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. "
'Biased' data (Score:2)
I dont see how any of these metrics are actually useful in business decisions. What percentage of people actually check in, and of those that do, I bet they actually share quite a bit in common.
Re:'Biased' data (Score:4, Insightful)
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.
I concur (Score:1)
You hit the nail on the head!
Consultants looooove these kinds of metrics because they can spend a half-hour with a customer bombing them with intelligent-looking numbers and then go have lunch. At no point during this exchange will anything business related have transpired, apart from the consultant's bill.
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.
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Normally, I'd vomit at the sight of so many weasel words, but I saw what you were doing there and appreciate it. ;)
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...if your target metric is trendoid self-absorbed hipsters.
No kidding... shortly after I first heard about FourSquare [theonion.com] and realised that it *hadn't* actually been made up by The Onion, the first thing I thought was "that's... *very* Nathan Barley". [wikipedia.org]
Pecantically, it's more like a slightly smarter version of Nathan Barley from the early-2000s grew up a bit (without becoming any more likeable) and decided to make some money by exploiting today's early-twentysomething, wannabe narcissistic tossers, i.e. the Nathan Barley: The Next Generations.
Barf.
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Re:'Biased' data (Score:4, Interesting)
I send out and/or drop off cards to my "good" customers at least once or twice a year.
They are simple business cards with my standard business card on the front and on the back a 20% discount, parts and labor, printed on the back.
I take the time to write the customer's name I am sending them to on the card. And the letter I include with the card tells them that if they like my service to please give out the card to folks who might need my services.
And for every card that is turned in, they will get $20 bucks.
I usually spend around 300-400 bucks a year redeeming those 20 bucks a pop cards.
And they usually generate me 80-90 bucks gross profit after the 20 buck payout and 20% off per card.
Foursquare Demographics? (Score:3)
That's odd.
All I've seen of Foursquare is that a limited number of people ever check in from any place that I've spot checked.
Some of us cheat it anyways. There's a workaround for checking in places that you aren't physically at. So I check in at arbitrary places, preferably at or very close to government facilities that makes the tinfoil hat crowd go nuts. So, following my "trail" shows me being anywhere but where I actually am.
I'm fond of companies tracking us and selling that information. I'm happier when I've seeded their data with so much false information that it's virtually impossible to guess which is right.
And it's not that I'm one of the folks wearing a tinfoil hat too tight. I just like privacy. I don't think the government is following me. They already know where to find me. :) It's pesky people like private investigators working for someone trying to make easy money through bogus lawsuits. Go ahead, follow the trail. It's good for dealing with crazy ex-girlfriends too. :)
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just because someone cares exactly where you check in and when and exactly what you do
foursquare has a chance at being the new loyalty card where loyal customers get freebies once in a while and a way to measure feedback since people can leave comments. otherwise companies care about general customer demographics and when there are big rushes. so that say starbucks can have the most people on staff when people come into the store. i've seen some starbucks with huge lines at 3pm
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and people are always writing tips on foursquare so it's customer feedback as well. and advertising with specials keep bringing people in.
foursquare along with groupon are really tool for the mom and pop to advertise to a lot of people cheaply. that was the whole promise of the internet 15 years ago
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foursquare along with groupon are really tool for the mom and pop to advertise to a lot of people cheaply. that was the whole promise of the internet 15 years ago
Really? Seems the internet made us different promises. Were mom and pop perhaps running a porn site?
Re:Foursquare Demographics? (Score:4, Informative)
Check any arbitrary location, and see how many people have checked in there recently. The numbers are generally pretty small.
Companies already have a perfectly valid method to measure their business. They have their receipts. They know when they sold items, what they sold, how much to stock, and how many people they need working there.
So there was a line at Starbucks, big deal. They already know how many people that they can have in lines without losing too much business. They look at their costs versus the number of people who may just walk out . If they lose 2 $5 ($10 lost) sales during the 3pm hour, but to handle the load properly they would have needed 3 more people on that shift at $10/hr ($240), it's not advantageous to them to put 3 more people on that shift.
Business isn't about the customer experience. It's about making money. It's the same reason Disney doesn't mind having lines with an hour wait. They know you want their product, and are willing to stand in line waiting for it.
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Try running a business using only those metrics - but make a reservation at your local bankruptcy court first, because you're going to need it. Those metrics don't tell you what brought customers into the store, or why those that left without buying didn't buy, etc... (Just for some very basic exa
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Have you actually looked at FourSquare, or do you just live in a delusional world?
Have a look for Starbucks [foursquare.com] in New York.
The one with the most check-ins is "72 Spring St at Crosb
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Some of us cheat it anyways.
People will game any system if there is a way to do it. The question is what percentage of the data is junk? If it's a couple of percent, it's probably not a problem. If it's 50%, then it's probably useless.
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It would depend on how you view junk.
In the right city? I'd say 25% is junk.
In the actual location? I'd say >50% is junk.
The people who I've know that use foursquare are frequently bored where they are, so they go looking around for other places to check in. So they pick an arbitrary location nearby that appears to be more interesting than where they really are.
I just go one up on the junk rating, and check in, in the wrong sta
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Well, not really. I worked in the industry that trades that information, and provides it to private investigators, law enforcement, and collections companies. Others provide it to anyone willing to pay. I know what some use for data sources. I still know people involved with those companies. They talk about their data sources, what they can provide to anyone who wants it.
Have you ever searched for yourself on intelius.com? How about looked at the current value of your house
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As I've told people, it's all disinformation, and usually located near cities that would drive the tinfoil hat crowd nuts.
Really? You think anybody actually cares where you are? You need to get over yourself.
