[Kolzilla41]

Just signed up for Gowalla. Awaiting my FlameFans approval .

[Sly Fox]

JDUB - Foursquare initially had buzz surrounding mayoral discounts. Frankly other than the rare Wards Rd Chik-Fil-A it really hasn't happened. It is interesting that Foursquare is beginning to follow Gowalla's lead by adding pictures. I keep waiting for Foursquare to give me a reason to keep using it. But after a year of use, it just doesn't do much. Meanwhile Gowalla is constantly trying to be innovative (elections, Disney). I just wish they'd get 3.0 on Android post haste. They haven't updated their Android app in months while giving iPhone all kinds of attention. This needs to be remedied soon or they may get lost in the shuffle. Foursquare has benefited from a better marketing plan for a lesser product. But even Foursquare appears to be losing traction in the marketplace as users all seem to be reaching the "What's the point?" threshold sooner & sooner. Let's hope both apps get their acts together. Because even though SCVNGR is gaining steam, it still doesn't light a fire for me.

A slew of new LBS apps are hitting the market and I've been giving a few of them test drives. I love the concept of ShopKick especially from a monetization perspective, but it is so limited right now in rewards that it really is going to take awhile to take off.

[flamesfilmguy]

JDUB - Foursquare initially had buzz surrounding mayoral discounts. Frankly other than the rare Wards Rd Chik-Fil-A it really hasn't happened. It is interesting that Foursquare is beginning to follow Gowalla's lead by adding pictures. I keep waiting for Foursquare to give me a reason to keep using it. But after a year of use, it just doesn't do much. Meanwhile Gowalla is constantly trying to be innovative (elections, Disney). I just wish they'd get 3.0 on Android post haste. They haven't updated their Android app in months while giving iPhone all kinds of attention. This needs to be remedied soon or they may get lost in the shuffle. Foursquare has benefited from a better marketing plan for a lesser product. But even Foursquare appears to be losing traction in the marketplace as users all seem to be reaching the "What's the point?" threshold sooner & sooner. Let's hope both apps get their acts together. Because even though SCVNGR is gaining steam, it still doesn't light a fire for me.

A slew of new LBS apps are hitting the market and I've been giving a few of them test drives. I love the concept of ShopKick especially from a monetization perspective, but it is so limited right now in rewards that it really is going to take awhile to take off.

I agree I love gowalla and will probably Love it even more once I start traveling in the fall with football. however foursquare is more home based and I am reaching that "whats the point" threshold soon. loopt is another one someone wanted me to try. its basically foursquare.

[Sly Fox]

Loopt predates Foursquare & Gowalla and frankly is Foursquare without the number of users. Actually I am surprised they still have their servers active. They were clearly hoping to be bought out by Yahoo or Google and it never happened as better products passed them by.

[LUconn]

I've been trying this out for a little while since I got bored of foursquare many months ago and I'm having a hard time seeing a point to it, much like foursquare. It sounds fun if you're going to Disney World, though. Which I would like to be, coincidentally, but am not.

I think these things would be awesome if you lived in a big city and had a ton of close friends checking in all the time too. So you could catch up with them in spots. But most people aren't living their lives like the folks on Friends.

[Sly Fox]

Have you guys started paying attention to collecting items? That can be done locally and can be rather addictive in itself. Right now I am only missing the dreaded Perforated Encase item and the three new items only available at Disney parks to have a full house outside of a few special editions. But be forewarned, ash TOMS shoes are a beast to find. A guy from England is bringing my missing Perf Encase to Austin in a few weeks where I'll trade him a hard to find Red Bull. Just a reminder, you can only hold 10 items at once. So if you are carrying 10 on your passport, you can't be awarded anymore. You either need to start vaulting ones you haven't vaulted yet or start dropping them at spots to become a founder. I'm telling you, the items aspect of the game is generally overlooked but can be a great deal of fun.

Incidentally, I am flying into the ATL in a couple of weeks to work with a client so I plan on sharing some FlameFans love on Gowalla there as well.

I am currently writing a story for some Christian publications about how churches are finding ways to use LBS as a ministry tool. I'm working on interviews with people from Foursquare, Gowalla & SCVGR along with some churches that are putting these to use.

[Schfourteenteen]

Have you guys started paying attention to collecting items? That can be done locally and can be rather addictive in itself. Right now I am only missing the dreaded Perforated Encase item and the three new items only available at Disney parks to have a full house outside of a few special editions. But be forewarned, ash TOMS shoes are a beast to find. A guy from England is bringing my missing Perf Encase to Austin in a few weeks where I'll trade him a hard to find Red Bull. Just a reminder, you can only hold 10 items at once. So if you are carrying 10 on your passport, you can't be awarded anymore. You either need to start vaulting ones you haven't vaulted yet or start dropping them at spots to become a founder. I'm telling you, the items aspect of the game is generally overlooked but can be a great deal of fun.

Have you ever played Mario Kart?

[Sly Fox]

Essentially Gowalla is like a video game using the real world as your screen. That's why I enjoy it so much more than Foursquare (which I can't for the life of me figure out why so many more are using it).

[LUconn]

I just found a mickey hat at chipotle that came from downtown Disney a month ago. So that's pretty cool.

[Sly Fox]

Then that would be one of the more coveted 2010 Mickey hats. I'd vault that sucker unless you are looking to trade it for something else.

It should be noted that the past week or so, Gowalla has significantly cut down on the number of items they are issuing. I am not quite sure why that might be but it would explain some rather long dry spells for issuing new items. The Classic Scooter is the latest general item and it only seems to be issues at parks & bridges for the most part. I still haven't landed one on either my personal account or for FlameFans.

There are also some rather unique items that are only issued in specific places for a limited time that you can stumble across. The newest two are a Cirque du Soleil mask & a bottle of healing waters. Yeah, rather bizarre editions. But they try to keep things funky. For awhile, Gowalla had a promotion with Whole Foods & Tazo tea that led them to issuing three tea bottles. The green & peach teas are fairly common to find. But the Brambleberry is really tough to land similar to the Ash TOMS shoes. If you ever stumble across either of those pick them up immediately.

When certain sets of items are vaulted, then you are issued special pins. For example, if you collect 3 of the 4 NASA items (the moon rock is the toughest to find) then you get a cool pin NASA pin. If you snare 2 of the 3 active TOMS shoes (they gave away free pairs for awhile but those are no longer active and the ash shoes are REALLY tough to find) then you get a different pin. Sometimes they issue pins tied to checking in at certain places like airports where Southwest Airlines has flights up to Idaho for Sundance right now or IHG hotels like Holiday Inn & Crown Plaza a few months back.