What's your Location in 2010?

HARO founder and all-around cool marketing/PR guy Peter Shankman asks at his blog today - Is 2010 is the year of Foursquare?

Peter writes with his usual flair:
"If you haven’t gotten sucked into the black tar heroin that is FourSquare, it’s essentially a location based check-in service, where you compete to become “Mayor” of various locations around the world. You can enter new locations as you find them, and if played right, will be a goldmine for savvy companies who understand the value of immediate marketing."

That's the key - companies using Foursquare to pinpoint where customer and potentials might be. Foursquare on your phone gives you & your friends new ways of exploring your city, to earn points & unlock badges for discovering new things. As we become a far more mobile society (more relevant I s'pose in SF or NYC), checking in at various locations, it makes sense for people to announce their moves to the world.

WallofHair charted out Foursquare's estimated 2009 growth at the end of the year, and here's what he came up with based just on the IDs given to his check- ins. He wrote: "The assumption used in creating this chart is that checkin IDs for all users are assigned from a single auto-incrementing counter. The chart includes data from March 15, 2009 to December 31, 2009."



It's this immmense growth that has led entrpreneurs around the globe to capitalize on geotargeted messaging. Indeed, this is what local entrepreneur Aaron Post and his team at HyLo are chasing - their aim is help "businesses broadcast their deals directly to consumers' mobile phones - all in real time."

How do you feel about it all - do you have a pressing need to announce your location to the world at all times? And for those who are more likely desk-bound most days, does that take away any practical applications for the use of Foursquare and other location-based tools? Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.