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I just replied to the AC that posted before you. Go up and read that. Maybe you'll understand. I would have said people were crazy for believing it. Once I worked with different aspects of the industry for a while, I realized how much is collected and sold. I really rather seed my true identity with so much disinformation that anyone trying to use it can't figure me out. Well, unless I live in Los Angeles, New York, Miami, ReykjavÃk, Berlin, and Moscow all at the same time. One
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My take on these types of services (Score:1)
This kind of thing is vulnerable to liars. You think anyone is going to check in at McDonald's? Or XXX-movie mart? What about the movies when the person is supposed to be at work?
The whole thing is a sham that will promote businesses where people would want others to think they are, instead of businesses where people REALLY are.
CHECKING IN AT THE WHOREHOUSE!
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Your anonymity here proves my previous assertions and derails your own.
I want more FourSquare data (Score:2)
As a user I could see some real interesting uses for the data.
It would be nice if you could see which clubs and restaurants are getting the most check ins. You would know the hot spots. Even better would be knowing when they are getting the check ins. Maybe you could see when that restaurant you want to try has the least check ins so you get the wait the least amount of time.
Age data would be cool as well. If a place is loaded with people that are younger or older then you are you may want to avoid that as
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It would be nice if you could see which clubs and restaurants are getting the most check ins. You would know the hot spots. .... That is where foursquare I think is falling down a bit. Discovery tools.
You meant to write, foursquare is missing out on selling business owners on fake checkins to boost their popularity.
So you find the "hottest new club" in the city on foursquare, go there, and theres no one there all night but two homeless alkies.
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That would be really easy to check and it would get around really fast. Yea it could be done and it already happens a lot on review sites.
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And it's dying.... (Score:2)
Over the past 3 months I have seen a dramatic drop off of Foursquare use. I have about 60 friends that all use it and it has went from a furious competition to only about 4 that actually still use it. In fact I have not checked into anyplace for over a week. It's too much of a bother. Plus any rewards for using it are near invisible. Most of the time you check in AFTER you have ordered so you see the special you now cant use.
They need a major revamping like cache all my places so I dont have to wait f
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Anonymous Coward wrote:
And despite the changes in FourSquare, your grammar is still that of a semi-literate uneducated idiot.
Why is User AC so frequently rude??? The guy made a simple mistake (went should be gone). That's all. You bitching about that error is as silly as bitching about tihs typo.
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Most of the time you check in AFTER you have ordered so you see the special you now cant use.
Is that kinda your fault? Not disagreeing with you, I've never used Foursquare myself and it might well be true that the novelty has worn off.
It's not dying... (Score:2)
It is not dying, it just reached IPO time.
There remains questions... (Score:4, Interesting)
I think the biggest question is economic class. Sure, this works for Starbucks because Starbucks is a higher end retailer who's users are tech savvy. But this does nothing for Family Dollar who's users are all over the gambit. This means, then, that you can only poll a certain section of the populous, whereas, using instore data makes more since for most businesses which captures 100% of data, rather than a subset (bothers to check in) or a subset (uses Foursquare) or a subset (owns a smartphone).
The other problem is time is automatically skewed. People running to the store late night to pick up toilet paper are unlikely to check in, especially on a weekday. But those trying out a new steakhouse on a Saturday afternoon are more likely to check in. So the time data is naturally skewed to recreational times.
While I applaud this as a way to see when advertising deals on social networks may best impact your business, this by no means will help you determine if you need to make sure your toilet paper is fully stocked at 3am.
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For the same reason I don't assume there is a God. I'd rather see evidence of the existence of statistical methodology in place, vetted by other statisticians, before assuming that it exists and works.
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Cross reference Facebook
People running to the store late night to pick up toilet paper are unlikely to check in, especially on a weekday.
That is exactly the inane garbage that people seem to post ad nauseum. Problem solved
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The TP section needs a "Like" button. ;)
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Well, duh. Who do you think is more interested in the data? Family Dollar whose business model is based on moving product in bulk with rapid turnover? Or New Steakhouse who is in
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On the other hand, my basic objection stands. How is this better than using in-store data? Even at best, it can't correlate foot traffic with actual purposes because foursquare doesn't collect purchase data except when a deal is used. And check-ins being so narrowly defined can't even estimate foot traffic.
If 20 people check in to Foot Locker, what does that mean for actual foot traffic? How is that correlated with an ad campaign.
Considering that as part of my job for a company that sells ad campaigns (o
home check-ins (Score:1)
i have two criteria for checkins - either restaurants/bars/clubs or unique stuff (landmarks and stuff) - anything else and i just don't see the use.
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No. I don't hate them. I care approximately as much about those "check ins" as I do about all the rest of the "check ins".
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(and if you're seeing the crossposts on facebook, why have you not hidden all checkins yet? its 2-clicks away, not even in a menu...)
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What is Facebook?
Foursquare is worthless spam I could do without. Unfortunately the only option on Buzz is to completely block all Twitter posts from a user, which would essentially mean unfollowing three of my friends. It's an option I'm seriously considering, however.
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I don't have Foursquare.
Boring... (Score:1)
Not too much different than credit card data... except you don't always spend money when you check in somewhere with Foursquare. So it's like the spam of data harvesting... I bet the hit rate for usable information is really really weak.
M
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Silly (Score:1)
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I consider myself one of the "techie" people and I don't use it. And none of my colleagues use it (nor have used it). Foursquare was a "fad" by all measures, and not a very successful one at that. My friends already know where I am, and so do the stores / establishments I frequent via receipts. The information is mostly redundant self-centered ego boost.
Technology Review (Score:1)
printed paid content - and /. falls for it.
FourSquare inaccuracy... (Score:1)