Holy schnikes, the tech news is flying fast! We knew that the location chatter would be ramping up as SXSW Interactive approached, but this is madness. Let’s help you sort through all of the biggest news.
Oh, and you thought we forgot – stay up to the minute on all the SXSWi news by following us on Twitter.
So, about location. EVERYONE’S getting it now. Facebook’s adding it. Twitter turned it on, then off, and will probably turn it back on at their big SXSWi keynote address this week. Foursquare already had it, but now is getting plotted on Google Maps.
As they say, it’s all about location, location, location.
So, what does this all mean to marketers? What can we do with all of this location info? We’ll get the answer this week, I’m sure. (I know, what a tease!) But, we shouldn’t use this info to add to the ever-increasing clutter online. On a recent trip, I happened to check in at O’Hare on Foursquare. I was immediately contacted by a French company called Boarding, who told me that I was at the airport with six other Foursquare players, and sent me their Twitter handles. Uh, thanks a bunch. Lemme drop my bags and run over to greet them – I’m sure the plane will wait. Once again, we have to ask the obvious: where’s the value for the consumer? At least a similar service from Meet Gatsby is opt-in, and connects users based on common interests. And even if there’s not value, where’s the entertainment? In other words, where’s the quality content???
Hey, that’s the same complaint we made in our discussion about the buzz around QR Codes. Unfortunately, not everyone’s paying attention. Chevy’s making waves with a PR campaign based on QR Codes and the location-based service Gowalla. But, try scanning the QR code pictured in that article (or pictured above). Did you get a girl’s number? Chrissie? Yeah, me too. Maybe it’s the blogger driving the car. Maybe it’s a mistake. Maybe I’m not going try to find out. (You are? You creep.) Remember our lesson from the Best Buy code: the linked item needs to be immediately compelling! Unless there’s some great copy telling us what to do with that random number (which in this case, there isn’t), my interaction with the code ends right there. It’s a waste of a touchpoint, as well as an opportunity for an immersive sensory experience.
