This article, written by Vandana U, Editor, STQ, was published in issue 08 of the Social Technology Quarterly. Summary: Geolocation posits newer ways for people to network, engage people beyond offering discounts and deals based on check-ins. Location-based technologies have the incredible potential to form and sustain meaningful communities.

1. Fostering
Communities
through
Geolocation
Geolocation posits newer ways for people to network,
engage people beyond offering discounts and deals
based on check-ins. Location-based technologies have
the incredible potential to form and sustain meaningful
communities.
by Vandana U.
Communities

2. Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 08 47
We are
always looking out for places. Be
it the ones that are happening, the ones for a quiet holiday
or the ones to buy. An immediate action is to check places friends have
been to, have given great reviews, have checked-in upon visiting a place and are raving
about it.
The understanding of location based behaviour is simple: Every action is local! Shopping, hanging out and
even taking part in community services: all actions happen within a certain radius. Brands and marketers have
already begun to work around their campaigns, their promotions and strategies based on such information broadcasting.
They are maximizing the effectiveness of their social outreach by tailoring and targeting messages based on location. It would
not be exaggeration to state that almost every app and every site has embedded location. This spells an interesting convergence
and divergence of spaces at the same time. While we wonder the world is only getting smaller, geolocation is widening spaces.
As marketers leverage location data to learn more about customers’ needs and offer highly personalized experiences that is where it gets
limited to. The question is, “What after a tweet, a status update and a check-in?”
Considering actions tend to be mostly local, geolocation can be used beyond offering discounts and coupons. Apps such as Foursquare and
Gowalla have incorporated game mechanics have recognized and continue to incentivize their most loyal brand advocates; all these are key
components of the experience. However, building a strong community is perhaps the next best thing to offer after recommending more places for
people to visit based on the analyses of their profiles. After all developing any application or providing newer experiences all target the same thing-
loyalty. Building a strong community presence is directly proportionate to having a loyal community of buyers who love to talk about their brands and
willingly spread word of mouth. If there can be apps to find love then how far can it be to foster development of communities?
Translating geolocation presence into community-building presence
There is a value proposition to a person checking-in at a location of a particular brand. One is looking for great deal, expecting some form of social
interaction or further information. Brands need to offer targeted value propositions to their customers, complemented by a meaningful and engaged
community that people are attracted to being part of.
Nextdoor is a geolocation service based on networking within neighbourhoods. What is appealing is Nextdoor’s attempt at making a self-
sufficient neighbourhood and promoting peaceful living. The app enables people to connect with nearby neighbourhoods, includes focus
on creating a virtual neighbourhood watch to help fight crime in an area. Posts about a local break-in and other crime and safety issues
are among the top two categories of things the app does. One great thing about the app is that neighbourhoods are encouraged
to create their own social networks. These are private and restricted to only those who live in the designated areas. There is a
verification process for users. Nextdoor CEO, Nirav Tolia talks about emerging behaviours, ones that go beyond finding great
deals. These range from finding people to carpool, setting up a neighbourhood watch, borrowing something, finding
babysitters, creating classified ads, and discussing community issues amongst those umpteen things one can do
within a neighbourhood. The app is now available in 8,000 neighbourhoods in all 50 states of USA. The
app goes on to prove the effectiveness of building a community of supporters and a clear benefit:
the kind of relevance and support we seek when building or joining groups.
From this perspective what sounds cool and at the same time is
realistic is a community of life-saving super heroes.
Turning intent into action,

3. PulsePoint app looks at creating a location
based community of people trained in
cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
and are willing to assist in case of an
emergency. People are notified if someone
nearby in a public place is having a
cardiac emergency and may require CPR.
The most significant aspect of the app is
encouraging more people to be trained
in CPR and thereby be of assistance and
aid in cases of medical emergencies.
The free app also notifies about the
exact location of the nearest Automated
External Defibrillator (AED). The app was
originally developed and tested by the San
Ramon Valley, California, Fire Protection
District. Reported cases and incidents go
on to illustrate the usefulness of merging
location and technologies. Mobile users
have real-time access to emergency
activity as it is occurring. By providing
locations on an interactive map, the app
also notifies whether the emergency has
caused a traffic tie-up so that people
can plan an alternate route. The app
hosts other sets of features and reported
cases illustrate how this app has been
successful so far in its public outreach.
The app certainly changes perceptions
about location-based apps being all about
adding value to shopping alone. A mix
of content, skills and location ultimately
builds better connections than shallow
endorsement based check-ins.
What is required in the current scenario
is the reinforcement of a belief that adding
location into a social network is not only
for enhance social connections but also to
leverage the power of these connections
to achieve greater goals.
Engagement is the key word that drives
social technologies. Building a community
is perhaps the easier part. The real
challenge is engaging the members of a
community. More often people discuss
problems in their areas and what better if
an app can help people fix these problems.
SeedSpeak built an iPhone app that helps
engage people to be more civic-minded.
Residents can call attention the areas
that need fixing by creating “seeds” and
post photos and locate other seeds and
users. The motivating bit about building
this app is the vision of it. It looks at being
of use to nonprofits, advocacy groups
and even to test how viable the chosen
community projects are. Retha Hil, co-
founder of SeedSpeak asserted, “If you
can show there are people behind an idea
or momentum and show it to officials in
power you can make a difference.”
There is a mix of virtual space and
physical space. Geolocation platforms
and apps are bridging social media and
the physical world. No wonder the hype
about geolocation a few years back still
remains justified. Allowing a number of
possibilities, geolocation technologies
hold the potential to strengthen and

4. Kuliza Social Technology Quarterly Issue 08
sustain communities. As developments in
data, mining existing networks for insights
into customer behaviours and needs can
give meaningful and useful information in
order to generate ideas for appropriate
location-based experiences. The words
of Alistair Goodman, CEO, Placecast
(location-based marketing company) sum
up the purpose of this article, “Location
and granular geo-targeting are actually
strong predictors of consumer intent –
because where someone is and when they
are there says a lot about what they might
be interested in.” Therefore while many
location-based apps still rely on check-ins,
others have gone on to utilize geolocation
to spur more powerful actions.
References
Chaey,Christina.“Can Nextdoor Turn
Your Neighbors Into A Billion-Dollar Social
Network?” Fast Company.13 Feb 2013.
“Enabling Citizen Superheroes.” PulsePoint.
Ellis,Justin.“SeedSpeak:A geolocation app for
better civic engagement.” Nieman
Journalism Lab.24 Jan 2011.
Butcher,Dan.“Location-based marketing
can increase average order value,frequency,
loyalty.” Mobile Marketer.29 Mar 2011.
Photo Credit: Erik Daniel Drost