Comments on: When an algorithm won’t cut it

By: nike shox

nike shox — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 06:07:34 +0000

If a jewel falls into the mire, it remains as precious as before; and though dust should ascend to heaven, its former worthlessness will not be altered.

By: Ryan Graves

Ryan Graves — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 11:40:14 +0000

Almost exactly what you're describing is possible with Foursquare today, as
long as a good # of venues are running specials...I think it's just a matter
of time.

I love the word 'bark' in your example. Like a friendly pup trying to get
your attention to warn you of something nearby.

By: Nate

Nate — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 05:20:06 +0000

The near future! (without a doubt) If a gps app, yelp, & foursq could look at each other and get permission to bark a suggestion at you (based on your preferences – ratings, categories, etc), and each suggestion was pay-per-bark – we have a new marketing king.

Picture it: “honey, lets go for a walk after work….. Oh gees, I'm getting hungry, lets turn on the yelp-barks app. It barked that theres a sushi restaurant right around the corner that got good reviews and is in the $ (inexpensive) category. Lets go!” You get to a restaurant and put in the coupon code yelp-barks gave you and score 5% off. (Thats why you use the app, every restaurant that advertises on their gives 5% off)

Click advertising expense is incurred by sushi restaurant when the coupon code is accessed.

By: fredwilson

fredwilson — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:56:00 +0000

well they are very much focused on it

a half billion for Yelp is proof of that

By: Ryan Graves

Ryan Graves — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:54:07 +0000

Thanks for dropping by Fred.

I have a suspicion that the lower hanging fruit -- location based
advertising -- that Google doesn't have control over, is a huge opportunity
if approached correctly.

Foursquare, FB, and other location based services will provide the chance to
take advantage of where Google drops off.

By: fredwilson

fredwilson — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:42:26 +0000

i suspect google's dominance in web search will remain in place for a long time, but we'll lose web search less as other methods develop. facebook, twitter, and foursquare are three that are interesting.

By: allenburt

allenburt — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:53:32 +0000

What would you be willing to pay for a perfectly targeted ad placement (ie location oriented, personality oriented, and context oriented)? A whole lot.

I think the convergence of personal social information (via Twitter and facebook) and geolocation info (via foursquare) will produce some incredible ad opportunities. And push ad prices closer to, if not above tradition ad prices.

I agree this opportunity is worth salivating over.

By: Ryan Graves

Ryan Graves — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:35:04 +0000

I agree, that situation is definitely still valid. And, to be clear, I'm not
talking about Foursquare specifically in this post, I'm merely pontificating
the potential of advertising to change because of the data that is now
available to us.

There are definitely challenges that remain, there always will be, but I
think that we're seeing an opportunity to make ads relevant like they've
never been before. Not only can we target the right people, but we can now
target when and where to target them...

By: Jason Cohen

Jason Cohen — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:26:09 +0000

I get the fact that you can blast an ad if someone is driving by. But then, a sign outside your shop could do that too.

I get the idea that you might be able to lure foot-traffic, but again you have windows too.

What about getting people to plan on going to restaurant X while they're still at home? Does 4sq deal with that at all? If not, that's OK of course, but it would be wrong to say that trying to reach people in that situation is now invalid.

By: Ryan Graves

Ryan Graves — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 21:19:28 +0000

Fred wrote an interesting post today about Google algorith...a good anecdote to this post.
http://www.avc.com/a_vc/2009/12/people-first-ma...