Check-in Challenges

The single-best deal, assertion, investment or other strategy of the week.

Who: Mark Watkins, CEO and co-founder of Goby

What for: A smart call-to-action on the check-in services.

“There’s real opportunity here, and the check-in services have a lot of data they could harness for this. But unless ‘normal’ people find direct, personal value in the service, they’re not going to adopt it and the service will remain as a toy for the tech-obsessed.” —“2011: The Year the Check-in Died,” a guest post on ReadWriteWeb, April 12, 2011

The challenge for check-in services is the same as for social networks – the need for mass combined with constant connection. If either falters, the other doesn’t even matter: Without mass, you’re the tree in the forest no one is listening to. Without continual use of the service, doesn’t matter how many people are technically signed up as members, customers or whatever you want to call them.

Watkins further argues that location-based services lose out to daily deals because they act “after the fact,” rather than driving traffic.

What do others have to say about this? A divergence of opinion:

really bad and misinformed post — Chris Dixon, Hunch and Founder Collective, on Twitter

Dixon is right: check-ins are here to stay. But they’re a feature, not a company.
–Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry, Business Insider

“I think, over time, you’re gonna see some consolidation, you’re gonna see some acquisitions, but the bottom line is… no one’s got the formula figured out yet.” —Aaron Strout, WCG in WebProNews

Street Smart Moves is published every Friday. If you have a vote for the single-best deal, assertion, investment or other strategy of the week, let us know by Thursday.

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