American Express and Foursquare – So What?
Over at Fast Company, there’s a post about the American Express partnership with Foursquare. While the announcement is interesting, the direction that Fast Company runs with the article is less so.
According to Fast Company, the AMEX/FourSquare deal “…might finally give us some hard evidence as to whether social media is a worthwhile investment for merchants and marketers.”
Ummm… riiiiigghht.
I’m not sure where Fast Company has – or hasn’t – been looking, but agencies, consultants and business owners have been proving the ROI (return on investment) for a while now.
The Easy Social Media Management Example
Lauren McMullen is the owner of Easy Social Media Management, a consultancy that helps small businesses understand social media and how it can help their bottom line. Her agency was recently involved in a book launch for an anthology called Align, Expand and Succeed – Shifting the Paradigm of Entrepreneurial Success.
The book featured 40 authors, and over a six-month period Lauren used the social networks of the authors and the publisher to build awareness around the impending publication. This included blogs, YouTube interviews, and article directory promotions.
Because of this, the book became an Amazon bestseller on the morning of launch, and held the number one position in the four categories it was targeted to.
The Willis eTech Ltd. Example
John Willis is the founder and owner of Willis eTech Ltd., a small business offering photography, video and websites for other small businesses based in Okanagan, BC.
While flying over the newly-opened Sparkling Hills resort in Vernon, BC, John took some pictures of the resort and uploaded them to his TwitPic account. He tweeted the owner of the area where Sparkling Hills had opened their resort, and was invited to contact them.
That led to a bunch of photography and media projects for John’s company, and his use of other social media platforms saw him become recognized as the go-to guy in his area for social media and how it can be used to drive business. He speaks at local Chamber of Commerce events as well as seminars, and trains businesses on how they can effectively use social media.
Why the AMEX / Foursquare Deal Isn’t All That
These are just two examples. If you want others, just type in “social media roi success stories” to Google and you’ll find just under 3,000 results. Now, that may not sound much in the grand scheme of things, especially when other Google searches often result in millions of examples.
But that’s more than likely to do with the fact that instead of writing about how the ROI of social media is real, most businesses and agencies are just getting on with proving it to their clients, as opposed to trying to show how great they are in public.
They’re making results happen every single day – which is why the Fast Company angle means less than they might have hoped for.
For instance, according to the article, one of the “big wins” with the deal is that Foursquare will “…help merchants foster customer loyalty.” By encouraging check-ins and rewards, and the ability to tie back into your AMEX card, it means more people will shop at your location.
Great stuff. Except for one major problem – you don’t have to be at a location to check in. You don’t have to physically be there to become a Mayor and reap the rewards for it (like a free meal, or a discount on your clothing, etc).
My house is about 5 miles away from my office. Yet, by not checking in anywhere when I leave the office, I can be at home and check into my office because of the way Foursquare caches my last check-in.
Think about that from the point of view of a restaurant owner. They decide to offer a free meal and drink to the Mayor of their restaurant. I see that, so start checking in, even though I’ve never been there before in my life. I become Mayor, get my free meal and drink, don’t pay a thing and leave.
I then get my friends to do the same, and between us we constantly force the restaurant owner to give us free meals and drinks. But we never go to that restaurant as paying customers.
So… where’s the loyalty building in that?
Until location-based services can actually lock you down somewhere and make it impossible for you to check in somewhere unless you’re there, you’re not going to build loyalty through offers. You will, however, lose the vendor money – and that doesn’t build loyalty or ROI.
image: Slightlynorth
There are a lot of problems with Foursquare (post forhtcoming!) but chiefly they do not have enough rewards beyond electronic badges. Hopefully that is where the Amex deal is heading. Like all platforms, the key to success is to fight corruption, as you mention, but once you get past that, there has to be tangible value too. If Foursquare doesn't deliver more benefits, it will remain obscure.
Thanks for the tought-provoking post Danny!
G'Day Danny,
Social media: mocial speedia! It's still bloody marketing. I don't know who said it first, but the following statement is still true. "Nothing is so important as the proper execution of the fundamentals."
It should flash for 30 seconds on the screen of every web marketer each time they switch on their computer.
The 100th anniversary of the birth of David Ogilvy occurred last week. Seems that all the bright-eyed and bushy tailed social media marketers have never heard of him, let alone read his books.
