This week, I told you about LocalMind a promising new company that aims to bring value to check-ins by allowing people to ask users of Foursquare, Facebook Places and Gowalla questions based on where they have checked in.
LocalMind’s hope is that as the popularity of location-based services grows, that so too will the company’s value.
The problem, however, is that local check-ins are in danger of becoming a disappearing fad. True, services like Foursquare are still growing at an impressive rate, and Facebook Places has just come on the market less than a year ago. But think about your own social network. How many of your “friends” are consistently checking in to their locations. Do you really care that John is at Starbucks on Peel St. right now? Are you going to run out and join him for a coffee?
The problem with check-ins is that they provide little real value to those that do it. While some companies have provided incentives like sales discounts to those that check in to their locations, the reality is that check-ins will probably only be done in order to get a discount, and will never really be mainstream.
That’s bad news for those people who have been using foursquare and other services for years. It means that while they thought they were early adopters, they’re really just geeks.
