Did you check in yet?

With two of my close friends recently discovering the wonders of Foursquare, I’ve heard the phrase “Did you check in yet?” more times than I can count. Each stop warrants a new Foursquare check in, and on good days, a new badge or mayorship.

Combining the media frenzy that surrounds the popular location based service and eagerness of social media addicts to try the “next Twitter,” Foursquare’s check in rate more than doubled in February. Even though some believe Foursquare is a unique service that is paving the path for all location based services, many early adopters the days of Brightkite and Google Latitude. Unfortunately, neither services were able to tap into the perfect mix like Foursquare.

So, why do you check-in? I was introduced to Foursquare as a location-based service where if I can receive coupons and other promotions from businesses when I check in at their venue. I love the check-in part of Foursquare but have yet to experience any type of promotional activity on the application. Since many already discussed the idea of Foursquare being the “next Twitter,” is this an indication of how quickly businesses will adapt to yet another social media service?

The way I see it, Twitter is still a scary concept to many businesses, both large and small. Blogging has yet to be widely accepted by top management. Communications professionals are still experiencing resistance when trying to introduce a company to the world of social media. So, how long will it take them to latch on to Foursquare?

We will see a trend similar to Twitter but I think business leaders will actually be more open to the idea. Those who have started to use Twitter have already taken a huge step. If their Twitter usage has been successful to them as a brand or a business, the next step of joining Foursquare is much smaller than the first. They’ve already seen how social media can help them and will hopefully be much more open to the idea than they probably were even just a year ago.

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