I'm told repeatedly "But Leon, that was OK for print. The web and screens are different." May I remind your loyal readers Danny that "buy one get one free" still beats the pants off "50% off" or "two for the price of one" and that while red is OK as a spot colour, people wont read copy printed in red and how a black typeface on a blue background wont be read because of the high internal luminosity of blue and and and.....!
And while I'm ranting, remember the immortal words of Al Ries and Jack Trout: "Marketing occurs in the mind." Of course, that can't possibly be true any more. They wrote that in 1981.
But I'm only a consultant. I'm off to sell something to someone!
Make sure you have fun.
Regards
Leon
I still don't understand why, with all of the technology that we have available, there couldn't be a way to really verify where people have/haven't been?
I agree with the consensus that this seems to be a lot of fluff and not much meat. Great post!
Though I agree with your overall point, Danny, that Fast Company's broad dismissal of other social media successes makes the piece questionable (who goes to Klout as an example for social ROI?!), I don't think it devalues the meaning of the partnership.
Foursquare is growing in stature and a significant link up to an established financial services organization lends a good deal of clout (sorry) to their standing. As Kennedy and Bill pointed out, the issue on Foursquare cheating can largely be resolved by structuring the special offer intelligently. Either associating the free item/mayorship with a purchase - as many offline coupon deals have done for years - or making the free item relatively low ticket, such as a free cup of coffee after 5 or 10 check ins. The latter could still fall prey to your scenario, but it's a fair amount of gaming to do for a free cup of java! The location sharing and visibility for the vendor would certainly be worth a minor loss. For the AMEX deals specifically, the rewards appear tied to a concrete, verifiable purchase, which resolves the gaming issue itself.
The other point on Google ROI success stories is actually more concerning, as finding under 3,000 examples was the biggest surprise in this piece. People aren't writing about their successes? I'd think the first thing a consultancy with a big win would do is share it via their testimonials page or blog, given the scepticism with which social media campaigns are currently viewed. Blogging gives us one of the easiest outlets to share stories of success, so perhaps it's the search terms in this case, rather than the lack of success?
All that said, if Fast Company believe this is the first chance to prove social media ROI, they have a lot more digging into the points raised here to prove it. Simply claiming something in their short, biased piece doesn't make it so. Thanks for getting my thinking cap on for a Saturday morning, Danny., have a good one!
My response is two fold because I have been hammering this over and over lately. Social is for people to people. And it works for People >>>>>> to Brands. But not the other way around. In fact it fails the other way around. Your example of the guy in BC proves this.
Amex calls itself the social card in their US commercials and have for months. Uhm. What? How? In what way? Total BS.
I don't this changing with Foursquare unless we get rebates or something from Amex. But then is this just a margin killer with Amex begging us to choose them over Visa/Mastercard? The article sounds like a Margin Killer. Who eats the $10 H&M or AMEX? That scenario is just electronic couponing and nothing more.
as for Fast Company I don't read them. They have poor quality reporting and tend to glamorize Entrepreneurship in the same way Mashable does Social Media. They are really People Magazine but for business.
Thanks for posting this Danny. While I love the partnership for the two companies, this story is just the latest example of foolish journalism.
Fast Company should know better and to be honest this partnership means nothing for overall ROI in the social space and has little impact for eRetailers or small businesses who work from the home or use a communal office space model.
The 10M users on foursquare are also a small fraction of overall social media users and if we go by Fast Company's logic the only part that we can measure.
ROI in the social space was around long before this deal. Hopefully publications will stop using blanket terms and values for these customers and the space.
Cheers, mate, and agreed - it's the latest in some really sloppy pieces over at Fast Company.
Like you say, while it's not exactly a small amount, 10 million is just a snippet of the web and not exactly a great indicator of success (or not).
Cheers, sir!
Frankly, I'm just waiting for someone to develop a tool to selectively block the display of updates in social streams not by user account, but by origin.
Foursquare/GetGlue are the Farmvilles/Mafiawars of Twitter. I don't care that you just became mayor of some hole-in-the-wall on the other side of the continent. I don't care who you ousted for it, either. And I sure as hell don't care that you got a virtual sticker of some sort for watching Dancing with the Stars. #hatehatehate
Even worse, though, is the idea that we're attempting to gamify debt. Maybe, if people (including businesses) were financially responsible and lived/operated within their means, the credit crunch wouldn't be an issue.
Ah, Fridays...
Interesting I didn't know that the accuracy of 4square was so poor.
