continue to seek them out on their own.  This would be an extremely risky tactic, but one that would best preserve Foursquare's integrity as the leader in location-based check-ins.  If Foursquare uses Facebook's API, it could be seen as relying on the industry giant to validate its own services, rather than as expanding its compatibilities to provide users with a more complete user experience.  Not integrating Facebook's APIs, however, could look arrogant and would be extremely risky.  Millions of users already use the Facebook mobile application everyday, meaning check-ins through the Facebook app would require minimal extra work.  Expecting users to check-in through a separate app, something millions of users aslo already do, requires extra work that may result in check-in fatigue for a majority of users (a topic that you can look forward to in our follow up article).  


As with the above caveat, the same situation applies here.  Just because Foursquare decides not to implement the Facebook Places API doesn't mean that its competitors in the location-aware market won't.  This fact alone makes flying solo extremely ill-advised for Foursquare.


Implications


Based on initial numbers released earlier this morning, it appears that the launch of Facebook Places has already lead to a surge in new Foursquare users.  Whether or not these new signups will migrate to regular users is still unknown, but this is definitely a good step in that direction.  Ultimately our prediction is that one of two things will occur as a result of this influx: either Facebook will win the location war and become the only dominant player in the field or Places and its open API will fuel the growth of all location-based apps, increasing what is already a sea of potential players.  Either way, check-ins are here to stay and businesses need to be ready to act accordingly.  Users are checking-in at their favorite locations and they are expecting to be rewarded for it.  Business that jump on board now will become leaders in the industry and will be well rewarded for their efforts.  But don't take our word for it, just ask Gap.

Valuing Your Customers: Case Study on Murphy USA

One of the last companies I would have imagined having a social media relationship with is my gas station, but after taking a look at what Murphy USA has done I'm embarrassed that I didn't think of this sooner.  Taking cues from larger retailers like Target, Murphy USA, which primarily operates in Wal-Mart parking lots, has launched a suite of social tools to engage customers and provide exclusive deals and promotions, including:

• an iPhone and Android application using GPS to deliver up to the minute gas prices at your nearest Murphy USA gas station as well as neighboring competitors
• exclusive coupons and discounts on gas, food and beverages via the application
• text updates before gas prices go up
• a check-in promotion through location-aware application Whrrl entering users in a contest to win $50 in free gas

This level of social integration is unheard of from most national retailers and is even more groundbreaking coming from a largely commodity-based service such as gasoline.  That's why the new suite of services is pure genius.  Knowing that it's consumer audience is principally price and location-driven when choosing gasoline, Murphy USA's application provides consumers with the tools to make an educated decision on both.  And since Murphy's is a discount brand and located at arguably one of the most prominent retailers, the brand's gas is almost always the app's recommended choice.

From a branding perspective, Murphy USA's new tools and services increase the brand's engagement with customers in three powerful ways.  First, it increases brand awareness.  Murphy USA may not be a brand many consumers recognize by name, this author included, but as a social media maven and price-conscious consumer I'm more apt to pay attention to the brand now because of the new application's ease of use and superior discounts.  Second, it positions the brand as an entity that values its customers and seeks to provide savings and discounts in an industry that often takes advantage of consumers' need for the product.  Lastly, as a result of the above, it ultimately increases brand loyalty from consumers who have benefited and saved using these services.

So how does this translate to your business?

• Provide value to your customers where others in your industry do not, whether it be through discounts, time-saving tools, simplifying the shopping process, or an exclusive knowledge base
• Put the customer before your bottom line, an increase in awareness and loyalty means an increase in sales, which offsets the costs of discounts and promotions
• Utilize new technology and social media to listen to your audience, discover their needs and communicate your brand's value to them

"Google Me" vs Facebook: Why It Will or Won't Work

If you're reading this, chances are you're either already a Facebook addict or are realizing that it's about time you checked it out.  You may also be aware that there are dozens of other competitor/supplemental/replacement/alternative sites out there as well vying for your attention - most of which will never reach the same size and influence as Facebook.  The newest anticipated player in the mix, however, may stand a chance at doing just that, if not surpassing it.  That's because it's Google.  The bug amongst the blogosphere is that Google is poised to launch it's own social network, independent from Google Buzz and Latitude, called Google Me.  Although we don't have any firm knowledge about the service yet, or know if it is even definite, if the service sets out to clone Facebook, as speculated, it could have some huge advantages over the market leader.


