SXSW Checks Out the ‘Check-In’

Since I left Austin, TX 5 years ago, I’ve always said that, when I grow up, I’d love to take a vacation and enjoy the city’s South-by-Southwest Festival. At the time, it was my love for indie music and film, but in most recent years, SXSW has given cause for techno-geeks (like me) to drool, as well.

The Panel Nerd Badge - One of 15 SXSW Badges

As Kai Ryssdahl of Market Place reported in his interview with Caroline McCarthy of CNET news, the Festival has become something of a hotbed for new social media companies. And, while it was just a couple of years ago, that Twitter that made the most resounding caw, it was a new player, foursquare.com, that had social networking fans crowing about the newest in keeping checked-in with the world.

And it seemed fans of foursquare at SXSW had plenty to shout (that’s foursquare-speak) about. The site Techcrunch reported about technical glitch that prematurely leaked special SXSW foursquare badges. (Yes, that’s right the Festival merited its own series of 15 special badges. Our personal favorite: The Panel Nerd.)

foursquare Useful at Large Events, But At Home…

But not everyone was converted into foursquare superfans after checking in at SXSW… Chris Conrey wrote on his blog, Conrey Is for Closers, that he sees the benefit of such a network in the context of site-spanning events; however, he’s not too convinced he wants the world knowing his whereabouts back home in LA.

[Sites like Foursquare and Gowalla] were super useful at SXSW rather than texting all of the people I wanted to catch up with for dinner or drinks, I could see where they checked in recently (or if they had) and plan that way…now that I’m home, I really don’t want to know where people in Austin or NY or LA are checking in to. It does me no value. It doesn’t do a whole lot more value to even know where people in Phoenix are checking in at because I don’t really care.

But what about all those points and potential for badges, Chris??

foursquare trending

Knowing SXSW would be an opportunity for the company to showcase its dedication to moving forward (if not around town), foursquare took the opportunity to introduce its new trending feature. This feature allows foursquare players to get clued in as to which parties are hot and which are not by getting word when multiple users have checked in to a venue.

The most significant trend to appear at the Interactive Festival, at least in foursquare’s eyes, was the number of followers it saw join the game. According to reports, the geolocation social network announced an increase of nearly 100,000 users in the week and a half after the festival began. (…that’s a 20% growth over its previous membership of 500,000–impressive!)

The real question now is, “Can foursquare keep up the trend?”

Tags: foursquare growth, geolocation, GoWalla, Interactive Festival, social networking, special badges, SXSW, trending