I think the statement is targeted at small business owners and merchants who still have yet to get on social media let alone see the ROI.
Now the fact that they include marketers in there doesn't surprise me either. I have friends who work in big agencies and are clueless about a lot of everything going online.
So I guess it's the right message but the wrong tool :)
Pessimistic about FS rewards Danny? I admit I haven't used them enough to be an expert, but I would imagine that "cheating" the rewards system is the exception rather than the norm.
Even if someone is cheating for a mayorship, the average patron wouldn't know that and would have just as much incentive as if the mayor was legit. I realize this was one minor aspect out of all your points but I am curious what you've seen.
Hey Kennedy,
Exactly my thoughts on idea that most people will try to "game" the system. I'd like to think that folks cheating for the mayorship would be in the minority.
As always, great post, Danny.
I just have one comment about the Foursquare with restaurants.
There is a local restaurant, that when we discussed Foursquare with then, this was a concern, people across the street checking in and never stepping foot in the establishment.
Well, what we did was, for you to receive the gift on the 5th check in, you had to purchase at least $5. It has really worked well for them. They could care less if someone sits across the street and checks in, but on that 5th check in, they have to purchase something.
Danny, I would like to know your thoughts on this strategy.
First and foremost, let me preface this by saying American Express is the clear leader when it comes to financial institutions understanding social. I think they are one of the few that truly understand social engagement and moving beyond selling their product.
That being said, I love this partnership from American Express' standpoint. The jist of this partnership is that I, as an AMEX cardholder, will receive benefits from using Foursquare. As the article explains, spend $75 at H&M, get a $10 credit on my statement. In this example, it's a win-win for H&M because I spent $75 at their store and shared my check-in with my friends. AMEX receives their benefit by having you charge the $75 to their card and also sharing that you're receiving benefits from using your AMEX. Brilliant...both brands make money -- which is what business is about.
You do raise a legitimate question, but it's not about the AMEX & Foursquare partnership. Your issue is with Foursquare and it's something that's been around since Foursquare was launched. It needs to be fixed, but if people want to game the system, they will also find a way. That's Foursquare's issue...AMEX still benefits as long as the consumer continues to use their card.
Again, you have to dig a little deeper to find Foursquare's benefit, but for AMEX, this is a no-brainer. Keep spending money and sharing it; and when you do, use your AMEX.
Hi Kasey,
That's quite the opening statement, mate. Have you seen what Scotiabank is doing in Canada, for example? ;-)
Here's my questions on the deal, and why I don't see it as such a big one.
- Did AMEX do due diligence and find out how many of their customers are smartphone users?
- Do they know if their customers are even aware of, never mind use, Foursquare?
- If I'm a brand advocate of a retailer, but they don't really partake in Foursquare, so there's no need to check in, does AMEX and Foursquare think I'm going to change my shopping habits?
To be honest, I see it as AMEX looking at Foursquare's announcement of 10 million users and thinking, "Wow, we could use that and stand ourselves apart."
Except businesses are already standing themselves apart, and not needing AMEX to do it for them.
I'm late to this, but have to chime in and say I definitely disagree. The Fast Company article may have had the wrong angle, but I think the deal is far from a "meh."
First, never underestimate the impact of cold hard cash. It's much more motivating than a free appetizer! And since you have to use your AMEX card on-site for the purchase, it actually combats gaming in my view.
I think this approach, if done right, could provide some good competition for the daily deals crowd. A business could use it to introduce itself (or a new product/service) to new customers without the hassle of a Groupon.
But most importantly, I believe the deal between AMEX and Foursquare is about data. Foursquare is already amassing (and sharing) data about where we go and when. Now they'll add our purchasing behavior into the mix. The potential is big.
There are a lot of problems with Foursquare (post forhtcoming!) but chiefly they do not have enough rewards beyond electronic badges. Hopefully that is where the Amex deal is heading. Like all platforms, the key to success is to fight corruption, as you mention, but once you get past that, there has to be tangible value too. If Foursquare doesn't deliver more benefits, it will remain obscure.
Thanks for the tought-provoking post Danny!
It'll be interesting to see if AMEX actually brings any real value to the table. Discounts and rebates are fine, but do they show off Foursquare or will people think they're just getting a rebate from AMEX for using their card?
Definitely a positioning issue that Foursquare seems to still have, unfortunately.
G'Day Danny,
Social media: mocial speedia! It's still bloody marketing. I don't know who said it first, but the following statement is still true. "Nothing is so important as the proper execution of the fundamentals."