Why Google Me Could Win


Google already owns my data: The phrase "Google me" (meaning the verb here, not the suspected website, no pun intended) exists for a reason.  Google is first and foremost a search engine, and as such, has access already to every piece of information on the internet about me.  It knows all my curent social profiles, the activities, movies, music and so on that I've listed on them, and where my name has been written about on other sites.  Furthermore, it knows my search history, who I'm connected to on Gmail (Google Mail) and Google Talk, what I watch on YouTube, where I'm going to be on Google Calendar, what I blog about on Blogger, what topics I'm interested in reading about in Google Reader, and the list goes on.  Because of my already deep attachement to the brand, Google could build a stronger profile of me than I ever could...which is kind of scary.  This leads to the next reason.


Google Me could interface with all my existing services: The TechCrunch article linked to earlier warns against Google arbitrarily linking the new social network to it's previous products and services; however, if this is done wisely, it could be a huge selling point for highly integrated Google users, such as myself.  First, Google can automatically begin to build my network from my contact list in Gmail and use Google Talk as the default chat client (which includes AIM built in as a bonus).  In an earlier blog post I discussed how Facebook messaging was one of the killers of personal email.  Although it is more convenient to message someone on Facebook, because you don't have to keep track of or obtain their email address, you do still have to log in to the site in order to view your messages.  Google Me could integrate the site's messaging with Gmail so I could receive my messages in real time on my phone, reviving personal email.  Facebook events are a great way of sharing invites with a large number of people, especially open invitations from businesses, but after I confirm my attendance Facebook doesn't sync the information to my actual calendar.  Google Me could automatically populate my Google calendar with my RSVP status.  No need to click on share buttons, Google Me would be able to auto post articles in Google News or Google Reader that I star or share.  The blog you are reading is composed on Blogger.  Since Google owns Blogger, it can automatically update my news feed every time a new article is published, eliminating the need for third party solutions.  Google Me could also use Picasa to store photos, YouTube to host and share videos, Maps to integrate, well, maps, into event invites, Shopping to create storefronts and much, much more.  The possibilites are actually a little overwhelming and baffling at the same time - why hasn't Google done this already??


Better and wider integrated SEO, ads and analytics: This reason is all about eliminating repetitive third party applications.  As businesses, we already maximize our search engine optimizations for Google Search and we trust our online ads and web traffic to Google Ads and Analytics.  Now with social media, we have to optimize for and track data with even more tools, like Facebook Ads and Insights.  Google Me would have preexisting SEO, Ads, and Analytics built in from the start.  No additional ad buys, no additional metrics to integrate in your ROIs.


Google is still the most visited website: Facebook may have more global users than Google's individual applications like mail and calendar, and users may spend more time on Facebook in one sitting, but Google is still the number one ranked site in the world for unique visitors.  The implication here is that unlike every other Facebook competitor, Google will have immediate and significant exposure to its new product along with an implicit higher trust level than an unheard of service.  This would mean faster growth and uptake and an increased opportunity to surpass the master.


Why Google Me Could Fail


Is it too late?: Facebook continues to grow its user base every day and current users' data becomes more and more dependent on the site with every use.  All the connections, groups, fan pages, photos, birthdays, events, and contact information we store on Facebook keeps us forever attached to the service.  In order to truly succeed, instead of playing second string like Twitter, it would need to fully replace Facebook in the user's eyes.  Would people be willing to fully abandon their connection to the site or would this be another project early adopters eventually forsake because the majority of their networks won't convert?  Could Google Me be simple enough that late adopters or Facebook jumpers would give it a shot?


Facebook Connect: Google, and several other sites, have enabled users to login to third party sites using their Google credentials via OpenID for quite some time.  It's Facebook Connect, though, that has garnered all the attention, both positive and negative.  On one hand, Facebook Connect allows users to easily login and share their information with additional sites without having to sign up or reregister.  At the same time, this feature has been rebuked for privacy concerns - how much information is being shared and are users aware of it?  The amount of press Connect has earned combined with the increased level of integration it is experiencing (often in addition to or replacing Google OpenID) may make web site developers and businesses owners less apt to switch back again.


Is Google too big? If Facebook receives criticism for its privacy concerns, Google is bound to experience the same feedback.  Google's sheer size and aforementioned ability to scan the web and know nearly everything about you is bound to draw privacy concerns from even the most early of adopters.  In addition, Google tends to be a more open service, either having info completely private or open to everyone.  A new set of security standards would likely need to be considered in order to quell fears.  Finally, Google has already experienced security scandals, even recently, including Google Buzz defaulting to public and Google Maps collecting Wifi data.


