Location services pin down New Year's plans

Do you know what you're doing for New Year's Eve? Foursquare, SCVNGR and Facebook hope for check-ins

Though we cited the ever-increasing adoption of location-based social networks as one of the biggest social media stories in 2010, companies like Foursquare, SCVNGR and Facebook, with its Places application, all have a lot more work to do before location discovery and “checking in” are mainstream mobile activities.

All three are kicking off 2011 with prominent promotions in hopes of attaining an even wider user base.

Foursquare

Location-based service Foursquare announced Wednesday that it has partnered with NBC-owned cable network Bravo to feature certain fans on Andy Cohen’s Live New Year’s Eve Special on the last night of the year. The original channel to air franchises Real Housewives and Top Chef, Bravo will be displaying the names (full first name and last initial) along with profile photo and hometown of users who follow Bravo on Foursquare and check-in the night of New Year’s Eve.

The Foursquare blog claims this is a first for location services: “Bravo is super psyched to give our users the chance to get their face on TV. It’s the first time anything like this has been done, and we’re excited to make you all a part of it.”

Creator and CEO Dennis Crowley recently revealed that Foursquare has over five million users; could 2011 be the year that the company finally breaks into double-digits?

SCVNGR

In a slightly strange “me too” move, SCVNGR has decided to promote its location-based gaming platform by doing the exact thing Foursquare did a year ago: pinning down space on a large billboard hanging over Times Square in New York City. In fact, the ad space happens to be on American Eagle Outfitter’s billboard, the same one that Foursquare used in 2009.

It’s a great advertising opportunity, obviously, because about a million people party in Times Square for every New Year’s celebration. And there’s even a chance that the millions watching on TV all over the country will get a glimpse of the large ad.

As part of the promotion, SCVNGR will be donating $5 to Big Brothers Big Sisters of America, one of the country’s oldest and largest youth mentoring organizations, every time a user completes a New Year’s-themed challenge.

Facebook Places

Finally, Facebook too has secured some pretty nice real estate in Times Square (as seen in the  picture below), but it didn’t have to pay for it. The Times Square Alliance, the organization behind the famous dropping of the ball to ring in New Year’s Day, is working with Facebook to get people to check-in online.

Pretty nice treatment for a social network that’s probably already nearing 600 million users. I guess that’s how it goes.