Recently I was thinking whether geo-location social media activities will fully catch on. Can you really see everyone ’checking in’ everywhere they go all day long? I thought about this for a second and answered; “Of course!” but not in the way we think of it now. In my view the origin of Geo-Location was introduced by Flickr allowing users to view photos on a map. As this quickly grew in popularity and usage it wasn’t long until people were moving from photo-hosting sites (Flickr) to Social Networks for their photo storage.

The next step in all of this was the explosion of Social Networks like Foursquare. These platforms have created a market for location check-ins and the first opportunity for digital marketers to look at more attuned location-based promotions. With Facebook Places coming in to dominate, geo-location was blown wide open to a mainstream audience.

However, I don’t feel anyone has mastered this yet. Correct me if I’m wrong.

It will take more compelling benefits for users to start making the most of geo-location. Marketers need to start offering longer term value (e.g. loyalty schemes) and instant rewards (e.g. voucher codes received on check-in) to create a greater sense of community. There also needs to be software development making this all available on richer, more creative platforms.

Until this happens, the masses using this are a long way off.