It should flash for 30 seconds on the screen of every web marketer each time they switch on their computer.
The 100th anniversary of the birth of David Ogilvy occurred last week. Seems that all the bright-eyed and bushy tailed social media marketers have never heard of him, let alone read his books.
I'm told repeatedly "But Leon, that was OK for print. The web and screens are different." May I remind your loyal readers Danny that "buy one get one free" still beats the pants off "50% off" or "two for the price of one" and that while red is OK as a spot colour, people wont read copy printed in red and how a black typeface on a blue background wont be read because of the high internal luminosity of blue and and and.....!
And while I'm ranting, remember the immortal words of Al Ries and Jack Trout: "Marketing occurs in the mind." Of course, that can't possibly be true any more. They wrote that in 1981.
But I'm only a consultant. I'm off to sell something to someone!
Make sure you have fun.
Regards
Leon
David Ogilvy is, and continues to be, one of the smartest people ever born, mate. Funny how we can still learn so much today from something that was written so long ago, eh? ;-)
I still don't understand why, with all of the technology that we have available, there couldn't be a way to really verify where people have/haven't been?
I agree with the consensus that this seems to be a lot of fluff and not much meat. Great post!
Maybe we should wear a big transmitter on our heads, Naomi? ;-)
Lol.... I know. I think that is what I was advocating there for a moment ;)
Lol.... I know. I think that is what I was advocating there for a moment ;)
Though I agree with your overall point, Danny, that Fast Company's broad dismissal of other social media successes makes the piece questionable (who goes to Klout as an example for social ROI?!), I don't think it devalues the meaning of the partnership.
Foursquare is growing in stature and a significant link up to an established financial services organization lends a good deal of clout (sorry) to their standing. As Kennedy and Bill pointed out, the issue on Foursquare cheating can largely be resolved by structuring the special offer intelligently. Either associating the free item/mayorship with a purchase - as many offline coupon deals have done for years - or making the free item relatively low ticket, such as a free cup of coffee after 5 or 10 check ins. The latter could still fall prey to your scenario, but it's a fair amount of gaming to do for a free cup of java! The location sharing and visibility for the vendor would certainly be worth a minor loss. For the AMEX deals specifically, the rewards appear tied to a concrete, verifiable purchase, which resolves the gaming issue itself.
The other point on Google ROI success stories is actually more concerning, as finding under 3,000 examples was the biggest surprise in this piece. People aren't writing about their successes? I'd think the first thing a consultancy with a big win would do is share it via their testimonials page or blog, given the scepticism with which social media campaigns are currently viewed. Blogging gives us one of the easiest outlets to share stories of success, so perhaps it's the search terms in this case, rather than the lack of success?
All that said, if Fast Company believe this is the first chance to prove social media ROI, they have a lot more digging into the points raised here to prove it. Simply claiming something in their short, biased piece doesn't make it so. Thanks for getting my thinking cap on for a Saturday morning, Danny., have a good one!
Hey there Steve,
Great points, mate, and it's how we're currently using LBS with clients (happy hours, tied into point-of-sale points and loyalty). I'm still not sold on the whole deal, but then I'm a cynic and always willing to be proven wrong. ;-)
They're probably writing about their successes, but not using terms "social media ROI" in their pieces. Which makes sense, since it'd be more about the client name and the campaign details.
Cheers, sir!
My response is two fold because I have been hammering this over and over lately. Social is for people to people. And it works for People >>>>>> to Brands. But not the other way around. In fact it fails the other way around. Your example of the guy in BC proves this.
Amex calls itself the social card in their US commercials and have for months. Uhm. What? How? In what way? Total BS.
I don't this changing with Foursquare unless we get rebates or something from Amex. But then is this just a margin killer with Amex begging us to choose them over Visa/Mastercard? The article sounds like a Margin Killer. Who eats the $10 H&M or AMEX? That scenario is just electronic couponing and nothing more.
as for Fast Company I don't read them. They have poor quality reporting and tend to glamorize Entrepreneurship in the same way Mashable does Social Media. They are really People Magazine but for business.
I have to agree, mate - I'm really not seeing who benefits the most. It seems like a really half-hearted attempt at building loyalty, especially when there are companies doing it so much better already.
Thanks for posting this Danny. While I love the partnership for the two companies, this story is just the latest example of foolish journalism.
