Location based services are a big thing now. Not “will be”, but it is already an important part of our daily life.
We love to leave our mark somewhere; a soldier’s carving “(insert name) was here” on the foundation rock of his barrack, graffiti artist ‘tagging’ the streets with their names, lovers pare their names on trees. There’s a sentimental feeling to it, and an acknowledgement of your presence at that time.
Animals do it to mark their territory, while humans, on the other hand, are driven by narcissism and their social thirst of recognition.
As cynical as it may sound, we have to come to realization that social media has transformed its users into “public property”. They should act and do certain things to achieve certain goals and standards to be able to receive appreciation from a broader audience. They should share information on interests, recent events and genuine opinion on ‘what matters today’. They need to build personas and distinctive features to survive the selection. They are each and their own brand.
People who “check ins” can be narrowed into 3 categories, based on their motives:
1. Habitual. They check-in to mark their routines; home when waking up, arrival at the office, lunch place, and supermarket.
2. Eventual. These types only check-in at new and exciting places, mostly because they want to present a certain image; vacation resorts, club/bar opening night, music concerts etc.
3. Promotional. Mostly done by business owners, a synchronized check-in to their social media accounts will give the exact location to where the business located. Let people know that the business is running well in the offline world.
The three of them sends out a strong “I’m important and you should know where I am right now” flair, but there’s always two side of a coin. The habitual people could unintentionally create a cult of followers which will sense that something is wrong when said people didn’t perform their daily check-in ritual. The eventual people are the guide to new hot spots in town or holiday destination, a dynamic travel diary; we let them be the pawn to tryout and give review about those locations for our future reference.
While there’s a special category for it, the three types of people who check-in above are doing promotional activity; they mention brands, share the address and willingly put words to describe the current situation; “Coffee & Muffin to start the day. At XX coffeeshop <address>”, with map pin point and photo. It is inevitable. Location based service delivers good outcome to business owners and brands, while at the same time handing out information, recommendation and suggestions to people. Today, the sentence “Shopping here at XXX” actually means “This place is rather pricey for my time, money and energy, but it’s hip and cool. You should come here too”.
It is now share-worthy information, it is social.
Who knew that narcissism could lead to something so good and modern for commerce?
Image source: .esarcasm.com + scobleizer.com