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"Remember  Gowalla? \u00A0The innovative, early geosocial service with the gorgeous UI  and fabulous icons? \u00A0In recent months it seems that they\u2019ve been losing  ground to Foursquare, Facebook Places, and SCVNGR.\r\n\r\nWell,  apparently they\u2019ve been busy over there. \u00A0Today they launched an  ambitious new redesign and upgrade (iPhone only) that give users a whole  slew of new reasons to use the service.\r\n\r\nAmong  the new features are integration with services like Foursquare, Tumblr,  and Facebook Places (check in once, post to many) and a streamlined  check-in process that learns from your check-in history.\r\n\r\nBut the stand out feature for me is what I\u2019m calling the Private Geo Messaging feature. \u00A0Here\u2019s why.\r\n\r\nFor  those of us that have been working on geosocial for a while, the  million dollar question is this: once the thrill of badges and points  have worn off, how do you keep people checking in?\r\n\r\nFoursquare,  Facebook Places, and SCVNGR have raced to offer monetary incentives to  check in - specifically, deals. \u00A0Their bet is that people will continue  to check in if they can get discounts and free stuff.\r\n\r\nLogically,  this makes sense. \u00A0In practice, I think there\u2019s more to it than that.  \u00A0As I\u2019ve written elsewhere, if the web is any guide, the service that  pays the most won\u2019t necessarily win. \u00A0As the world goes absolutely  coupon crazy, there may be other windows of opportunity to provide a  compelling experience to users.\r\n\r\nWith  their new private geo messaging feature, Gowalla is gambling that  private notes and messages left at specific places by friends for friends, that can  be read only by checking into the specific venue where the note was  posted, can trump (or at least complement) coupons as the bait that keeps people checking in.\r\n\r\nHere\u2019s how it works.\r\n\r\nAny  Gowalla user can post a note and tag it to any location. \u00A0They can then  assign a person from their friend network to receive the note, with the  simple catch that the recipient must check in to the place that the  note was posted in order to read it.\r\n\r\nI\u2019ve  long argued that compelling content, that isn\u2019t necessarily coupon  related, can be enough of a carrot to get people to check in. \u00A0What  Gowalla has launched is a user generated content machine, in which every  piece of content has been created for a specific person, and tagged to a  location.\r\n\r\nGowalla private geo messaging is personal, geotargeted, and crowdsourced.\r\n\r\nAnd  certainly, it\u2019s only a matter of time before Gowalla users will be able  to post notes for themselves at specific places. \u00A0Like a list of  talking points for a business meeting. \u00A0Or a grocery list at a super  market.\r\n\r\nIt\u2019s fun to see innovation break through the raging coupon-apocalypse.\r\n\r\nWell done Gowalla.\r\n\r\n"^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://thenextweb.com/insider/2010/12/02/gowalla-keeps-innovating-invents-private-geo-messaging/>