Foursquare and Seven Years Ago is Awesome

foursquareand sevenyears agoisa awesomeaka killer app for a killer app (a few ideas)

abstract: i love foursquare and think that it is awesome. i wish more people would use it and think that is awesome. by looking at different types of users and thinking about the new memory layer that 4sqand7yearsago builds upon the foursqaure platform, i feel that by incorporating 4sqand7years ago into foursquare and adding some improvements, foursquare could be an even better and more profitableexperience for users and the company.

first, my foursquare credentials: 528 days out 2,643 Checkins 45 Badges 11 mayorships Level 1 superuser

what is 4sqand7yearsago?simple! after logging in with foursquare, every day the userreceive an email from abe@4squareand7yearsago.com withall the places checked into on this day... 365 days ago.

why is this awesome?it builds an exciting new, more personal, moreengaging layer onto foursquare... the “memory layer”.4sqand7yearsago provides users with another reason tocheckin. foursquare was originally created to let users knowwhere their friends are when you go out, now users caneasily remember what they and their friends were doing inthe past. memory layer deals layer game layer foursquare checkin platform

why is this awesome for foursquare?it provides a valid reason for new users to start usingfoursquare, and existing users to use foursquare more. potential users always ask me why they should bother with foursquare. 4sqand7yearsago is a great answer. these are usually people who have smartphones and love taking photos of their food and their friends and what is going on around them to remember later. foursquare adds another layer to this, providing thecontext of place. once people experience4sqand7yearsgo and have the momentof reconstructing a particularly excitingday from an email they recieve from abe, they becomeheavier users of the foursquare service.

foursquare users are not all the same, but there are a few standard usage patterns, each of which could benefit from 4sqand7yearsago these users tryone & out foursquaredone for a few days or weeks but don’t feel compelled to continue using it. these are casual users who onlyBig checkin at excitingmoves places that they also want to share through Twitter and Facebook these are the whales of24/7 foursquare who checkin everytime they enter a new venue or event.

How can 4sqand7yearsagobe made more awesome forall these users?

improvement:PeoPLe Love sPeCiaL eventsand HoLidays: send custom holidayand event themed messages, with quirky,unique messaging. forthe new years email, forexample, providing thetimes of last year’s checkinsas what the user was doingon new years in anothercountry. one & Big 24/7 done moves

improvement: graduate tHe Periods tHat emaiLs get sent to users. a year is a long time for new users to get engaged and checking in as a habit before unlocking the memory layer of 4sqand7yearsago. to change this and have users invested more in the foursquare experience, the time period that 4sqand7yearsago covers should change the longer that a user uses foursquare. emaiL wHat HaPPened emaiL weeKLy Begin tHe Previous weeKend, digests of traditionaL wHat HaPPened year ago HoLidays a montH ago emaiLday 1 9 montH 1 year 1.5 year one & Big 24/7 done moves

improvement:aLLow tHe oPtion of weeKLy,montHLy digest emaiLs, asweLL as tHe daiLy one. many peopledon’t want to get daily emails... furthermore most people don’twant to checkin because they don’t thinkthat they do that many exciting thingsbeyond going to work, the grocery store,the gym and coming home. to combatboth of these things, there could be theoption of sending monthly or weeklydigests of past events presented ininteresting infographic ways similar tothe stats tab or 4sqmap.com making4sqand7yearsago not only less intrusive,but more interesting and fun as well fornew and seasoned users. one & Big 24/7 done moves

improvement:integrate deaLs into4sqand7yearsago emaiLs peoplemay sign up to receive the daily, weekly or monthly emails, but itdoesn’t necessarily mean that they read them. why not include anincentive in them with foursquare checkin linked deals and specialspossibly tied to american express? it would be simple, using thecontext of what they had done a year ago, providing the user withan incentive and opportunity to relive part of that exciting day.if the user had checked into amovie theatre a year ago... inserta coupon in the email that theyreceive today for a free smallpopcorn to incentivize them togo back and further their overallengagement with the foursquareexperience. one & Big 24/7 done moves

bottomline:•4sqand7yearsago is awesome!•it adds a memory layer to the platform•foursquare should include it as part of the service to drive engagement from new, casual and seasoned users.•there are some improvements that could be made to 4sqand7years ago to drive engagement in all levels of forsquare user and create a more profitable experience for the user and foursquare!

if you want to talk more, connect with:foursquare: foursquare.com/merrittelinkedin: linkedin.com/in/merrittetwitter: @merrittefacebook: facebook.com/merritteslideshare: slideshare.net/merrittetumblr: merritte.tumblr.comflickr: flickr.com/merritte merritte.Com

http://lonewolflibrarian.wordpress.com	248
http://www.conseilsmarketing.fr	233
http://www.jonathanboutelle.com	90
http://tweetedtimes.com	45
http://twitter.com	44
http://us-w1.rockmelt.com	40
https://twitter.com	16
http://communicationsmart.blogspot.com	10
http://www.conseilsmarketing.com	6
http://www.nubrand.com	2
http://staging-assets.local.twitter.com	1
http://a0.twimg.com	1
http://bitly.com	1
http://trunk.ly	1
http://www.twylah.com	1

Foursquare and Seven Years Ago is Awesome

by Shay-Jahen Merritté on Aug 22, 2011

Accessibility

Categories

Tags

Upload Details

Usage Rights

15 Embeds 739

Statistics

Foursquare and Seven Years Ago is Awesome — Presentation Transcript