The document explores the impact of location-based social media platforms like Foursquare, Swarm, Yelp, and Waze in connecting users and businesses by reducing geographic constraints. Foursquare gamifies user check-ins while Yelp allows users to submit reviews and businesses to engage with customers through analytics and advertising. Waze uses community-driven data for real-time traffic updates, illustrating how social media enhances user interactions within geographic contexts.

1. Web 2.0 and Social Media
Business in a Connected World
© McHaney and Sachs 2016
Location-Based Social Media

2. Google maps and other location services
Geography Related Social Media Concepts
Big advantages of social media include the reduction of geographic and
time-based constraints. This means that no matter where a person is
located, she or he can interact with others around the globe at any time.

3. iPhone example
Location Services Can Be Enabled on Mobile Devices
Many devices can passively or actively determine their location
based on satellite, cellular or other information.

4. Location-based mobile platforms enable users to “check in” via a
smartphone app and share their location and other details with friends
and businesses.
iPhone example
Foursquare and Swarm
Foursquare and Swarm create
competition between users by
encouraging them to earn points
and stickers for leaving tips,
information, and photos of their
current location.

5. Foursquare is a young company, founded in 2009 by Dennis Crowley and Naveen
Selvadurai. Over 60 million users as of June 2016.
History
Foursquare and Swarm Facts

6. How social interaction is encouraged by Foursquare and Swarm
Foursquare User Activity

7. Awards for reporting social interactions around venues.
Foursquare Stickers Compared to Prior Badge System

8. Foursquare and Swarm for Business
Premise
Foursquare specifically designed for business use. Software allows
businesses to find, interact with, interest, reward, and retain customers.
Venue
Businesses control and personalize their venue and have access to user
traffic, comments, and other statistics.
Specials
Businesses can create specials to reward loyal customers using Foursquare
services.
Data Services
Business have access to free data services to better understand
customers

9. Foursquare Business Activities

10. Foursquare Special Offer Example

11. Foursquare App and Swarm
Foursquare Splits
 Foursquare developed to connect people to geographic locations and places: 1)
helped people find a place; 2) helped people with friends.
 Recently, Foursquare split into two different applications: Foursquare and Swarm.
The Foursquare App acts as a
venue rating and review site.
Swarm deals with checking
into venues, meeting friends,
and in a sense turns visits into
a game.

12.  Local business social networking
site that provides reviews and
discussions related to services
primarily in food, restaurant and
entertainment venues.
 Large community of users in
metropolitan regions but also has
expanded into smaller, regional
areas.
 Yelp users submit reviews on places,
products or services using a five-star
rating system, and then add
comments.
Find Local Services and Businesses
Yelp
 Businesses claim venues and provide
updated information such as contact
details, operation hours and other
information. Businesses also can
respond to user reviews.

13. Russel Simmons and Jeremy
Stoppelman, formerly of
PayPal, founded Yelp in 2004.
By 2010, it had yearly
revenues exceeding $30
million and boasted more
than 4.5 million user reviews.
It went public in 2012. In
2016, Yelp.com has 135
million monthly visitors and
over 95 million user reviews.
Example review on Yelp
Yelp History

14. Some businesses claim competitors have manipulated reviews (but that is rare).
Yelp for Business: Paul Chaney Tips
Claim Your Business Page
Provides a place where photos can be added, links can be provided to
the business Website, restaurant menus or other business artifacts can
be added, offers listed, and business operating information updated.

15. Yelp for Business: Paul Chaney Tips (Continued)
Maintain
Businesses need to update and maintain operating information. Yelp
provides places for business name, address, phone number, hours of
operation, and other items.
Pay Attention to
Reviews
Read those and identify what
customers are saying. Positive
reviews help rank the business
higher, and negative ones can
be used to make
improvements.
Showcase
Photos can be added to
showcase a business and add
visual interest.

16. Yelp for Business: Paul Chaney Tips (Continued)
Tools
Yelp provides tools to
encourage customers to visit
a business. These incentives
include deals and gift
certificates.

17. Yelp for Business: Paul Chaney Tips (Continued)
Business Analytics
Yelp provides business
analytics related to
user visits. The
administrative console
offers a set of tools to
track visitor
engagement,
customer leads,
revenue estimates,
and other features.

18. Yelp for Business: Paul Chaney Tips (Continued)
Advertising
Yelp offers a variety of
advertising options.
The pricing ranges
from free to full
service. Among the
more popular options
are features to remove
competitor ads, calls
to action, slideshows,
and targeted ads.

19.  A Yelp button or badge can be
added to a business Website;
 A link to Yelp can be included in
email signatures;
 A Yelp sticker can be placed in a
store window;
 Customers can be encouraged to
check-in using Yelp’s mobile app
when visiting.
Tying Yelp to a Business Place
Yelp Effectiveness

20. Database of roadways produced from automatic acquisition of user data as people drove.
Waze
Social Media and Geography
Waze is a community-driven social media application that gathers map data
and traffic information from users. It provides a good example of the local-
based applications emerging in mobile user environments.
Pay Attention to Reviews
Waze is tied closely to GPS and map systems, and learns from user driving
times and experiences to provide real-time routing and traffic updates.
Personal Observation
Data
Personally observed data items
reflect driving experiences.
Among these are real-time
accidents, traffic jams, police
presence, and speed traps.

21. Engages with Users
Waze
 Waze was developed in Israel and launched
there in 2008.
 A few years later it was purchased by
Google.
 Goal of using social media to save each
driver five minutes a day. Since that time,
Waze has become an application that seeks
to collect and to develop a deeper
understanding of why traffic happens. Waze
has more than 50 million users.
 According to Forbes Tech, Waze has
become popular because it has figured out
how to engage with users

22.  Location based social media services tie geography and local
businesses to people wishing to know more and use their
services.
 Foursquare and Swarm use social media to connect people to
businesses and friends to each other in social venues.
 Yelp has created a social-media driven business model that
offers a variety of truly helpful features. It links physical
location with the benefits offered by social media in way that
improves business performance.
 Waze created a social media experience where drivers
generate data and help each other save time driving.
Chapter 9 Summary

23. Contact: Roger McHaney, Kansas State University, mchaney@ksu.edu