Geosocial applications have been hot this year. At their most basic level, geosocial apps allow users to share information about where they are and what they are doing with friends in real-time. All updates are geotagged to a particular venue, and venue pages show the latest activity specific to that place. Brightkite, Foursquare, and Gowalla are the top three applications, though with South by Southwest (SXSW) approaching, all the talk seems to focus on the last two.

Brightkite has been around for several years, and having built a critical mass of users, the app enjoyed wide spread use last year at SXSW -  attendees used the app to let friends know what sessions and parties they were at, and what the vibe was. In many ways, Brightkite laid the way for Foursquare and Gowalla, both of which launched last year, and have seen rapid adoption since. As their one-year launch anniversary approaches, some have dubbed this year’s SXSW a geosocial showdown, forming hypotheses as to which application will secure preferred status among users.

Despite the buzz, geosocial is not a one app show. Like any industry, there is room for multiple players. And for all their similarities Brightkite, Foursquare and Gowalla have some key differences that appeal to different segments of the market. To illustrate these differences, I’ll draw very loosely on the work Margaret Mark and Carol S. Pearson have done on brand archetypes. In The Hero and the Outlaw, Mark and Pearson describe archetypes as prototype characters that run through all stories, fictional and historical, that help us understand the key motivations and potential weaknesses of each character we come across. When applied to brands, archetypes can provide insight into why certain brands appeal to certain customers.
Brightkite, Foursquare and Gowalla all appeal to explorers. A key attribute of each app is the ability to discover new places, and to also discover and share insider information about that place. The ability to view the check-ins of others enables users to participate in the discovery process.

Beyond basic exploration, geosocial apps diverge in their appeal toward user groups. Brightkite, which encourages posting notes to a location, and which is the only application to allow users to post photos, appeals to storytellers. Active users collaborate in creating the evolving narration of a place.

Foursquare and Gowalla trend more toward gaming than informational storytelling. Foursquare, with its emphasis on points accumulation, place mayorships and a weekly leaderboard, appeals to rulers. Often demonstrating a competitive nature, rulers aspire to hold designated positions of status. Gowalla, with the introduction of items that can be found, traded, or vaulted, appeals to collectors. These individuals express themselves through the accumulation, ownership and display of objects. With SXSW right around the corner, both Foursquare and Gowalla are further emphasizing their respective gaming qualities by rolling out new challenges, badges and prizes to be won or found by this year’s conference attendees.

Understanding the unique functionality and user profile of various social media applications is a key identifying the ones that best aligns company and user goals. Much like the persona development we do to inform our strategy, web development and online marketing projects, we evaluate social interaction patterns when developing social media strategy. So while others at SXSW will be watching data sparks fly in the hyped geosocial showdown, we’ll be watching user behavior for the implications on platform evolution.

In related news, if you are headed to SXSW and want to meet up with Terralever while there, please drop any one of us a line (preferred communication method listed).

Scott McAndrew, Director of Strategy
Twitter: @scottmcandrew

Erin Enriquez, Account Manager
email: erine [at] terralever dot com

Courtney Crane, Marketing Manager
email: courtneyc [at] terralever dot com

Heather Herr, Social Media Specialist
Twitter: @MsHerr

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