We'll hopefully know more in the near future, but I for one am definitely willing to give this service a shot.  As more information becomes available, we will issue follow ups to strengthen or weaken the arguments made in this post.


Update: According to a TechCrunch report, Google is conducting surveys on users' social media habits including online and offline friend interactions.  Check out some sample questions from the survey here.

Check-in Revisited

Apple and Loopt are upping the ante on location-aware technology. Thanks to a new feature in iOS4, the application Loopt is able to consistently monitor users' locations in the background. This could have huge implications for the social use of location-aware applications.

Previously we noted that companies like Loopt have received minimal social uptake, partly due to security issues and having to rebuild your network on a new application. There is also a third reason though - the inability to check-out of a location. When a user checks-in to a location, their status remains at that location until they check-in somewhere else, meaning that if a friend decided to stop by and visit them, there was a good chance they could have already left...days ago even. Now, with background location, Loopt can continuously monitor your location (for a duration of time you control) and actually check you out of a location if it notices you are no longer within a given radius of the venue.

Clearly this doesn't address the primary two social concerns of location-aware applications, but this new feature does complete the technology, guaranteeing interactions between friends. Will this be enough to entice early adopters to reconsider social implications?

Reviving Your Brand: Chatroulette

By now everyone should be familiar with Chatroulette, the internet site that allows users to video conference with random people from around the globe.  As the media and television shows like South Park have made very clear, the site is heavily used by individuals looking to perform sexual acts.  Despite the large market for a website serving this purpose, pornography had never been the original or desired intent of the site's creator.  This unwanted usage has lead to a surge of backlash from the media and a large portion of users disassociating with the site because they are tired of seeing naked images every time they try to hold a legitimate conversation.  For the last seven months, Chatroulette has done nothing to prevent or deter such behavior, most likely on the grounds of fostering free speech and expression; however, allowing the brand to grow organically and earn a negative reputation, especially in the US, has put the brand at risk of permanently becoming nothing more than another internet sex site.  Now, it appears founder Andrey Ternovskiy is taking a stand to intervene before it is too late.


According to an article on TechCrunch, Chatroulette is employing a series of new technologies that will use video recognition to weed out pornographic images and flag users who are repeatedly skipped.  Assuming the new technology works, will this effort be enough to save the decaying brand?  With the right set of actions, the answer should be yes.  Alone the technology improvements would not be able to re-energize the brand and reengage users who have already jumped ship, but with the right amount of crisis communication and a solid brand platform, Chatroulette can reinvent itself and ignite a growth in video communications and global networking.  


Similar to BP, but on a much less disastrous scale, Chatroulette needs to first initiate crisis communication to begin apologizing to its audience for the current state of the brand.  Following a current trend of using CEOs as spokesmen, Ternovsky needs to engage media representatives directly, stating that this was not the intended usage of the site, explaining why the situation was allowed to escalate to its current state, and thoroughly educating users on the technology being put into place to address the problem.  Second, Chatroulette needs to develop a new brand platform and positioning that sets the course for the brand's future.  If not pornography, what is the true intended purpose of the site? How can the service benefit its users? And what will the future hold if the brand revolutionizes the way we communicate and socialize.  The new positioning should give the audience a reason to care about the company and a promise of change to hold on to for the future.  Together, these two steps should display an effort to abandon the past and launch a new direction.


Of course, the last step is to carry through with what is promised.  Aside from the improvements to the underlying software, the biggest way to reflect the positive changes associated with the new brand platform is to improve the user experience on a visual level.  As the site looks now, Chatroulette is a very visually disengaging experience, resembling an early Windows 3.1 feel.  Although this may have accurately portrayed the brand as a startup (the vibe gives an old school feel, focusing on substance over quality and aligning with an initial audience that most likely isn't swayed by just a pretty visage), combined with the current perception of the brand, the visual scheme of the site actually portrays a very low tech and even distrusting persona. If Ternovsky cares enough about the brand's perception to change the technology, he should also care enough to create a visual scheme that appears modern and professional (Apple-esque I'm sure).


With all this in place, the brand should have the legs it needs to reposition itself in the market and reengage lost audience members.  After a trial period of testing the updated software and analyzing some initial feedback on the overall user experience, I would further suggest that Chatroulette begins to sponsor or partner with other aligning interests.  If the new positioning aims to bridge language barriers and span distances, sponsor a pen pal program for high school foreign language departments.  If the new positioning is focused on networking and meeting new people, partner with dating sates and social media networks.  Not only will this drastically increase the site's user base, it will further build trust in a brand that had once been greatly discredited.