Fast Company should know better and to be honest this partnership means nothing for overall ROI in the social space and has little impact for eRetailers or small businesses who work from the home or use a communal office space model.
The 10M users on foursquare are also a small fraction of overall social media users and if we go by Fast Company's logic the only part that we can measure.
ROI in the social space was around long before this deal. Hopefully publications will stop using blanket terms and values for these customers and the space.
Cheers, mate, and agreed - it's the latest in some really sloppy pieces over at Fast Company.
Like you say, while it's not exactly a small amount, 10 million is just a snippet of the web and not exactly a great indicator of success (or not).
Cheers, sir!
I agree with you here Danny - Foursquare is a game that can be gamed :P Aside from that, I'm not sure how many Amex users are running around checking into places on FourSquare. There once was a time when few people had Amex, but they weren't exactly the techies. Having said that I have an Amex and an iPhone with Foursquare. Either way I still don't see how this one deal "proves" the ROI of social media. Perhaps we need more people talking specific numbers. I have some I can put into a post :)
See, that's the thing mate (and I mentioned it to Kasey earlier in the comments).
Did AMEX audit their users? Are there more mobile AMEX users than desktop? Do they even know what Foursquare is?
I guess time will tell... ;-)
Frankly, I'm just waiting for someone to develop a tool to selectively block the display of updates in social streams not by user account, but by origin.
Foursquare/GetGlue are the Farmvilles/Mafiawars of Twitter. I don't care that you just became mayor of some hole-in-the-wall on the other side of the continent. I don't care who you ousted for it, either. And I sure as hell don't care that you got a virtual sticker of some sort for watching Dancing with the Stars. #hatehatehate
Even worse, though, is the idea that we're attempting to gamify debt. Maybe, if people (including businesses) were financially responsible and lived/operated within their means, the credit crunch wouldn't be an issue.
Ah, Fridays...
You know, that's a good point mate. I know we're all responsible for how we spend our money, but sometimes the encouragement (gaming, rewards, etc) means more people will get sucked into a debt they can't afford. Not good.
Exactly. And this touches on one of the fundamental issues I have with marketing/PR.
In this example, is Amex partnering with Foursquare in order to provide better service to their customers? If they are, I assure you it is nothing more than a pleasant side effect. This partnership is done expressly (pun) to encourage more use of credit cards and make both companies more money. The end.
"Business exists to make a profit." Look how well that's working out. The whole developed world is on the verge of insolvency. The US bailed out multiple industries ad being too big to fail. Now the EU is bailing out whole nations for the same reason. Meanwhile, countries like the US are simply creating money out of thin air - all to make sure the credit continues to flow.
Eventually, the working class stiffs are going to wake up, realize they no longer wish to be indentured to the corporate elite, walk on their financial obligations en masse, and no clever association with a hot social media property will make any difference at all.
Business should exist to make a difference.
When business operates credit/debt-free, focuses less on "goods" and more on "betters," and helps customers realize genuinely better standards of living, partnerships like this stand would do more good for everyone involved, instead of a scant few corporate elites.
So, like you said, "American Express and Foursquare... so what?" :)
Exactly. And this touches on one of the fundamental issues I have with marketing/PR.
In this example, is Amex partnering with Foursquare in order to provide better service to their customers? If they are, I assure you it is nothing more than a pleasant side effect. This partnership is done expressly (pun) to encourage more use of credit cards and make both companies more money. The end.
"Business exists to make a profit." Look how well that's working out. The whole developed world is on the verge of insolvency. The US bailed out multiple industries ad being too big to fail. Now the EU is bailing out whole nations for the same reason. Meanwhile, countries like the US are simply creating money out of thin air - all to make sure the credit continues to flow.
Eventually, the working class stiffs are going to wake up, realize they no longer wish to be indentured to the corporate elite, walk on their financial obligations en masse, and no clever association with a hot social media property will make any difference at all.
Business should exist to make a difference.
When business operates credit/debt-free, focuses less on "goods" and more on "betters," and helps customers realize genuinely better standards of living, partnerships like this stand would do more good for everyone involved, instead of a scant few corporate elites.
So, like you said, "American Express and Foursquare... so what?" :)
Real value vs. perceived value. Too many of my brick and mortar clients report being duped by "social media consultants" to think location based offers were where it's at. The returns simply never happened and now I'm pushing bolders up a hill to convince some of them that a poor strategy doesn't mean the technology is worthless. It'd be like complaining that I can't get a screw loose because the hammer doesn't work. Wrong tool for the job - and sometimes, right tool used the wrong way. Thanks, Danny (as always good stuff).
