How Companies Are Using Data From Foursquare 69
wjousts writes: Technology Review reports on how businesses use data from all those Foursquare check-ins. "Merchants can analyze various metrics over time, including how many check-ins are recorded each day, who the most recent and most frequent visitors are, how visitors who check in break down by gender, and what time of day the most people check in; businesses with multiple locations can aggregate statistics to fit their needs. Foursquare provides the same platform 'for Joe's coffee shop and Starbucks,' says Eric Friedman, Foursquare's director of business development, but companies use the tools and data in different ways, depending on their specific objectives. "
Re:'Biased' data (Score:4, Funny)
This information is great for overwhelming business owners with unsolicited consultant proposals!
A advertising/marketing/efficiency/etc. consultant can use all those useless measurements, make assertions about their implications, write a fancy lingo-ridden cold-call proposal (synergize your cost potentials!), and get a contract. It's great for (their) business.
Well, the actual value is in aggregating the data with other information to identify trends that can be applied other within the same socio-econoic demography to extract value from them by offering targeted offerings that trigger desirable pre-defined responses which result beneficial economic transactions to the offerer. By identifying such markers you can maximize the synergies inherent in the cross-functional sharing of data designed to optimize the customer experience and increase the value to the enterprise.