Spain still waiting for incentive to Check-In

Photo by Dennis Crowley @ Flickr

Despite the high adoption rates of smartphones and overall widespread use of social media, Spaniards are not yet compelled to share their location and "Check-In".

The key factors hindering growth of location-based services are:

• Online privacy is a major concern
• Compelling offers are not yet available
• Wide-spread knowledge of location-based services low

Through a lot of anecdotal evidence, I found that most people I talked to had not heard of Foursquare and did not know what the purpose is of Facebook Places - which, until very recently, was only available in English.

In fact, last April only 4% of people surveyed by IAB Interactive Advertising Bureau had even heard of Foursquare - and of those who had heard of it - 73% male - the majority described themselves as "techie".

"Why would I want to check-in to tell the entire world where I am?" was the common question I heard.

As I´ve mentioned before, online privacy is much more important than it seems to be in the US. But, I believe the key is to incentivize people to Check-In - be it on Fourquare, Facebook Places, Tuenti Sitios, etc.

I´ve been using Foursquare in Barcelona for about six months and even I don´t see the benefit. There seems to be hardly anyone using it, most of the places I check-in have never seen a check-in before (I can become Mayor in a few days), and there is just no incentive to do so. Similarly, I´ve recently tried Facebook Places and it appears that of the few companies that signed up in Spain this January, El Corte Inglés, BBVA, Starbucks, Sol Meliá, FC Barcelona and Clinique, only Starbucks is really active - at least in Barcelona. And they don´t offer promotions at all their Stores (there aren´t many in BCN), only a few.

While there are hundreds of studies on the use of social media by businesses to promote offers and brands, few look the Spanish market in particular. Instead, these studies are translated into Spanish and disseminated. Most studies I've found that have been conducted in Spain are at least 18 months old (any links to new studies are much appreciated!).

Decisions are likely made based on global (and/or antiquated) information, rather than local. This is a mistake, as I've discussed; the social media landscape in Spain is not the same as that of America or the UK - or even that of it's neighbors, Portugal and France.

Last April, IAB Interactive Advertising Bureau released a study on use of Foursquare in Spain, which is available on SlideShare and below. It´s well summarized by Grupo Beta Labs who also comment on the issue of privacy and incentive as factors driving lack of Check-Ins. It´s also true that finding free Internet in Barcelona is difficult, though this is changing and may be unique to Barcelona - in the North of Spain I was surprised that free internet was available in most cafes and bars.

However, Grupo Beta Labs' reference to low smartphone adoption has become inaccurate over the past year - as highlighted in two recent posts: Spain Leads All Markts with Smartphone Adoption and Social Media in Spain.

What has become very popular, however, is LetsBonus. Many people I know who would never think to Check-In, are using LetsBonus, Groupon and their peers like crazy (this PPT by @betobetico provides a comprehensive overview of the collective buying landscape in Spain - available below).

And here in lies the golden opportunity, link LetsBonus and similar sites to location-based social networking services.

LetsBonus + FacebookPlaces = Jackpot

Predictions for 2011 point to increasing social media use by consumers and the need for businesses to focus on consumers as the center of the buying process; as well as the dawn of the online coupon in Spain.

Now is the moment for businesses to make the most of this huge opportunity.

Geolocalización, movilidad y recomendación. A propósito de foursquare

View more presentations from IAB Spain.

Groupon y sus clones (en España)

View more presentations from Alberto Benbunan.