Foursquare Vs Facebook Summary

Well with Facebook places getting the chop there’s been a few articles on who’s the winner. Foursquare or not.

Like I suggested to Naveen (Foursquare exec) in Amsterdam earlier in the year – I think for Foursquare to continue its growth it needs to get Global in its deals presence – not just in its member base. They need to get about and enlist some quality clients for deals and promotions outside NYC.

Last month in NYC I checked recommendations for ABC Restaurant there were LOADS of tips and over 5000 Check-ins – so I figured it was good. The majority of NYC places on Foursquare had some deal running,  quite a contrast to here in the UK.

So once the deals are on the rise, I was brainstorming what Foursquare could do to keep growing.

Here’s what I’ve thought of so far:

• Partnerships with Virgin Active or the likes could be a good step – bringing users back into the platform and the game at Foursquare’s core. Run badges and discounts for those that bring along Foursquare friends, or complete a set exercise course. Parse data as to how far you ran or cycled outside the gym – back to Virgin Active?
• Run extra footage for films if you check in or Foursquare. Maybe an alternate ending that you have to rank or rate?
• Sell their data
• Give us the data it in a dashboard that users can explore – eg, where I’ve roamed, what takeaways I prefer, an easier way to do my weekly sales route, kms to cover to gym goal.

But the idea with the most legs it seems is suggestions –  a new deli or something when I’m out of town or curious and searching.

• Foursquare lists seem to be a step in this direction, allowing you to rank and comment on lists grouped to type. A more engaging check-in and additional data pushed to you could help. EG – you’re at Towers Watson – its 12, Fred recommends Wasabi (sushi down the road).

Here’s what others think.

@bsitko has an interesting take on this – a rough geo pin, allows ads to be pushed to you as you search for somewhere to eat. Checking In: Foursquare, the new Facebook locations and why it doesn’t go far enough.

@askaaronlee thinks Facebook are in fact taking the upper hand with this move. Not just with check-ins but any time you tag ANY content to a location – ads relevant to where you are, or what you’re tagging will be pushed to you and stay right in your stream  Facebook didn’t kill ‘Places’, they slapped foursquare .

PennOlson has some interesting coverage of www.jiepang.com – a local Chinese Geotagging site – that have some great things going with Nokia on NFC check-ins.

So what do you think Facebook and Foursquare could do?