Location-based social services like Foursquare and Gowalla are taking steps to reduce the number of ‘Mayors’ who have gained their status unfairly.  Users of these services are bestowed the honor of Mayor, or other impressive-sounding titles, for having the most visits to a specific venue or business.   For some Mayors, this status entitles them to exclusive privileges like immediate seating at a restaurant.

Many venues, however, are reluctant to offer financial-related rewards like store credit or significant discounts because some Mayors have illegitimately won their mayorship by falsely claiming to check-in to a venue when really they are sitting at home on the couch.  Without the serious financial rewards, usage of location-based services will be hard pressed to grow beyond the early adopters.

To counter this problem, Foursquare has recently released a revoke feature that enables venue owners the ability to take away a users mayorship if they are an employee, or for ‘other reasons.’   It’s these ‘other reasons’ (i.e. false check-ins, or cheating) that pose the biggest challenge to the growth of location-based services.

The revoke feature is a good first step, but may not be the best long-term solution.  Store owners are already pressed for time running their businesses.  Do they really want another thing to do – revoking mayors?    In addition, the act of revoking a customer’s mayorship could put the owner in a contentious situation with that customer.  Imagine the PR problems caused by all the negative YouTube responses from shunned overlords stripped of their status.

A better solution might be one that is more automated and relieves the venue owner from having to get directly involved in the dirty work of revoking their mayors.  One proposed solution is GPS technology.  When the user submits a check-in, their phone sends the GPS coordinates with the check-in data to validate if the user is actually at the location. GPS is limited mostly to outdoor areas; however, GPS signals are hampered indoors, like in malls.

Another approach, as previously pointed out by Devin in his post, “Shopkick A model for stronger substantiation of location,” is to transmit an inaudible noise that is received by the Shopkick app running on the user’s phone.  This is a step closer to fully securing check-ins, but also has limitations.  Aside from annoying every dog that walks by, this approach does not allow means to track if someone has reached a precise point in space.  This may not be a big deal now, but does limit future location-based applications.  I also wonder if the ShopKick technology allows for multiple check-in points at a single venue.  

I do agree with ShopKick’s approach in that I believe the best solution for securing the check-in process  is by placing the check-in validation mechanism, typically hardware, at the physical location.   It needs to be a two part system:  the user brings one part into the venue, like a key of some sort, to match it up with the other part residing at the location.   Check-ins only occur when these two parts meet.  Right now, users can complete the check-in process from anywhere using an app on their phone.  There is no connection to the physical location.

The user needs to ‘do something’ at the location to get credit for their check-in.   One action could be requiring the user to  swipe an RFID tag over an internet-connected RFID reader.   Venue owners could pass out inexpensive RFID tags to their customers.  The customers register their tags online to gain access to VIP services at the venue.  The RFID tag contains a unique ID that is assigned to the user. Later, once Near Field Communications (NFC) gets implemented into all smart-phones, we can remove the RFID tag from the process and the user simply swipes their phone.   It only takes a few seconds to swipe, it’s automated, and the venue owner doesn’t have to do anything.  Most importantly, the check-in process becomes legitimized, which opens the door to more robust location-based mobile services .

Services like Foursquare have the potential to become a viable platform for commerce that can provide venue owners with what they need most – foot traffic.   The investment required to purchase RFID readers and tags is very  small in comparison to the potential payoff.

Initially, I was hooked.  The app looks great on my phone and it was exciting to collect items through their virtual scavenger hunt and get stamps in my passport.  Unfortunately, the excitement was short-lived.  There are very few users in Kansas City and it appears as though the majority of the spots have been created by the same person.  A Gowalla employee, no doubt.  (You know who you are “Zanzibar Zanzibar.”)  It’s kind of like playing tag by yourself.  I see how this could be really fun if all of my friends were participating- but they’re not.  And it’s just not compelling enough to continue playing on my own.

Everyone knows the ultimate goal of location-based mobile games- to monetize the application and provide players with real-life benefits for online participation.  And the opportunities for marketers are very exciting.  But I feel like social networks are shark-like in nature.  They must keep moving forward or they’ll sink.  After a month of playing Gowalla I have nothing to show for it.  Sure, I have some stamps in my virtual passport, but nothing that provides a real sense of accomplishment (like Mafia Wars!) or a reason to keep playing.  Maybe I’ll start back up once they begin implementing more real-life value, like reviews of restaurants near me or a discount at the store across the street… but until then, I’m over it.