And that's the sad thing, mate - like you say, there are a bunch of money-grabbing asshats out there that use confusion about a service and make money from those that can afford it the least.
What I find disappointing about a lot of these services is that they don't offer much in the way of education. Help business owners truly/i> understand how it can benefit depending on their needs, and you might just get more buy-in... ;-)
Interesting I didn't know that the accuracy of 4square was so poor.
I think the statement is targeted at small business owners and merchants who still have yet to get on social media let alone see the ROI.
Now the fact that they include marketers in there doesn't surprise me either. I have friends who work in big agencies and are clueless about a lot of everything going online.
So I guess it's the right message but the wrong tool :)
Pessimistic about FS rewards Danny? I admit I haven't used them enough to be an expert, but I would imagine that "cheating" the rewards system is the exception rather than the norm.
Even if someone is cheating for a mayorship, the average patron wouldn't know that and would have just as much incentive as if the mayor was legit. I realize this was one minor aspect out of all your points but I am curious what you've seen.
Woot! Kennedy is in the house and taking on the Tribal Elder 8)
Actually I view this whole deal as nothing more than electronic couponing scheme that beats down margins and nothing more. I mean small business that is local gets a bigger bang from their signage out front and print ads in hyper local news. Why use forusquare when 95% of your business is going to be local people and only found when local. Foursquare doesn't tell someone a few towns over that you exist. So the chances of gaining sales from someone not local who 'happens to be in your area' from this program is like making a video for a viral strategy.
Go to Google and type in "how to cheat Foursquare". You get about a million results - I'd say a few folks are knowledgeable about the gaming aspect... ;-)
Hey Kennedy,
Exactly my thoughts on idea that most people will try to "game" the system. I'd like to think that folks cheating for the mayorship would be in the minority.
Here's the thing though, John - does something that need a ton of explaining (mention Foursquare to most businesses and they struggle to see the benefit) make for a good introduction to social media and ROI? ;-)
As always, great post, Danny.
I just have one comment about the Foursquare with restaurants.
There is a local restaurant, that when we discussed Foursquare with then, this was a concern, people across the street checking in and never stepping foot in the establishment.
Well, what we did was, for you to receive the gift on the 5th check in, you had to purchase at least $5. It has really worked well for them. They could care less if someone sits across the street and checks in, but on that 5th check in, they have to purchase something.
Danny, I would like to know your thoughts on this strategy.
...which means the restaurant needs sufficient technology in place (even if it's crosses on a piece of paper) to match a name with a purchase.
I can think of several local restaurants that provide hand-written bills.
I am not really sure what you consider "sufficient technology", but most restaurants I frequent, have some sort of computer in place, especially if they choose to accept credit cards.
You are correct in your point that several restaurants still provide hand written bills, whether that is to save money, or because they choose to not advance with technology,that is their choice.
Just as a business has to decide which social media platform, if any, or which marketing plan works for them, the same idea goes for restaurants choosing to try using Foursquare.
Now, with that being said, I do not choose to frequent a restaurant because they participate in Foursquare, but I choose the restaurant because of the customer service. Whether, they hand me a hand written check, or not, it is about customer service, and if the customer service is great, and the participate in Foursquare, then that is just an added bonus.
I am not really sure what you consider "sufficient technology", but most restaurants I frequent, have some sort of computer in place, especially if they choose to accept credit cards.
You are correct in your point that several restaurants still provide hand written bills, whether that is to save money, or because they choose to not advance with technology,that is their choice.
Just as a business has to decide which social media platform, if any, or which marketing plan works for them, the same idea goes for restaurants choosing to try using Foursquare.
Now, with that being said, I do not choose to frequent a restaurant because they participate in Foursquare, but I choose the restaurant because of the customer service. Whether, they hand me a hand written check, or not, it is about customer service, and if the customer service is great, and the participate in Foursquare, then that is just an added bonus.
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In other words, Fast Company is about as credible as the Elvis sightings in the weekly tabloids at your local supermarket.
If there is a company that is an expert at gamed systems, it is surely Fast Company (see their Influencer Project, codenamed: Operation "spam the hell out of your network and be a whore for votes").
I have to read this post but am running now. The whole Foursquare thing has left me with "meh"!!!
