2012 Most Social Brands: Instagram, Pinterest among top 10

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Verify your Business at Foursquare for $10

Until recently, businesses who wanted to verify themselves with location-based discovery service Foursquare had to wait... and wait. The snail mail process takes anywhere from two to four weeks to complete.From there, merchants can verify that they manage the business, and can begin added foursquare specials found on the merchant platform, including Swarm, Friends, Flash, Newbie, Check-in, Loyalty, and Mayor:

Now there is a much quicker way. For a one-time fee of $10 businesses can complete the verification process online in just minutes after which they have full access to Foursquare's tools and stats.Foursquare is rolling out the new instant verification feature today, and points out that users can still register by physical mail for free if they’d like, and that users who are already registered aren’t required to pay anything.

According to Mashable, "companies will start the process by submitting a phone number. Foursquare makes an automated call to the number and records the caller's name and the name of the business. Those who opt for instant verification are then prompted to enter their credit card information online."

For those businesses that can't, or don't want, to register online the snail mail option is still available. The instant verification option is currently only available in the U.S. 

Foursquare, which presently has about 20 million users, 750,000 of which are businesses, recently celebrated it’s 3rd annual “foursquare day” on April 16th.

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Facebook vs The Rest of Social Networks:

Is Facebook The Only Social Channel That Really Matters? | The Financial Brand: Marketing Insights for Banks & Credit Unions:

Facebook continues to top charts and  web traffic domination as other competitors have grown, however have failed to break the Facebook traffic Graph. The above infographic from Financial Brand shows how the  top 5 SN stands as of March,31st, 2012 .Alexa, a traffic-ranking site, puts Facebook as the world’s #2 largest website, behind only Google. YouTube ranks #3, with Twitter trailing at #9. Compete, a similar service to Alexa, ranks Facebook 2nd, YouTube 4th, Twitter 20th and LinkedIn 36th.

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Foursquare Moving Beyond Local To Social Shopping & Discount Recomendation

This year, Foursquare is everywhere at SXSW. among the movers & shakers as they navigate the cacophony of panels and parties that abound. Company founder Dennis Crowley joined Shira Lazar and Zappo’s Tony Hsieh on stage in Samsung’s Blogger Lounge yesterday:

Foursquare, claim to fame remains location ,however company known for its geo location-based social app, is exploring a move that will put those roots in the background as it seeks to instead highlight the trove of data it has collected about its users’ habits.

“We’re in the process now of disassembling the app,” said CEO Dennis Crowley at the annual South by Southwest conference in Austin, Texas.

Foursquare is in the process of moving up its product model from an app used primarily to tell your friends where you are to a tool that any smartphone owner can use for relevant recommendations and discounts at restaurants, coffee shops and museums. If done right, that would mean plenty of revenue-sharing opportunities for Foursquare.

Even though the mobile check-in company is still struggling to make money, it has not stopped growing. Foursquare has about 100 employees, and Mr Crowley said a big area of focus is hiring data scientists, who can take the vast amounts of information the company is collecting from its almost 20 million users and make it useful.

Crowley said the company started noticing that many of its 15 million users weren’t using the app’s main function: a check-in feature that lets people broadcast where they are to their friends. Instead, users are increasingly turning to a feature the company launched in February last year called Explore, which gives users data about places around them that their friends have visited and shows them tips that have been left behind.

“We’re part of the fabric of what goes on here. It’s our third year here. We now have 100 employees and 20 million users. We’re on a rocketship course.”

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Foursquare Hits 10M Users Grows at 1000%

The Geolocation social Network Foursquare yesterday announced that they have reached 10 Million members, and . To commemorate  this occassion released this infographic for the occasion.

                                     
Among the important insights  from the  Infographic

• There have been 4.7 million check-ins on "Main Street."
  
  
• The businesses with the most check-ins in their respective categories were: Target (retail), 7-Eleven (convenience stores), Old Navy (apparel), Bank of America (hot dog sta—er, banks), and Home Depot (home-related stores).
  
  
• For every one "ugh" shout (a message that gives both text and a moodlet), there are six "Yay!" shouts.
  
  
• Mike Bloomberg, the real Mayor of New York City, is also the foursquare mayor of the New York City Hall.

Foursquare's celebrations continued with the release of foursquare 3.2  for the iPhone, touting much faster check-ins, and today will formally announce a partnership with American Express "to offer discounts to cardholders when they check in on their cellphone at certain shops and restaurants."

  List of Awards Won by Foursquare Awards

• In 2010, foursquare was named a runner-up in the T3 Gadget Awards 2010 as the App of the Year.
  
  
• In August 2010, the company was a finalist in Lead411's New York City Hot 125.
  
• In April 2010, foursquare received a Webby Award as one of the best mobile social networks.
  
  
• In March 2010, Foursquare was nominated for the 13th annual SXSW Web Awards in the Mobile Category.
  
  
• Foursquare was named a 2011 Technology Pioneer by the World Economic Forum in the Information Technology  and new media category

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7% Mobile Users used Location Services in US

Nearly 1 in 5 Smartphone Owners Access Check-In Services Via their Mobile Device according to comScore  Research Study.

comScore reported that 12.6 million users in the U.S. used a check-in service during the 3 months ending March 2011. This is, they say, 7.1% of the U.S. mobile phone population. This is in line with the Pew Internet study published last November that reported 7% of adults who go online with their mobile phone use a location-based service.

The study found that 16.7 million U.S. mobile subscribers used location-based “check-in” services on their phones in March 2011, representing 7.1 percent of the entire mobile population. 12.7 million check-in users did so on a smartphone, representing 17.6 percent of the smartphone population. The study also found that check-in service users showed a high propensity for mobile media usage, including accessing retail sites and shopping guides, and displayed other characteristics of early adopters, including a stronger likelihood of owning a tablet device and accessing tech news, when compared to the average smartphone user. 

 

 

 

Who are the Users:The study finds that check-in users tend to be young with 18 to 24 year olds (26%) and 25 to 34 year olds (32.5%) making up more than half of all users. They tend to be students (23.3%) and have full-time jobs (46.4%).

OS Platform Used For Checking In :Android users account for the largest share of check-in users with 36.6% versus iPhone users at 33.7%. BlackBerry came in third at 22% with Palm, Sybmian and Windows all account for less than 5% (see chart). Of total mobile users who check-in (16.7 million), about three out of four do so with a smartphone.

The group shows the classic early adopter warning signs. They access tech news via mobile device (40.3%) and 28.2% own a media tablet, both significantly higher than the average mobile user. 

According to Mark Donovan, comScore senior vice president of mobile. “The ability to interact with consumers on this micro-local level through special offers, deals and other incentives provides brands with the real-time opportunity to engage consumers through their mobile device.”

According to  ComScore 12.6 million smartphone owners used check-in services like Foursquare, Gowalla or Facebook Places. ComScore says that the check-in fervor is driven primarily by open by early adopters, who have "a high propensity for mobile media usage, including accessing retail sites and shopping guides, and displayed other characteristics of early adopters, including a stronger likelihood of owning a tablet device and accessing tech news, when compared to the average smartphone user."

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Inside the Mind of Foursquare Users : Infographic

 

As of  January of 2011, Foursquare stated on its blog that the company grew 3,400%. with 7 million users. This infographic is from Austin Williams  provides some great  insights on which of the elements are most influential to Foursquare users. Foursquare  users is best known for its badges, which users get when they check-in to certain places. Users can also gain the title of "Mayor" when they've been to a place more than anyone else using Foursquare. Other elements that play into Foursquare's game dynamics include special offers and tips.

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