Location-based services: are they lost?

There's apparently little point to using sites like Foursquare and Gowalla that let you tell your friends where you are physically, by 'checking in' - virtually - to locations like bars and restaurants.

The influential blog TechCrunch has told us that kind of location-based social networking service is doomed. 

By the time social networkers have worked out what the point of them is, so the argument goes, these sites will have been steamrollered either by Facebook's own location-based service, Facebook Places, or by one of the upcoming set-ups like Groupon or Shopkick that offer serious location-based discounts to those who join.

The TechCrunch argument is further bolstered by Pew Internet Project findings that users of these services in the US has fallen from 5% of adult online users in May, to 4% now.

Putting aside the thought that profit-hungry venture capitalists would have stopped pumping millions into these sites if they agreed, there certainly is a case to answer.

Beyond the hard core of geeks and early adopters, how many people can really get excited by the prospect of winning virtual badges for checking in to Joe's Café or becoming 'The Mayor' of that establishment by being the person who has checked in there the most? Certainly not me.

So what would a future for a successful location-based social network look like?

Starting from first principles, the most basic question is 'what's in it for me'? The next, as we're assuming it will continue to be a social network, are sharing and engaging; ideally with friends - or at least with people who might be able to add value to your experience, either online or offline.

In its current form, location-based social networking appears to offer few, if any, of these key principles.

In fact, I'd argue that presenting a long list of bald announcements - 'Joe Bloggs has stopped off at Tesco, BP and KFC on his way home' - with no added information or value is not only not social, it's positively anti-social and a guaranteed turn-off for anyone other than Joe himself.

So what would encourage participation and therefore wider engagement? Well, imagine you were on holiday or business in Berlin, visiting the Brandenburg Gate - what would add value to your experience if you checked in to your location-based social network?

What about (commercially provided?) archive information about the Brandenburg Gate; maybe suggestions from other people about what was interesting and what wasn't? Podcasts and interviews with key people? Civic organisations, from the local tourist office downwards, could plot interesting routes with added information? What about messages from friends in your network and pictures of their previous trips there? Recommendations on where to go next? Restaurant tips, advice on taxis or public transport?

If all that information was there, the incentive to join, and engage in the social aspects - agreeing or disagreeing, recommending or adding content - would be strong.

If you were planning a trip, crowdsourcing the route, asking for advice on places to stay or visit - or to avoid - would provide an invaluable contribution and reason then to subsequently discuss with those who offered you suggestions, thus taking the conversation forward.

For local media organisations, there would be potential to engage with audiences - developing community, conversation and shared experience around locations. Restaurant or art critics could plot all the places they had reviewed. 

Fixing this content to a location rather than scattering it across a range of networks makes it easier to navigate and in itself adds value to the experience.

Sure, much is already available - either on these networks or other bits of the web, and both Foursquare and Gowalla already give users the option of adding comments to their check-in. The problem is, not many people do.

It is of course a Catch-22 situation. Right now there's not much to engage with, so how do you get people to engage and create content ... to encourage more people to engage further?

That's the question those VCs will need an answer to.