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About three years ago, before Oprah had even heard of “Twitter,” Twitter was making new millionaires. No, not just @Ev and @Biz. Twitter made the most sought after CEOs and VCs in Silicon Valley directly accessible. It was as if there was a new tech security breach in their multiple secretary and executive assistant firewall. All you had to do is send @fredwilson a Tweet and he would meet with you.

Youtube did the same for hundreds of starving film school students. Youtube needed content so they pushed their early adopters using Google’s checkbook. Overnight, singers got MTV deals and record label deals. Overnight, producers on iBooks got pilots on major networks.

When ever a new disruptive technology ramps up, early adopters get unique positioning. All they have to do is sit there and the platform’s growth becomes their growth. It’s just like surfing one of those waimea swells during a storm.

Timing is Everything. But Location, Location, Location is Everywhere
It’s the virtual equivalent of what happened to an Armenian friend of mine. His father built a gas station on a parcel of rural land in the middle of nowhere. A year later, fortune 500 corporations moved in all around him. You’ve probably filled up your tank at his station. It’s the one in the middle of Cupertino. And he also owns the one across the street. He doesn’t even own an iPod.

Imagine how your business and marketing strategy would change if you could forecast what a billion people like Gus were going to do tomorrow.

Now, Foursquare is that new disruptive vehicle. But personally, I think the more interesting story is not how Foursquare will empower your business. I think what’s more interesting is how Foursquare will empower Foursquare.

Just today, Foursquare was reported to be in talks about selling their data to Bing, Yahoo or Google. If you don’t know why this is a big deal, read on gentle reader, read on.

I used to have an office in Cardiff by the Sea, CA. It was on the strand just between the San Elijo Lagoon and the Pacific Ocean. Blue water was everywhere. And so was old Gus. Gus hobbled up and down the most beautiful stretch of San Diego coast line with a shopping cart filled with soda cans he’d dug out of public trash cans. Nobody ever figured out what he did with the cans since he obviously couldn’t drive to a recycling facility. What’s more, nobody ever figured out how he got to this stretch of beach from whatever bridge he slept under.

You Don’t Even Have to Use Foursquare to Be Profiled
At this point, you might be thinking that if Gus used Foursquare, we’d know everything about him. But that’s financially useless information. What gives Foursquare and you extraordinary business leverage is the implied data about Gus.

Toward the end of Gus’s life, we noticed he was missing from his usual beat every now and again. He was the topic of conversation at the Chart House where staff and guests all grew to take comfort in his cameos.

The staff and guests all used Foursquare. It was Dodge Ball at the time. But that’s not even the exciting part.

Even if You Omit a Check In, Your Location Pattern Implies Your Hidden Rendevous
If Gus was alive today, his entire demographic profile would be transparent using the data Foursquare wants to sell Google or Bing. It would be obvious that he visited Dr. Malone off of Santa Fe Ave. He’s the top cancer specialist in the area. It would be obvious that Gus went to the county court house after seeing a notary public.

Then if you run a DB query to find all users who had the same “check-in” pattern, you’d find that many of the users also met with Steven R. Jennings Esq, the most expensive estate planning attorney in San Diego.

Even if Gus never used Foursquare, his fans driving around town checking-in saying they “spotted” @Gus would be enough for whoever has access to the Foursquare data to realize that Gus was an eccentric multi-millionaire looking for someone to give his money to. Turned out, he gave it the to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Multiple Millions changed hands because one of them drove him to the dump on a weekly basis.

Imagine how your business and marketing strategy would change if you could forecast what a billion people like Gus were going to do tomorrow.

Follow me @journik. My next post will demonstrate how your “location patterns” reveal your age, sexual orientation, income, and even health prognosis into old age.

Posted via email from Social Media Marketing Strategies for the Closet Revolutionary

Stephanie Marcus, a new Mashable editor, just posted an anecdotal list of the Top 10 Gowalla check-in locations. On the list are Disneyland, Pike Place Market in Seattle, Trafalgar Square in London, and surprisingly, the Alamo Draft House Cinema in Texas (Turns out Gowalla is a TX native and born from SXSW).

At first glance, this data seems like simple coffee table trivia. But it’s not. This data and visibility into consumer activity verges on divine omniscience. It will mean billions of dollars for one party and total irrelevance for others.

Think about the last traffic accident you witnessed, the last survey you filled out, or the last focus group you joined. All three witnesses called three different colors on the defendants vehicle. You fudged. And you said you’d watch “The Gates,” but you just kept watching “Fringe.”

People don’t know themselves. So marketeers and entrepreneurs have the darnest time predicting them.

Now, with Twitter, Gowalla, and Foursquare, projections about what you might do become fuzzy crystal balls. By mining data, they know exactly what you will do, when and how often. It’s like bing a 4th dimensional god in a world of blind 3d people.

Why You Will Let Evil Corporations Know Everything About You. The Consumer Benefits
This isn’t all bad for the consumer. Soon, eHarmony.com and Match.com’s million dollar business will go the way of the dot com. Seriously. If they are public, short them now.

Think about it. Instead of paying $20/m (or whatever these services that I DON’T USE cost), you just set up a location/demographic profile and corresponding filter. Basically, you describe yourself in a premium version of Foursquare and Gowalla and you describe your soul mate in your location based filter. My profile would look like:

Male
90401
Santa Monica
Very Attractive
Athletic
Wealthy
1977

Etc.

I’d then set up a location based filter to find:

Female
Los Angeles
Super Model
Athletic
Heiress
1980-1986
M.S. Columbia (JK! =p)

Etc.

And the moment she checks in, whether we are “friends” or not, we both get pinged. She can see my full profile and then has the right to opt-in to my precise table or bar stool geo-coordinates.

The potential is literally divine omniscient. You can ping for a cardiologist for that 57yo man who suddenly grabbed his left arm. You can ping for a lawyer as soon as you see the flashing lights in your rear-view. You can even ping for a mercenary wing-man as soon as that blond opts-in and smiles back.

Location based services will go this way. Integrate them into your long range corporate strategy. If you want me to help you do that, contact me at 310 598 1606 and bob.wan.kim@gmail.com … or just speak your mind at http://twitter.com/journik .

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Posted via email from Social Media Marketing Strategies for the Closet Revolutionary