If you think check-ins are a fad, you may want to think again. More than 380,000,000 checked-ins occurred in 2010 via Foursquare alone.
Foursquare has released a pretty neat infographic breaking down their membership statistics including some interesting caveats such as when movie theatre check-ins spiked, top venues worldwide and more.
Check out the entire infographic on the Foursquare blog here.
Psst. You spelled Foursquare incorrectly. 😉
That’s what I get for typing during a meeting 🙂 Thanks lady.
Looks like foursquare is here to stay. I remember when Facebook Places was first announced and everyone thought foursquare was done (including me). I continue to use foursquare on a daily basis and I think I’ve only checked-in on Facebook Places a few times.
381.5 million check-ins and 6 million users in 2010. 10 million users in mid-June 2011. u00a0$50 million in venture capital from Andreesen Horowitz. u00a0However, I am still not convinced that LBS check-ins are a viable media channel for brands and even worse for small merchants. u00a0nnAs proof, please review the WSJ’s study of foursquare’s check-ins during a single week in January 2011.u00a0http://socialfresh.com/foursquare-stats/u00a0 u00a0nnu2022 u00a0There were a total of 10.9 million checkins, of which the US generated 4.4+million.u00a0nu2022 u00a02,197,870 foursquare venues had at least one checkin during the week.u00a0nu2022 u00a0978,000 or 44.5% of the venues had only 1 checkin. u00a0nu2022 u00a01,220,000 of the remaining venues averaged 8.1 checks. u00a0nu2022 u00a0The average venue had 4 checkins. u00a0nu2022 u00a02,500 venues (.11% of the total) garnered more than 100 checkins. u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0 u00a0u2022 u00a0foursquare had approximately 6 million users at the start of 2011.u00a0nu2022 u00a01.734 million or 28.9% (seeu00a0http://xurl.at/50g)u00a0are from the US. u00a0nu2022 u00a0U.S. users averaged 2.5 checkins.u00a0nu2022 u00a0There were approximately 200 million internet users in the U.S. in January 2011.nu2022 u00a0The 1.734 million U.S. foursquare users represent .00825 of total U.S. internet users. u00a0The PEW Research study claims only 4% of internet users utilize location-based checkin services. u00a0That’s pretty pathetic wouldn’t you say? u00a0 u00a0 u00a0nnI don’t know what foursquare was charging these venues for their ads, but based on the number of venues and checkins, those must be very expensive checkins per venue. u00a0Furthermore, the data does not tell you have many users actually visited the venue, or how many of them acted on the merchant’s special. u00a0What I am getting at here is the dreaded social media monster called ROI. u00a0I call this cash-for-cash. u00a0Merchants paid foursquare a certain amount to u00a0advertise their specials so that foursquare users can checkin and view a merchant’s specials or tips, and a certain number of those foursquare users visited their venue, and finally, a certain number of them acted on the merchant’s special. u00a0When foursquare can provide all this information, merchant’s will know if the results (or ROI) were worth the investment in advertising spend.nnI rest my case. u00a0 u00a0 u00a0u00a0u00a0u00a0nn
Hi pbtconsulting,u00a0nI do think you make some great points and have some wonderful stats, thanks for sharing! LBS is definitely still in it’s infancy, that’s certain. However, I think the larger case is the shift in behavior thatu00a0technologiesu00a0like Foursquare, Groupon, Yelp, etc. are creating and it’s centered in mobile.u00a0nnNo doubt, the waves of LBS are small when compared to the largeru00a0population, but so were social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn 5 years ago, and look at how they have altered our behaviors today.u00a0nnWhat applications like Foursquare bring to the table is mobile. Friends, family and brands are now able to connect with customers not only surrounding what they are interested in, but where they are and who they are with. As smart phone adoption grows, so will these tools. Customers are looking for answers on the go, they want to share theiru00a0experiencesu00a0and they want to be rewarded for influence. Never before have we had the power to learn who our mostu00a0influentialu00a0customersu00a0are on all levels and react to them. A pretty powerful shift in consumer behavior and brand benefits if you ask me :)nnAs far as the spend, Foursquare in particular does not chargeu00a0merchantsu00a0to create a deal, nor do they collect a portion of the profits at this time, although the model is different for group buying sites like Groupon or Living Social. Sure the ROI isn’t there quite yet, it’s not there is any portion ofu00a0interactive mediau00a0yet, but the possibilities are as these networks grow andu00a0evolve.u00a0And that is quite exciting.u00a0