In 2008, SXSW conference in August marked the coming out party for Twitter. It was then and there that the digital elite embraced Twitter and cool concept of micro-blogging with so much enthusiasm that it started to spill out into the mainstream.
With SXSW kicking off on Friday, the question is whether the major theme this year that location-based services capture the spotlight. Will SXSW be the moment in time that Foursquare goes from the digital elite’s newest shiny toy into a service that starts to resonate with a much larger audience?
At this point, I’m not convinced Foursquare has enough appeal to more than a niche player. For now, Foursquare is a fun novelty that lets you broadcast your location by checking in. Hey, I’m at Tim Horton’s! Hey’s I’m at Starbucks? Hey, I’m the mayor of the Sunset Grill.
The reality is the novelty starts to wear off because there’s not much value in telling the world where you’re located or whether you’re such a creature of habit that you get become the “mayor”.
While I’m sure the SXSW crowd will find ways to use Foursquare because, after all, it’s new bauble. But it’s going to take more than just the gang in Austin to make Foursquare become significantly more than what it is now.
For Foursquare to jump to the next level, it has to offer more value for users and non-users. The value of Foursquare isn’t the location broadcasting but the “tips” that people are leaving about these places, and the value-added information being provided on top of it.
I don’t care that you’re the mayor of the Monk’s Table but the comments left about the beer being first-rate and, perhaps, a Zagat review are far more valuable and useful.
Right now, Foursquare users are a super-structure that needs lots of other stuff to give it substance. Maybe in this way, it is like Twitter, which became more valuable as more people used it.
While I’m sure Foursquare will get a lot of buzz week as it introduces a new look and feel, don’t expect to see a Twitter-like performance.
