Tocquigny

It’s hard to admit this, especially when you work at a digital agency, surrounded by all things cutting edge and the earliest of early-adopters, but I have never really gotten into the whole location-based app phenom before this year’s SXSWi.

I thought: “Why should people care that I am at this Starbucks at 8am? Aren’t 4 million other people? Isn’t this a little self-celebrity of me?” It didn’t seem worth the effort. Not even when they introduced rewards to entice me to check-in to get a dollar off my coffee.

However, after hearing Gowalla’s CEO, Josh Williams, speak about where location-based apps are going, moving away from local deals and towards global experiences, I have finally realized the value this trend can bring to the table beyond stalking friends, the social status of being “mayor,” and the minimal discounts at my favorite lunch spot.

Williams spoke of what locations can really mean to us on a story-telling level. How places can have historical and emotional significance in our lives. Where we got engaged, took our college European trip, caught an epic game with our father — these places mean something to us. The places we’ve been and the experiences we’ve had there become a part of who we are. It’s the stories we tell in the context of the places we’ve been that are ultimately worth remembering and sharing. 

This is the future for Gowalla. They want to change the way we think about “check-ins.” Instead think of it as a stamp in your digital passport. In the past, we bought t-shirts, purchased magnets and collected shot glasses to remember the meaningful places we traveled and the good times we had there. Now we can forego the clutter.

Imagine taking a trip and at the end of it you have a digital collection of all the places you went, all the pictures you took, and all the comments made. A travel scrapbook on your mobile phone to help you remember and share with friends. Even better, down the road your network can reference it to help enrich their travel plans based on what you enjoyed. Williams calls it a “socially curated Lonely Planet.”

He wants to create a tool to inspire people to go out and explore the world. Eventually, check-ins for check-in sake in your everyday places will wear out. For the mainstream, for example, people like me, it never took hold in the first place. Perhaps adding the value of being a global travel reference and storytelling platform will be the ticket to future success.