TechCrunch has some neat stats on the geo-social apps informal competition during the SXSW events:
Some Crazy Postbellum Data From Foursquare And Gowalla
“GigaOm posted some numbers earlier today, including that during the five days of SXSW (Interactive), Foursquare signed up 75,000 new users, to push them over 600,000 total. We got some other numbers from both Foursquare and Gowalla, as well.
■ Foursquare is closing in on 400,000 check-ins a day during peak times. Last weekend, they hit an all-time high of 382,000 check-ins in one day (network-wide). Compare this to last month when they saw a then-record 1 million check-ins a week.
■ Gowalla saw 135,000 check-ins during SXSW — just in and around downtown Austin, TX (where SXSW is held).
■ Some 5,800 people checked-in with Gowalla during the conference, which is a strong percentage of the total estimated attendance of somewhere between 12,000 and 15,000.
■ The Austin Convention Center, The Hilton, Stubb’s BBQ, and The Driskill (hotel), all saw over 1,000 check-ins on Gowalla during SXSW. 600 people checked-in at the controversial Ev Williams keynote.
■ Foursquare has now signed up almost 120,000 in the past 10 days (this is up from their stated 100,000 in 10 days right before SXSW).
■ The iPhone is still dominating total Foursquare check-ins with 66% network-wide. The App Store feature undoubtedly helped keep that number so high despite it being on all of the major mobile platforms now.
■ BlackBerry Foursquare usage is surging following the launch of that app. Last month, right after it launched, BlackBerry contributed 11% of total Foursquare check-ins — now that number is at 16%.
■ Android Foursquare check-in numbers are slightly falling. Since the iPhone didn’t lose any check-in share, obviously someone had to, and that was Android. It went from 13% share last month, to 10% in the past 10 days.
■ The mobile web is also taking a big hit with regard to Foursquare check-ins. It was at 7% a month ago, now it’s at 3% as people get used to the new mobile apps, undoubtedly.
■ Since the launch of version 2.0 of its app with comments and pictures, Gowalla has seen some 40,000 photos uploaded. The photo feature should be added to the webOS and Android clients in a week or so.”
More charts and commentary at Silicon Valley Insider:
VCs Rush Forward With Cash, Declaring “Foursquare Crushed Gowalla
I’ll get off my geo-social kick once I feel like I understand this stuff better. They’re still infant stage (maybe even in vitro) start-ups but I still feel in my gut that these tell us something about the future of library services.
Stephen
2 Responses
Stay in touch with the conversation, subscribe to the RSS feed for comments on this post.
My impression of these services is that they are the first step towards true social search.
Use case: I’m standing on a street corner. What’s near me now? What have my friends visited near where I am? What have my friends *liked* that they visited near where I am?
The first incarnation of 4sq & Gowalla did the “what’s near me now”. Both 4sq and Gowalla allow for “check-in comments” which can serve as “what my friends thought of the stuff near me”, although they are more temporal than a standing rating, from what I’ve seen.
It’s asynchronous word of mouth.
Speaking of which, I’m glad you friended me on facebook and hooked up your blog feed to your statuses there and that my games didn’t flood out the important stuff like a blog post I wanted to comment on. 🙂
I’ve been playing with FourSquare for a few months, and it’s fun. I like that I can see what my friends are up to, not only in terms of what, but also where. People connect based on commonalities – for instance, I checked in at my local coffee shop, and one friend concurred how much she also liked it there, and another friend who was at a shop just down the street sent me an SMS to wait while she joined me. That’s taking social media from the virtual to RL.
Stephen, I signed up for GoWalla, too… but while I’m not surprised the Texas-based application is going gangbusters in Austin, it’s just not there for me yet. And, I’m already feeling invested in FourSquare.