USANA Social Media Tip #19: Location, Location, Location

Let’s start with the biggest player: Foursquare, which allows you to check in at different locations, earn points, and collect badges. If you check-in enough at one location, you may become the mayor. You also have the ability to link your check-in to you Twitter or Facebook account. (Note: If you do not have a smartphone, Foursquare does have a text message interface.) Foursquare also lets you see where your friends are, and search for places within Foursquare.

Gowalla is starting to gain traction as well. It is similar to Foursq

uare: you can connect with friends, link to Facebook and Twitter, etc. Gowalla has also partnered with companies such as National Geographic and CNN, along with museums, parks, etc. to offer tours and trips as a way to explore different locations.

Both Facebook and Gowalla will allow you to find friends, and maybe have a spontaneous meet-up at a coffee shop, and have your entire team check it at your next team-building event.

Facebook – Places allows seamless integration of your location with Facebook to easily post your location and connect with friends. You can also tag friends you may be with. Currently, Foursquare and Gowalla have a more exploration/discovery angle than Facebook. However, if you use Facebook a lot, and are consistently keeping in touch with the majority of your contacts with Facebook, then Places is probably the service you should try.

Another fun app is SCVNGR, which I tried out on vacation this summer in Boston, and had a blast. It has a basic check-in function (similar to Foursquare and Gowalla), but it also allows you to participate in and create your own scavenger hunts. Cool, right? Lots of cities and organizations are putting them together. You could create one for your team, centered on training.

If you want to give these a try, I suggest you pick on, and use it for a week or two. Just remember: social media is supposed to be fun. Do not feel you need to use one because it is the latest social media trend.

Tip for 2011 International Convention: We have plans to build scavenger hunts with SCVNGR, so you may want to check it out before arriving in Salt Lake City.

Let Us Know…
Are you using location applications? How do you use them? What do you like about them?